Facilitate MayJune26 Teaser

INFORMING WORKPLACE AND FACILITIES PROFESSIONALS

M AY-J U N E 2 026 ● FAC I L I TAT E M AG A Z I N E . C O M

BUILT TO LAST CEO Linda Hausmanis reflects on the IWFM’s evolution evol oluti ution on

A PLACE TO BELON BELONG NG IWFM volunteers reveal how w FM creates inclusive spaces

WASTE NOT, WANT NOT How to use unused land as a back-up energy solution back

Natural selection n Translating a global ambition to reverse e nature naturre loss into practical, scalable action for fo or FMs Ms

MAY-JUNE 2026

GHOST GROWTH ● COMPLIA NCE DATA ● RELATIONA L SPACES

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A PROPER BREW AT WORK? Sorted.

STOCK THE KITCHEN, KEEP THE PEACE. SCAN ME

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*IRI Value Sales

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MAY-JUNE 2026 / FACILITATE

CONTENTS

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FRONT DESK 06 Renewable answers Solar solutions are set to surge as a world oil crisis hits

08 Environmental lead FM is being pushed into a more decisive role in climate resilience

11 IWFM Live! 2026

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IWFM introduces a day of fresh ideas with its June conference

this time with Chris O’Donnell and Andy Dunn

12 Dutch dimension

KNOW HOW

Pleun van Deurssen discusses FM in the Netherlands

48 The FM Fix 14 News in numbers

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A numerical overview from Facilitate’s online reporting

How FM teams are updating skills to keep operations running

49 Powered up 16 10 years of LGBT+ in FM LGBTQ+ professionals are making their voices heard across the sector

How to solve and avoid common errors in load bank testing

50 Hot into cold

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FEATURES

Using waste heat to handle data centre cooling

20 Biophilic design

52 Relational space

How FM can help integrate nature into the workplace

How the quality and layout of workspaces promotes bonding

26 Built to last

57 Data trials

Linda Hausmanis talks about her decade structuring IWFM

Challenges facing teams with CRE portfolios at multiple locations

32 Building belonging

SUPPLY SIDE

Living the World FM Day 2026 theme of ‘Cultivating belonging through built environments’

VIEW POINT

61 Network Rail’s targets 100% renewable energy Network Rail has a deal to access renewable energy from a wind farm in North Wales

COVER: DAVIDE COMAI

42 Perspectives Four FM professionals seek to influence your insight agenda

62 Introducing AI tools demands value-based assessments

46 A bit about you

FM firms may be eager to adopt AI, but many aren’t sure how they should be using it

Our ‘Behind the job’ Q&As –

FACI L I TAT EM AG A ZI N E .CO M

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FACILITATE / ONLINE

ONLINE COMMENT

Employee engagement takes a dip

Security’s frontline medical response Pocket defibrillators should become a part of every security team’s safety plan, writes Gareth Barker, head of event healthcare at St John Ambulance, given that the first person to reach the patient is rarely a paramedic and often a security officer.

b.link/FacilitateC26-015 A new frontier for wellbeing Today’s workforce seeks food offerings to fit unpredictable schedules while actively supporting nutrition, wellbeing and performance.

That’s why workplace dining is being redefined by how spaces are used, argues Sally Hillman of Restaurant Associates.

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RESEARCH

Globally, employee engagement fell to 20% in 2025 – its lowest level since 2020, according to research by Gallup.

This cost the world economy $1w0 trillion in lost productivity last year.

b.link/FacilitateC26-018 Workers’ stress soars A third of UK bosses (32%) report staff citing stress, anxiety, depression or other mental health issues as a cause of absence, and one in five workers has taken time off sick because of stress-related mental health issues.

Facilitate, incorporating FM World, is the publication of IWFM, the professional body for workplace and facilities management. For information on membership, qualifications and training contact us: Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management Suite 15, Thremhall Park, Start Hill, Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, CM22 7WE, UK +44 (0)1279 712 620 • admin@iwfm.org.uk • www.iwfm.org.uk

Redactive Publishing Ltd Fora, 9 Dallington Street London EC1V 0LN www.facilitatemagazine.com EDITOR Martin Read 020 7880 7664 martin.read@facilitatemagazine.com DEPUTY EDITOR Bradford Keen 020 7880 7615 bradford.keen@facilitatemagazine.com NEWS DESK 020 7880 7664 newsdesk@facilitatemagazine.com SUB-EDITOR Deborah Shrewsbury 020 7880 6223 deborah.shrewsbury@redactive.co.uk

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SENIOR DESIGNER Will Williams 020 7880 2747 will.williams@redactive.co.uk

Supplier consolidation is key

PICTURE EDITOR Akin Falope 020 7324 2713 akin.falope@redactive.co.uk

FM procurement strategies are changing as organisations respond to rising costs, reduced budgets, disrupted supply chains and operational risk, according to research.

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FM leaders to spend more on tech

Poor diet hampers focus

FM principals expressed a clear intent to increase investment in technology, with 97% of them planning higher spending over the next 12-24 months, according to research by Bidvest Noonan.

Research shows a correlation between workplace catering and workers’ wellbeing and productivity, with 62% of employees reporting that unhealthy eating leaves them feeling tired and unfocused.

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FACILITATE

YOUR AWARD-WINNING MAGAZINE

CONTENT ASSISTANT Prithvi Pandya 020 7880 6229 prithvi.pandya@redactive.co.uk SALES — DISPLAY, DIGITAL, EVENTS 020 7880 6206 display@facilitatemagazine.com SALES — RECRUITMENT 020 7880 6212 recruitment@facilitatemagazine.com PRODUCTION MANAGER Aysha Miah-Edwards 020 7880 6241 aysha.miah@redactive.co.uk PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Joanna Marsh 020 7880 8542 joanna.marsh@redactive.co.uk Subscriptions IWFM members with Facilitate subscription or delivery queries should call the IWFM’s membership department on +44 (0)1279 712650.

Facilitate is sent to all members of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management and is available on subscription to non-members. Annual subscription rates are UK £110, Europe £120 and rest of world £130.

To subscribe call 01580 883844 or email subs@redactive. co.uk – alternatively, you can subscribe online at www.facilitatemagazine.com/about-us/subscribe/ Editorial Advisory Board Simon Ball, market director at EQUANS UK & Ireland; Rob Greenfield, regional health & safety consultant at Croner; Kate Smith, executive director, consulting at CBRE UK; Liz Kentish, managing director at Kentish and Co; and Simone Fenton-Jarvis, co-founder and director of workplace consultancy The Human-Centric Workplace.

Printed by Warners

Facilitate is the magazine and online news content resource of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM). We inform members and others about the latest thinking around workplace and facilities management.

In 2019, we were judged Best Magazine (1032,000 members)

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at the Association Excellence Awards, the body which assesses the media brands of trade bodies, membership organisations and associations. In 2023, Facilitate and IWFM were judged to have conducted the best association digital transformation at the same awards, the work

described as ‘a stellar example of how a digital transition driven by deep understanding of the audience’s needs can future fit a professional body’s content strategy.

At the same time opening commercial opportunities for new revenue streams’ Got a story? email editorial @ facilitatemagazine.com

Average net circulation 10,977 (July 2022 to June 2023) Facilitate (Print) ISSN 2752-5171

Recycle your magazine’s plastic wrap – check your local LDPE facilities to find out how.

FAC I L I TAT E M AY-J U N E 2026

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COMMENTS / LEADER

COMMENTS S

ILLUSTRATIONS: SAM KERR

TEN YEARS ON – A DECADE WELL SPENT It was a pleasure to spend time with the editor of this magazine reflecting on the 10 years I’ve been CEO of IWFM. We all know, of course, that anniversaries are just dates in a calendar, but I really valued the opportunity to talk about what makes this job, and this profession, so special and so rewarding. And I didn’t need to think too hard to arrive at the one thing that I value above all: people.

Membership of this Institute is, of course, grounded in the world of work – we are a professional body, after all.

But this is a people profession, and it’s the human connections, the community, that makes what we do so important.

For a decade, I’ve seen our members connect with each other through shared experiences, through a common interest in a specialism, through a need to learn, or to mentor others, and through a simple desire to meet more determined people in the same line of work.

In those years I’ve seen newcomers to the profession gain an FM qualification, join the Institute, volunteer with one of our communities and rise through the ranks to become some of the most respected and well-known leaders in our industry. It has been a privilege to witness their growth.

Recognition and professional credibility are what our community makes possible, and if IWFM, as the heart of that community, can provide the structure within which all of that can happen, then this will have been a decade well spent.

LINDA HAUSMANIS is CEO of IWFM

everal times, in this extraordinary decade to date, FM has come close to taking its rightful place as the routinely visible aspect of organisational performance we all know it to be. The pandemic, the Ukraine War, Net Zero targets, inflation surges, output drops, whatever this current conflict is – each has shone its light on the value of strong, progressive FM. As well as these headline grabbing events, we’ve also seen less immediately dramatic but nevertheless significant economic indicators – low pay, debates over minimum wage thresholds – helping to nudge FM upwards into conversations about long-term sustainability in all its myriad aspects.

You could argue that all of these factors together have led to a rather transformative decade for the sector. And that’s true in so many ways.

But what’s also clear is that more needs to be done to ‘seal the deal’ when communicating this sector’s message. Social mobility, productivity, wellbeing – core elements of the national debate for which FM has as much a right as any other sector to have its voice heard.

What has remained frustratingly elusive is a certain stickiness. An event or moment binding FM permanently the issues above. We see FM rise suddenly up the agenda for perfectly good reasons, only to slip back down when some other cause mucles its way to the fore. Is this lack of stickiness unavoidable?

Or is it because the sector more broadly lacks a coordinated plan of works to help maintain political and public interest as and when we need it? That, admittedly, is a difficult challenge to resolve. It needs time, money and broad sector agreement; such unified messaging in today’s multi-voice world can be difficult to sustain.

We do not lack for erudite communicators, nor for incontrovertible evidence of the sector’s impact through data. Perhaps making FM ‘stickier’ requires aligning FM as closely as possible to those national debates as they emerge.

One example, perhaps, might be when IWFM launches its 2026 sustainability survey, with its focus on the importance of retrofit.

Messaging around the powerful cumulative impact of retrofit projects could well offer that stickiness. Here’s to FM being more routinely MARTIN READ is the editor referenced in the national press and beyond. of Facilitate magazine

What has remained frustratingly elusive is a certain ‘stickiness’

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