Involvement of facilities management specialists in building design: United Kingdom experience

Facilities management (FM) has witnessed a rapid development since its nascence in 1980s. Following its development, the concept of involving FM specialists in building design, simply called early FM involvement, has received an increasing attention from practitioners and researchers in the last decade, which makes it possible to incorporate FM knowledge and experience into the design process. This study investigates the involvement through a series of expert interviews in the United Kingdom. The objective of this study is to get a more thorough understanding of early FM involvement practice. The analysis of interview results shows that it is very important to address a variety of potential problems, such as the lack of operability, maintainability, and serviceability, by applying FM expertise to design decision-making. Early FM involvement in design is found to be particularly useful for the improvement of cost efficiency and effectiveness from a long-term perspective. Although it has received wide recognition today, it still encounters resistance in practice. To ensure its success, there is a need for all the key stakeholders, such as project clients, designers, and FM providers, to continue to make intense efforts.