A new online tool launched by the team behind SFG20, the industry standard for building maintenance, has won this year’s prestigious Tomorrow’s FM Awards
The Awards celebrate the latest innovations in the FM market with the winners selected by public vote. SFG20 Resource Modeller was launched last year to help building owners and managers improve building services performance, cut long-term operating costs, meet low carbon targets, and ensure equipment performs well for its full intended operating life.
It is designed to map the specific requirements of any building so FMs can find the most cost-efficient strategy for managing service and maintenance tasks. This proved particularly popular with awards voters at a time when budgets are under unprecedented pressure.
Resource Modeller is targeted at one of the biggest challenges faced by commissioning teams: How to produce indicative costs of maintenance. Key factors should include the quality of the building design, its location, the materials used, services installed, and size. However, in many cases the specific characteristics of the building are ignored, and the maintenance strategy is simply based on the total floor area.
“The complexity of estimating maintenance, particularly in large commercial new builds or refurb projects, has defeated many project teams,” said SFG20 product director Paul Bullard. “However, the financial and environmental impact can be colossal particularly as around 80% of the total cost of a building is accounted for during its operating life.
“Using floor area as a rule of thumb is usually little better than guesswork, particularly in multi-use buildings and specialist facilities where operating and occupancy patterns can be difficult to predict. This often leaves the building operator with an expensive legacy. The need for a tool that can eliminate much of that guesswork has been there for some time and we were delighted to be able to bring Resource Modeller to the market,” he added.
SFG20 uses a ‘traffic light’ system to help users prioritise tasks. Red indicates maintenance essential to ensure legal and regulatory compliance; orange covers tasks that will help to maximise the operating life of an asset, and green is for work that can ensure services are running at their optimum level to minimise energy consumption.
Once the user provides the Resource Modeller tool with a building’s details and its asset register, they can create their own bespoke maintenance plan and an appropriate strategy.
The time and skills needed to deliver the tasks and hourly costs are also calculated to help building operators manage resources and budgets. This also gives FMs the necessary data to explain their estimates to clients and defend expenditure.
Resource Modeller is aligned with the RICS new rules of measurement (NRM) and is suitable for a wide range of sectors. Its standardised approach gives users access to a central hub of maintenance schedules and checklists to help ensure each building project is compliant with UK legislation.
"Winning this award is a real accolade and the perfect reward for all the hard work put in by the team to develop the technology,” said Bullard. “Building managers face an unprecedented number of challenges including dramatically higher energy and equipment costs, increased scrutiny on safety compliance, low carbon targets, and skills shortages – and we are extremely proud that Resource Modeller is already playing a crucial role in helping them cope.
“It helps them keep on top of costs while also ensuring they are focusing efforts in the right areas – so avoiding over or under-maintenance – while also remaining on track to meet their wider legal and environmental obligations,” added Bullard.
“Thank you to everyone who voted for us as there is nothing better than being recognised and rewarded by your peers.”