Vidur: In the end, it is up to the individual client to decide if he wants to get a facility manager on the board or not. So, yes, creating awareness through media is a great suggestion.
CIJ: Moving to Green Buildings, are there any special issues you as designers and facility managers face?
Ashok: In a Green building, you will not use any product which is not green certified. Even pest control has to be green certified.
Kajal: Firstly as facility managers, we need to educate ourselves as to what kind of chemicals and environment-friendly things we have to use. The number of Green buildings being built is increasing at a fast pace. So the FM companies also need to cope up with this speed. Until the FM matches with the green features of the building, it will be difficult to achieve the optimum level for maintenance.
Sheetal: That’s right. In one of our projects, we had given perimeter daylight sensors. During the day when there is sunlight, you do not need those perimeter lights, and they remain off. As it grows darker, the sensors will detect the lower lux levels and these lights will come on. This helps in saving a lot of electricity. Despite our initial training, the facility managers missed this past. When we visited the facility and saw these lights unnecessarily on we had to explain the issue to them.
So it is also important for the facility managers to know the design intent, so that they can take care of those things. In another example, we had used a drip irrigation system for watering the plants. That was not 3C’s project and the facility managers and the staff which came in post occupancy were not trained on this issue. In drip irrigation, there are underground pipes that release water slowly, so there is no need to water the plants. Not realising this and not seeing any water, the gardener kept watering the plants, thus wasting a lot of water and defeating the purpose. There is no point in having a Green building if the facility manager is not trained.
Ashok: So now you have a situation that is compounded, where there is no training even in regular buildings and now you have Green buildings, which need specialised training. So there is a huge gap between design and awareness.
Vidur: Finally, the only thing I would say is when we as architects are designing a Green building, the ultimate aim of the building is the life of the building, which is say 40-50 years. In a Green building the role of the facility manager is as important as the architect, because they are the ones who, for the life of the building, have to save the carbon footprint.
Ashok: We are moving very fast as far as designs are concerned. However, unless and until the industry that has to maintain these buildings catch up, there will always be very efficient buildings being designed and built, but which will not be functioning very efficiently. I do see some amount of work happening here. Facility Management training is catching up. But more people need to come forward and more professionals need to contribute. This is the only way forward.
