Editorial

Citation

Finch, E. (2007), "Editorial", Facilities, Vol. 25 No. 11/12. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.2007.06925kaa.001

Editorial

This issue celebrates the 25th anniversary of Facilities. It includes commentaries by key players, not only in relation to the evolution of Facilities, but in the evolution of facilities management. With contributions from the founding editor Dr Frank Duffy, as well as Jane Bell who was involved in the first editorial team, the commentaries reveal something of the energy and dynamism of those fledgling days of facilities management. More latterly, we see commentaries from Professors John Hinks and Robert Grimshaw who reflect on the changes that to some extent have been reflected in the journal itself. Also included are the observations of Professor Jan Brochner from the Scandinavian perspective.

Acting as the editor of Facilities in recent years has given me the privilege of working with many insightful and enthusiastic authors. Some of those authors have made a significant contribution to the discipline of facilities management, helping to define the landscape and channel its development.

When I took over as editor of the journal it had passed through several editors following on from its early days with Architectural Press and DEGW, a leading edge design consultancy. The publication from that time was highly influential in defining facilities management in Europe, which at that time was emerging as a fledgling discipline from the US. For the first time, people were writing at length about new management practices and how these related to space planning and workplace design. The articles provided an enticing insight into the emerging world of the workplace, at a time when IT was an unhappy bedfellow with the workplace environment.

The journal in the years after Architectural Press went through an uncertain transition. The decision was taken, on taking over the journal as editor to make it a reviewed academic journal: a risky strategy given its practitioner base and pedigree. The decision was not taken lightly. The hope was that we would retain the diversity, novelty and strategic emphasis that characterised the early Architectural Press days. To kick-start this initiative, those on the CNBR mailbase were approached. This mailbase had already acquired a sizable following by the mid-1990s and found a ready population of academic writers. Submissions since then have been steady and show a continued improvement in standards, with contributions from a much wider community. However, CNBR continues to play a significant part in promoting live debate and stimulating author submission.

Facilities management in its modern form is almost unrecognisable from its original manifestation. The term has almost become synonymous with outsourcing in the commercial sector. Moreover, the message of “FM” has been somewhat diluted with the ready adoption of FM parlance by the property and construction sector. Perhaps a disappointment is that, despite the astronomical growth of the FM sector, it has yet to embrace research and development as an integral part of the industry: hence the difficulty of engaging the academic with the commercial communities.

Moving forward, my hope is that the facilities management profession will begin to recognise the pivotal role played by academic and commercial research: research that goes well beyond market research. Indeed, there are leading edge FM companies who now recognise the commercial and strategic benefits that such work offers. Facilities will continue to be a key messenger in disseminating this rich resource.

Edward Finch