Involvement of Facilities Management Specialists in Building Design: United Kingdom Experience

This study investigates the involvement of facilities management (FM) specialists in building design, known as early FM involvement, through expert interviews in the United Kingdom. The analysis of interview results shows that early FM involvement is important for addressing potential problems and improving cost efficiency and effectiveness from a long-term perspective. However, it still encounters resistance in practice. The study provides insight into the integration between building design and FM in the UK.

Involvement of Facilities Management Specialists
in Building Design: United Kingdom Experience
XianhaiMeng1
Abstract: Facilities management (FM) has witnessed a rapid development since its nascence in 1980s. Following its deve
of involving FM specialists in building design, simply called early FM involvement, has received an increasing attention f
researchers in the last decade, which makes it possible to incorporate FM knowledge and experience into the design pro
tigates the involvement through a series of expert interviews in the United Kingdom. The objective of this study is to ge
derstanding of early FM involvement practice. The analysis of interview results shows that it is very important to addres
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
tive. Although it has received wide recognition today, it still encounters resistance in practice. To ensure its success, the
stakeholders,such as projectclients,designers,and FM providers,to continue to make intense efforts.DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CF.1943-
5509.0000343. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
CE Database subject headings: Facilities; Building design; United Kingdom.
Author keywords: Facilities management; Building design; Early involvement; United Kingdom.
Introduction
Traditionally,design isseparated from construction,operation,
maintenance, and services provision. The separation of design from
the postdesign processes has resulted in many problems, such as the
lack of constructability,operability,maintainability,and service-
ability, for designed facilities. In the last two decades, it is evident
thatthere has been an increasing integration of design and con-
struction in the U.K. construction industry, which is supported by
government reports on industry reform, such as Latham (1994) and
Egan (1998,2002).Generally,there are two ways of integrating
design and construction. One is the use of the design-build delivery
method (Thomas2006),and the otheris early contractorin-
volvementin design (Mosey 2009).In terms of constructability,
design-build practices reduce constructability problems as the in-
terface between contractor and designer in this delivery system is
morerigorousthan in thetraditionaldesign-bid-build system
(Arditi et al. 2002). On the other hand, early contractor involvement
incorporates construction knowledge and experience into the design
process so that constructability can be improved together with the
improvement of project performance (Song et al. 2009).
Since the late 1980s, facilities management (FM) has gradually
evolved into a new discipline and profession in the construction and
property industry (Tay and Ooi2001).However,FM is usually
considered to be a postconstruction service,and the directin-
volvementof FM specialists as a key aspectof design function
has often been absent or minimal at best (Edum-Fotwe et al. 2003).
In this paper, the involvement of FM specialists in design is sim
described as early FM involvement.Following the increasing in-
tegration of design and construction, various research efforts h
been made in the United Kingdom to explore how to integrate
with operation,maintenance,and services provision,which are
represented by the FM profession.As a result,the importance of
early FM involvementhas been gradually recognized by practi-
tioners and researchers. According to Jaunzens et al. (2001), t
profession has the prime responsibility for managing buildings
both their facilities and services—and therefore there is a nee
encourage greater emphasis on applying their expertise to bu
design. Similarly, Duffy (2000) suggested that facilities manag
should learn to work with architects and designers and vice ve
that building systems and working environments can better sa
clients and end users.
In addition to the United Kingdom,early FM involvementin
building design has also attracted an increasing attention from
practitioners and researchers in other countries of the world,e.g.,
Arditi and Nawakorawit (1999),Dunston and Williamson (1999),
Meier and Russell (2000), and Erdener (2003) in the United Sta
Bröchner (2003) in Sweden, Silva et al. (2004) in Singapore, Je
(2009) in Denmark, and Mohammed and Hassanain (2010) in
Arabia. Undoubtedly, these research efforts have contributed
encouragementof early FM involvementthroughoutthe world.
However,thereare someobviouslimitationswithin previous
studies.Firstof all, many previous studies,such as Arditiand
Nawakorawit (1999), Dunston and Williamson (1999), Meier an
Russell(2000),Chew etal. (2004),and Silva etal. (2004),are
biased toward maintainability. Therefore, operability, servicea
and other key issues in relation to the whole life cycle have no
received enough emphasis.Second,many previous studies have
only limited empirical data support. For example, Bröchner (20
was mainly based on the author’s knowledge and experience,
Fotwe et al. (2003) only provided a particular case study to de
onstrate early FM involvement in the design process of a hosp
projectunderthe private finance initiative (PFI)scheme,and
1Lecturer,Schoolof Planning,Architecture and CivilEngineering,
Queen’s Univ. Belfast, Belfast BT9 5AG, U.K. E-mail: [e-mail]
Note. This manuscript was submitted on September 7, 2011; approved
on March 2,2012;published online on September 16,2013.Discussion
period open until March 1, 2014; separate discussions must be submitted for
individualpapers.This paper is partof the Journalof Performance of
Constructed Facilities,Vol. 27,No. 5, October 1,2013.©ASCE,ISSN
0887-3828/2013/5-500–507/$25.00.
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Mohammedand Hassanain(2010)establisheda theoretical
framework through a review of the literature. The limitations within
previous studies form a barrier to a systematic understanding of how
design integrates with FM in today’s practice.
Unlike previous studies,this research explores early FM in-
volvementin the design process by interviewing a series ofin-
dustrialexpertsin the United Kingdom.The objective ofthis
research is to get a more thorough understanding of early contractor
involvement practice. More than 30 industrial experts, such as fa-
cilities managers,maintenance managers,architects,and design
engineers, are interviewed. This research aims to answer the ques-
tions concerning (1) whether early FM involvement in design has
significantly increased in today’s practice; (2) what are the benefits
from early FM involvement;(3) whattypes of projects are more
suitable for early FM involvement; (4) what problems may occur if
FM specialists are notinvolved in design;(5) whatare stillthe
barriers to early FM involvement; and (6) how to encourage the wide
use of FM expertise during building design.On the basis of the
analysis of interview results,a deeper insightis provided for the
integration between building design and FM in the United Kingdom,
which may also be useful for the relevant practice in other countries
of the world.
Importance of Early Project Phases
The life cycle of a project can be broken down into different phases.
As seen in Fig. 1, there are seven major phases during a construction
projectfrom inception,through briefing and feasibility,design,
tenderand construction preparation,construction,commission
and handover, to occupancy that covers operation, maintenance, and
services provision represented by the FM profession (Uherand
Loosemore 2004;Pryke and Smyth 2006).Inception,briefing/
feasibility,and design are generally regarded as three early pha-
ses. A project initiates with the definition of the client’s objectives
and the identification of possible constraints (Fewings 2005). The
inception is followed by briefing/feasibility, during which a project
briefis prepared,and the possibilities ofachieving the client’s
objectives are justified (Kamara etal. 2002).On the other hand,
design develops from an outline brief to a detailed proposal for the
project(Gray and Hughes 2001).According to the ProjectMan-
agement Institute (PMI),compared with a late phase,the level of
uncertainty, risk and stakeholder influence during an early phase is
much higher, but the cost for change during an early phase is much
lower(ProjectManagementInstitute 2008).Some construction
researchers, such as Kolltveit and Grønhaug (2004), also confirmed
the importance ofearly projectphases.For this reason,Mosey
(2009)believed thatthe greatestopportunitiesfor improving
the overall project results are at the front end of a project.
During briefing and design,most decisions are made and they
have a major influence on later project phases, such as constr
and FM (Erdener2003).Generally,briefing providesstrategic
decisions,whereas design provides technicaldecisions (Fewings
2005).In traditionalpractice,it was notuncommon thatthese
decisions were made withoutthe realization of construction and
FM’s requirementsand the identification ofend users’needs
(Erdener 2003).The design process is further broken down into
outline design,scheme design,and detailed design (Gray and
Hughes 2001). Early design links strategic decisions with techn
decisions.To avoid inappropriatedecisions,construction con-
tractors and FM specialists can be involved from early design
(El-Haram and Agapiou 2002; Song et al. 2009). Early contract
involvementand early FM involvementmake itpossible to in-
corporate knowledge and experience of construction and FM in
design process,respectively.A main purpose ofinvolving con-
struction contractors and FM specialists early is to address pot
problems as early as possible in a proactive manner and allow
projectphases to make contributions to early projectphases.For
example,the FM feedback represents the use ofpostoccupancy
evaluation results (Erdener 2003). Such FM feedback from bui
in use helps to identify any errors and failures within past desi
provideinspirationfor the designof morerobustbuildings
(Bröchner 2003). By adopting early contractor and FM involvem
it is also helpful to integrate the whole supply chain.
Research Methods
This research starts with a comprehensive review of the releva
literature.The literature review is followed by a series of expert
interviews to collectempiricalinformation aboutearly FM in-
volvement in building design. As mentioned previously, many
studies in this area have only limited empirical data support. F
small number of early studies in which there is sufficient empi
data support,almostall of them have adopted the questionnaire
survey.For example,Arditiand Nawakorawit(1999)conducted
a questionnaire survey in the United States to investigate the
lationshipbetween design practicesand maintenanceconsid-
erations. On the basis of a questionnaire survey, Silva et al. (2
identified the key aspectsthatwould enable Singapore’scon-
struction industry to improve the level of building maintainabi
According to many methodology researchers, such as Flick (20
generaland Knightand Ruddock (2008) in construction,quanti-
tative methods,such as the questionnaire survey,have been the
Fig. 1. Project lifecycle and early involvement
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dominant paradigm over the years. Although a questionnaire survey
is advantageous of having access to many people, it is very difficult
for a questionnaire survey to collectin-depth information from
respondents (Gillham 2000).In recent years,qualitative methods,
such as the expert interview or case study, have been acknowledged
for their contributions to academic research (Bryant and Charmaz
2010). Unlike previous studies, this research adopts the expert in-
terview as a main methodology.The interaction between inter-
viewers and interviewees provides in-depth evidence for early FM
involvement. Although the expert interview is generally recognized
as a typicalqualitative method,to some extent,it is possible to
make statisticalanalysis of interview results.Based on the inter-
viewees’ responses in this study,for example,the percentage of
the interviewees who have ever experienced early FM involvement
can be analyzed in a statistical manner.
In this research,the interviewees are selected from different
types of organizations in relation to FM and building design, e.g.,
FM companies,FM consultancies,FM professionalassociations,
client organizations,and design firms.The interviewees have dif-
ferent backgrounds, such as healthcare, education, local authority,
commercialbusiness,and property and estate management.The
interviewees from the FM perspective represent both in-house FM
and outsourced FM. Most of them hold individual memberships of
the British Institute of Facilities Management(BIFM). All inter-
viewees have 5–20 years of working experience in the industry.
Almost all of them are in the key positions in relation to FM and
building design. The interviewees are selected from different regions
of the United Kingdom,including England,Scotland,Northern
Ireland, and Wales. As a result, a total of 31 industrial experts are
interviewed.The distribution ofinterviewees’roles is shown in
Fig. 2. Among the interviewees participated in this empirical study,
74.2% are FM specialists, such as facilities managers and mainte-
nance managers.In addition,25.8% ofinterviewees come from
design teams and client organizations, in which their roles include
design project manager,architect,structural engineer,mechanical
and electrical(M&E) engineer,clientrepresentative,and devel-
opment manager.The purpose of interviewing these experts is to
listen to the voicesfrom design and clientperspectivesabout
early FM involvement. The interviews are carried out face-to-face
or through telephone.All the industrialexperts are interviewed
individually. Each interview lasts around an hour. The interview
semistructured,during which the interviewees are allowed to ex-
presstheirviews and opinionsopenly and freely.The sample
provides a good representation of the population. The well-pre
interviews ensure the reliability and validity of their results.
Change in Early Facilities Management
Involvement Practice
According to early studies, such as Edum-Fotwe et al. (2003),
viously there was little incorporation of FM requirements durin
design,although its importance was highlighted.In this research,
80.6% of the interviewees have experienced early FM involvem
in design, whereas 19.4% of them have not had such an exper
Compared with early studies, this research provides more emp
evidence for applying FM expertise to building design in today
practice.Instead ofinception,briefing,or feasibility,the inter-
viewees reveal that in practice FM specialists are usually invol
from early design.Although itis hard to conclude that early FM
involvement becomes widespread, there is no doubt that the u
early FM involvementis increasing.Despite that,mostof the
interviewees pointoutthat,throughouttheir career,early FM in-
volvementis still an exception ratherthan a common practice.
This means that, among the projects in which they have partic
the proportion of early FM involved projects is generally not hi
For this reason, involving FM specialists in design is found to b
twofold. On one hand, the increasing use of early FM involvem
is quite inspiring.On the otherhand,it is notunusualfor FM
knowledge and experience notto be considered during design
decision-making, and therefore, there is still a long way to go
radical change in the whole industry in terms of integrating de
with FM.
Benefits from Early Facilities Management Involvement
During the interviews, the consensus is that FM specialists, es
cially facilities managers, should be involved in the design pro
This is because of the wide recognition of the benefits from in-
corporating FM expertise into design.In fact,the benefits have
Fig. 2. Distribution of interviewees’ roles
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been identified by some previous studies. For example, Jaunzens
etal. (2001)stated thatinvolving the facilities managerin the
design process and encouraging the design team to take on board
the needs of the facilities manager should result in buildings that
are as follows:
• Better suited to meet business needs;
• More attractive to clients;
• Easier to commission and maintain;
• Easier to control and manage;
• More cost effective to operate; and
• Better able to respond to the needs of the occupants.
Similar to previous studies, such as Jaunzens et al. (2001),the
intervieweesin this research agree thatearly FM involvement
benefits all the key stakeholders.Unlike previous studies,this re-
search identifies the benefits from the client, designer, FM provider,
and end user perspectives.
The main concern of the client is value for money (Sarshar and
Pitt 2009). According to the interviewees in this research, early FM
involvementhelps to ensure thatthe completed projectis fit for
purpose and represents value for money.By adopting early FM
involvement, the client mainly benefits from the following:
• Reduction in operating and maintenance costs because of the
achievementof a better building,which can be operated and
maintained more efficiently and effectively;
• More emphasis on the whole life cost rather than focus on the
capital cost, especially when a client is the end client;
• Identification and avoidance of potential problems in advance;
and
• More likelihoodto meet the client’s requirementsand
expectations.
The FM profession plays a leading role in operating and main-
taining facilities and providing services in practice (Ventovuori et al.
2007). The interviewees in this research believe that early FM in-
volvement allows FM professionals, such as facilities managers, to
attend design meetings in which opportunities are given for their
comments to be taken on board. Because FM professionals are in
the bestposition to know the functionality and practicability of
a building,their involvement in design benefits all the key stake-
holders. From the perspective of FM provider itself, the benefits may
include the following:
• Making it easier to operate and maintain facilities and provide
servicesby selecting appropriate materials,equipment,and
technical solutions;
• Better knowing whether the FM contractcan be fulfilled suc-
cessfully in the future and what the FM performance outcome
will be;
• Minimizing or avoiding residual risks, e.g., the risk in relation to
cleaning windows where access is extremely difficult; and
• Collaborating with client and designer and bringing the project
team together.
Over the lastthree decades,there has been an increase in the
complexitiesof buildingsystemsand othersupportservices
(Mohammed and Hassanain 2010). As a result, building design has
to meet changing requirements. According to the interviewees in this
research, however, it is often the case that most designers only see
their design on paper, although they think that they are the experts in
design. This means that they do not see how their design is working
on a day-to-day basis. For this reason, the designer will benefit from
early FM involvement because it helps to:
• Identify design flaws in advance;
• Achieve more accurate results during design;
• Improve the operability,maintainability,and serviceability of
designed facilities; and
• Encourage sustainable practice, e.g., energy saving.
Previous studies, such as Kaya (2004),have criticized that the
needs of end users and occupying organizations are often igno
during briefing and design decision-making and designers do n
understand business processes.The interviewees in this research
state that,compared with the design team,the FM team better
understands users and occupants’ needs. For this reason, earl
involvement can benefit users and occupants by:
• Reflecting their concerns and expectations during design;
• Providinga safer,healthier,and moreattractiveworking
environment;
• Supporting productivity and improving work efficiency; and
• Providing more flexibility for changing requirements.
Suitability of Early Facilities Management Involvement
In theory, FM specialists can be involved in the design process
any project.In this study,however,the analysis ofinterview
results shows that some types of projects may be more suitab
early FM involvement than other types of projects. By compari
son, FM specialists are most likely to get involved in the desig
process ofPFI projects,which is agreed on by 67.7% ofthe
interviewees.This is because PFI is a particular form of public
private partnerships (PPPs)used by the U.K.government,in
which the private sectorled by a projectcompany generally
designs,builds,finances,and operates (DBFO) a public project
for a specified period of time, e.g., 25–30 years. In a PFI projec
the project company takes a single point responsibility of desi
construction,and operation,which allowsthe designer,con-
tractor, and FM provider to integrate together (Fig. 3). As a res
the FM provider becomes an integral member of the whole tea
and good communication is practiced between team members
PFI project is quite long. To achieve the overall success of a PF
project,FM specialists’ comments and requirements need to be
actively considered.
The finding helps to explain why many previous studies in r
lation to early FM involvement,such as El-Haram and Agapiou
(2002) and Edum-Fotwe et al. (2003), were all based on partic
PFI projects in the United Kingdom.According to Edum-Fotwe
et al. (2003), for example, the PFI scheme presents opportunit
to ensure thatthe design function addresses the optimum value
option for operating facilities through the possible involvemen
Fig. 3. Integration of design, construction, and FM under a PFI sch
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the FM team at the design stage. On the other hand, El-Haram and
Agapiou (2002) summarized that the responsibilities of a facility
manager during the design process of a PFI projectinclude (1)
reviewing and assessing the design from operability,maintain-
ability,and serviceability points of view;(2) identification and
selection of the optimum operation scenario; (3) identification and
selection of the optimum maintenance and replacement strategies;
and (4) liaison with the design and construction teams to select
the cost-effective design option,which willoptimize whole life
costing.
Although the role and process of early FM involvementin a
new build project should be the same as in a refurbishment project,
a new building project is found by 35.5% of the interviewees in this
study to less practice early FM involvement compared with a re-
furbishment project. According to these interviewees, a new build
project is a blank canvas, and the design team has enough freedom
to do whatthey like.For a refurbishmentproject,the design is
constrained with existing facilities,and the design team has to
work with the FM team.This is the main reason why FM spe-
cialists are more involved in a refurbishment project than in a new
build project. In a new build project, previous experience of similar
types of projects is helpful,whereas in a refurbishmentproject,
historical data of existing equipments and systems become more
important.
In this research, 25.8% of the interviewees perceive that the in-
fluence of FM on design is also dependent on whether FM is retained
in-house or outsourced. An important finding during the interviews
is that the comments of in-house FM are often taken into account
during design decision making compared with outsourced FM not
being considered.This means that, if FM is outsourced, the com-
ments of FM specialists may not be considered important because
they are external. According to 19.4% of the interviewees,on the
other hand, FM specialists are more likely to be involved in design
if a client is the end client. They believe that completed projects that
do not match users and occupants’ requirements are difficultand
expensive to operate, maintain, and manage. For this reason, the end
clientis more interested in early FM involvementand whole life
costing than the client who does not occupy and use the building.
Compared with the end client,the clientwho is notan occupant
and a user is more concerned with completing a project as early as
possible and spending as little money as possible. As a result, such
clients have little or no motivation of incorporating FM expertise
into the design process.
In addition, large projects are considered by 16.1% of the inter-
viewees to be more likely to adopt early FM involvement, in which
it is possible to generate enough benefits if FM professionals get
involved in the design process. Similar to large projects, complex
projects are considered by these interviewees to make FM pro-
fessionals working closely with designers, and this is perhaps more
evident in hospital projects. In large and complex projects, clients
would like to pay for the cost of involving the FM team early because
it makes the design more robust,and meanwhile,savings during
operation, maintenance, and services provision will be much greater
than the cost paid for early FM involvement. For a small and simple
project, on the other hand, the client normally does not appoint the
facilities manager until the construction is near completion and it is
not necessary for the client to consume the FM resource at the early
stage. The finding helps to explain why the identification of benefits
is the driver and initiator of involving FM knowledge and experience
in the design process. If there are not enough benefits from early FM
involvement, it is easy for the client to ignore the FM team during the
design process. Based on the discussion and comparison provided
previously in this section, the suitability of early FM involvement is
summarized in Table 1.
Problems because of Lack of Early Facilities
Management Involvement
When identifying the benefits of early FM involvement in desig
is viewed from a positive perspective.All interviewees in this re-
search agree that it can also be viewed from the negative pers
indicating that various problems may come out if FM specialist
not involved in design. The identification of problems enhance
awareness of the risks for ignoring FM, which are not only rela
facilities managers and maintenance managers but also assoc
with clients, designers, and end users. According to the intervi
in this research,the lack ofearly FM involvementmay cause
problems in allaspects ofa building from inappropriate use of
materials and equipmentto poorspace layout,all of which are
complicated and more costly to rectify once the building is com
pleted. Without early FM involvement, there will be no feedbac
proposed design elements. As a result, problems are less likel
identified in advance and not possible to be solved as early as
sible. The occurrence of problems will make the designed facil
difficult and expensive to operate, maintain, and manage afte
project is put into use. Rather than the analysis of design flaw
often the FM team gets blamed for the problems.
In addition to the expression of the previous viewpoints, som
examples are provided by the interviewees to illustrate the pr
caused by ignoring early FM involvement. For example, a facil
manager interviewed in this study has encountered a design p
when they were brought in to carry out the maintenance of a r
bished building. The wrong choice about M&E equipment durin
design left them to fill in the gap. As a result, they had to rede
certain elements. If FM specialists were consulted during the d
process, they would be able to identify and prevent such a pro
advance. On the other hand, another facilities manager has pa
ipated in the design of a new building, in which a design flaw w
the designers did not plan for any fire escape doors on the hig
floors. Fortunately, he identified the problem when he was con
by the design team.As he hasmentioned,it could be highly
problematic if he did not identify this flaw before the design w
finished.
As for whether a lack of early FM involvement will definitely
cause problems or not, the opinions of the interviewees from t
perspective are something differentfrom those from the design
perspective. The interviewees from the FM perspective believe
without early FM involvement, there is no doubt that problems
occur during operation,maintenance,and services provision.The
common understanding of these interviewees is thata projectis
not simply just constructing the shell of a building. In addition
aesthetic appearance, the design of a building should ensure f
tionality and practicability,e.g.,operability,maintainability,and
Table 1. Summary of Early FM Involvement Suitability
Comparison
Situations that
are more suitable
for early FM
involvement
Percentage
of interviewees
who identify the
suitability (%)
PFI versus non-PFI projects PFI project 67.7
New build versus
refurbishment projects
Refurbishment
project
35.5
In-house versus outsourced FMIn-house FM 25.8
End user versus non–end user
clients
End user client 19.4
Large and complex versus
small and simple projects
Large and complex
project
16.1
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serviceability.Although M&E engineers involved in the design
team may be experienced in equipment,on the whole,the design
team has not as much experience as the FM team in terms of op-
erating and maintaining facilities and providing services.If FM
expertise is forgot,design flaws will be inevitable,which are not
clear during design but become apparent after occupancy.
On the other hand, not all the interviewees from the design per-
spective agree with the views and opinions mentioned previously.
Approximately half of the design experts interviewed in this study
comprehend that early FM involvement only enhances the design,
butthey do notthink thata design delivered by the design team
withoutearly FM involvementis not of a high quality.Their
viewpoint is that obvious and major problems do not really occur if
FM specialists are not involved in the design because other members
of the design team will generally identify the flaws. Although these
design professionals do notoppose early FM involvement,their
expression indicates that they may have a skeptical attitude toward
the FM input. It means at least that they are not active for involving
the FM team.An explanation of this issue provided by the inter-
vieweesfrom the FM perspective isthatsome architectsand
designers still look at the FM profession as a postoccupancy role
rather than a preoccupancy role and as a reactive role rather than
a proactive role. More clearly, they do not intend to fully embrace the
concept of early FM involvement. In addition to a misunderstanding
the FM role, design experts are concerned about the communication
with FM practitioners. For example, several interviewees from the
design perspective state that sometimes there are conflicts between
the design team and the FM team. They argue that it may be more
expensive and time consuming in such a case.Obviously,this
becomes a barrier to early FM involvement practice.
How to Overcome Barriers
As discussed previously,it is not unusual for FM expertise to be
ignored during design decision making, although the importance of
early FM involvementhas been generally recognized by practi-
tioners and researchers. On the basis of the interviews in this study, it
is found that some barriers to the wide use of early FM involvement
still existin today’s practice.The main barriercaused by client
organizations is that most clients are cost constrained, capital cost
driven,and short-term focused.The interviewees express that the
FM role in design is redundant if the client’s goal is to get a project
completed with as little financial outlay as possible. This is perhaps
more obvious when a client is not the end user. Generally, there is a
lack of awareness of whole life concept for the clients who do not
occupy and use the buildings.As a result,they do notwantto
pay a little more on materials and equipmentat the design and
construction stages to generate much more costsavings during
operation,maintenance,and services provision.A common un-
derstanding ofthe interviewees is thatthe enhancementof the
client’s awareness of whole life costing is extremely important to
overcome this barrier, which is shown in Fig. 4. To have a greater
input,the FM team mustbe able to demonstrate thattheirin-
volvement can benefit the client in terms of long-term value.
Similar to the client, the design team often does not recognize the
long-term benefits from early FM involvement.The interviewees
from the FM perspective criticize that designers often only consider
the present situation without a long-term plan, partly because of their
misconception and partly because they are subject to clients’ pres-
sure on capitalcostsaving.Therefore,there is a need to place a
greateremphasis on whole life costing in the industry.Another
barrier caused by designers is thatthey often look down on the
FM role as an afterthought. According to the interviewees, it is not
appropriate to design a building at two distinct stages, like bui
building and then installthe facilities.On the contrary,it is ap-
propriate to merge these two processes into one process, whe
design and FM teams work together, sometimes compromising
seek the best solution so that a quality product can be deliver
client. The interviews help to identify that the ignorance of ear
involvementis also because of the design team’s low priority to
functionality and practicability.Therefore,it is importantfor
architects and designers to better understand how to keep an
propriate balance between different quality features of a build
such as aesthetics, reliability, durability, conformance, functio
and practicability.A design team is influenced by the client.This
means that whether FM specialists can be involved and wheth
comments can be considered very much depend on the client
attitude. If early FM involvement is not required by the client,
design team often only is concerned with getting the job done
moving on to the next job. For this reason, the enhancement o
client’s awareness shown in Fig.4 also helps to overcome the
barriers from the design perspective.
FM is still in its infancy. As seen in Fig. 4, many FM practitio
are not knowledgeable and experienced enough, which becom
barrierto theirinvolvementin the design process.If more FM
practitioners become welleducated and professionally qualified,
according to the interviewees,it may increasingly influence the
design team to include the FM input.The interviewees believe
that FM knowledge and experience can be achieved by (1) est
lishing educationalstandards;(2) developing practicalstandards;
(3) having professionalqualification training;(4) learning from
occupant feedback; and (5) making continuous self-assessmen
addition to FM professionaltraining,the interviewees from the
design perspective think that FM practitioners need to have de
training to be effective at the design stage. This means that th
profession may play a more importantrole if they have more
knowledge and experience in design and construction. For exa
knowledge and experience in design and construction should b
diffused through university education and professional training
the FM discipline, in which case studies can be provided for a b
understanding of design and construction practice.Early FM in-
volvementin design can be explained as an interaction between
the design team and the FM team.The interviewees believe that
the highlight of the importance of early FM involvement does n
indicate that FM specialists lead architects and designers.On the
contrary, the interaction between the design team and the FM
often an exercise in compromise.They should learn from each
other and they should know how to have a good dialogue. From
FM perspective,they mustrealize thattheirinvolvementmeans
constructive comments and suggestions rather than blame all
tion. To ensure the success of their involvement, FM specialist
to develop their communication skills.
On the basis of the previous analysis and discussion, a mod
developed in Fig.4 to categorize the barriers to early FM in-
volvement in design and illustrate how to overcome these bar
The model exhibits a hierarchical structure. First of all, barriers
identified from three differentsources:client,design,and FM
organizations. The detailed barriers from each source are desc
atthe second level.For example,the detailed barriers caused by
design organizations mainly include the underestimation of FM
separation of facilities design from building design, and low pr
to functionality and practicability.At the third level,a measure is
created accordingly to overcome each individual barrier. To ov
come the barrier Separation of facilities design from building d
for example, integrated processes should be emphasized in de
practice.The modelcan be considered as a contribution ofthis
research to knowledge ofdesign and FM.It provides different
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stakeholders with a systematic framework for the improvement of
their practice in terms of integrating design with FM. This model is
a general template, based on which the key stakeholders can cus-
tomize it by identifying any further barriers and taking appropriate
actions in their own organizations.
Conclusions
On the basis of a series of interviews with industrial practitioners
in the United Kingdom, this empirical study explores early FM in-
volvementin the design process.It is found thatthere is an in-
creasing recognition of the importance of early FM involvement and
an increasing use of early FM involvement in today’s practice. Early
FM involvement not only benefits FM providers but also benefits
other key stakeholders, such as clients, designers, and end users. By
comparison, incorporating FM expertise into design is most suitable
for the PFIscheme,in which design,construction,and FM are
integrated together. If FM specialists do not get involved in design,
various problems may occur during operation,maintenance,and
services provision, which demonstrates the importance of early FM
involvementfrom the opposite side.Although early FM involve-
mentin design has been widely recognized by practitioners and
researchers in the United Kingdom, there are still some barrie
wide application. To overcome the barriers, more efforts need
made for enhancing the awareness of client and design organ
and developing the knowledge and skills of FM practitioners.
The knowledge and experience of both construction and FM
be incorporated into design decision making. The increasing u
early contractor and FM involvementestablishes a link between
design stage and later stages of a construction project. It also
address the problems for the lack of constructability,operability,
maintainability, and serviceability during early design. On the
hand, it can be considered as a strategy of developing an inte
project team. Before involving the FM team in design, it is imp
for the clientto selectknowledgeable and experienced FM spe-
cialists. Obviously, the appropriate selection of FM specialists
prerequisite for the success of early FM involvement practice.
this reason,a recommendation for further research is to identify
which method is most suitable for the selection of FM specialis
whose comments are crucial to design decision-making. As a r
of involving the FM team in design,the effectof early FM in-
volvement can be seen from the avoidance of design defects.
respect, some examples have been provided in this study. Fur
research can be outlined to collect more empirical information
analyze the realeffectof early FM involvementon performance
Fig. 4. Model for how to overcome the barriers to early FM involvement in design
506 / JOURNAL OF PERFORMANCE OF CONSTRUCTED FACILITIES © ASCE /SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013
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improvementduring operation,maintenance,and servicespro-
vision,which willhelp to betterunderstand the value ofincor-
porating FM expertise into design.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks the anonymous interviewees forparticipating
in this study. In addition to the interviewees, the author thanks the
postgraduate research students atQueen’s University Belfastfor
help during the interviews.
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