It has been another exciting and inspiring year for facilities management, and we are honoured as always to follow the evolution of the industry on our platform. We take a look back at the articles that ignited your curiosity.
There is never a dull moment on Facility Management, and this year we produced some of our most exciting and engaging content yet.
We continued the editorial series ‘How I Got Here’ launched by former assistant editor Sophie Berrill, which profiles impressive people who have worked in the field to map out some of the paths taken and demystify the essential profession of a FM. We were also thrilled to launch the new editorial series ‘Meet Your Local FM’, where we profile the facility managers of various cultural institutions in Australia.
In other news, we continued to spotlight impressive energy efficiency feats, accessible and inclusive facility design, building automation technology and mobile access solutions.
We interviewed impressive subject matter experts, including TerraCycle’s CEO Tom Szaky to dive into the fickle yet wonderful world of waste. We chatted with City of Melbourne lord mayoral candidate Jamal Hakim, learned about fish tank hacks with Nozomi Networks chief revenue officer Kevin Isaac and delved into the joys (and challenges) of working at heritage-listed marvels with Tivoli Theatre chief operating officer Naomi Gordon, Marriner Group director of facilities Greg Watt and Government House Queensland acting facilities manager Ty Beale.
Although an occasionally obscured and glossed-over profession, this platform proves that facilities management is dynamic, ever-evolving and critical in safeguarding a healthy and resilient future.
TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky is committed to solve the “unintuitive anomalies” of waste.
Top five articles
1. Responding to the post-federal budget scramble in the built environment, by Helena Morgan
Taking the cake for Facility Management’s most-read article is our deep dive into how facility managers can diligently and sustainably respond to maintenance demands following the federal budget.
We spoke to Engineers Australia CEO Romilly Madew, WPC Group group general manager Andrew Sezonov and Old Melbourne Gaol operations manager Kathleen Toohey to gain insight into how the industry can guarantee safety and order at facilities in the last six months of the year. Read more
2. ‘Live and learn’ RMIT Training campus at Scape Franklin ushers in a new era for student services facilities, by Helena Morgan
In June, we reported on RMIT Training joining forces with Scape, Australia’s largest owner and operator of purpose-built student accommodation, to provide a one-of-a-kind student experience facility at Scape Franklin in Melbourne. Read more
3. How I Got Here: Goodman Group’s Abi El-Kobaili on how effective communication remedies obstacles, by Helena Morgan
The most popular ‘How I Got Here’ this year was a profile on Goodman Group industrial building manager Abi El-Kobaili. El-Kobaili is inspired by the dynamic nature of her role as a building manager that necessitates responsibility for a vast array of tasks such as coordinating contractors, engaging with customers and the wider Goodman team, and managing day-to-day maintenance. Read more
Goodman Group industrial building manager Abi El-Kobaili
4. Meet Your Local FM: Sea World’s Brett Stevenson on the roller coaster role of managing an iconic Gold Coast site by Helena Morgan
This year’s most popular ‘Meet Your Local FM’ is with Sea World and Sea World Resort facility manager Brett Stevenson. If he had a dollar for every time someone assumed that gleefully swimming with dolphins was a core fixture in his day, he could finance endless rides on the park’s roller coasters.
“I’m definitely very popular,” he laughs. “My nieces and nephews are forever getting tickets.” Read more
5. How I Got Here: University of Queensland facilities manager Robert Dore on the ‘behind the scenes’, by Helena Morgan
Overseeing the facilities management at The University of Queensland – Queensland’s top university that Robert Dore likens to a “small city” – is no small feat.
However, his extensive experience across building management, equipment installation, HVAC and construction, coupled with a scrupulous attention to detail and staunch commitment to his team, ensures smooth operations and the gratification that he has “made a difference”. Read more
Sea World facilities manager Brett Stevenson
January’s top stories
1. Rod Laver Arena champions accessibility with world-class cool down facilities, by Helena Morgan
Capitalising on the palpable Australian Open buzz all too familiar to a January in Melbourne, the Rod Laver Arena launched ice baths for athletes that place accessibility at the forefront of design. Read more
2. Meet Your Local FM: Melbourne Zoo’s Zac Saber on ecological mindfulness, by Helena Morgan
Cherished as a Melbourne cultural institution for 160 years, Melbourne Zoo’s current facility management is influenced by the wider societal pursuit to minimise ecological footprint, alongside extending care towards flora and fauna and practising sustainable water and waste removal. We spoke to Zac Saber, the sustainability supervisor at Melbourne Zoo. Read more
February’s top stories
1. Meet Your Local FM: Dandenong Refugee Resource Hub’s Thuch Ajak on maintaining a home of hope, by Helena Morgan
Describing his role as akin to an “engine behind the operation”, Thuch Ajak beams as the senior partnerships advisor – and former facilities and operations manager – of the Dandenong Refugee Resource Hub (RRH). The RRH has operated as a bustling community services one-stop-shop for nearly three years – with cultural mindfulness and a commitment to help anyone in need propelling the team forward. Read more
2. Cooling and heating take to the floor at Smart Design Studio’s office, by Helena Morgan
On January 11 2024, Sydney had its muggiest day on record, with the hourly dew point reaching a record temperature of 25.9 degrees Celsius and humidity weighing in at 94 percent.
But the office workers at Smart Design Studio, in the inner-southern Sydney suburb of Alexandria, did not experience a temperature higher than 26 degrees, and it wasn’t due to the whir and hum-drum of air conditioning. Read more
Underfloor cooling demonstrates how incorporating sustainable building practices into a build can be perceived as an investment rather than a cost.
March’s top stories
1. Meet Your Local FM: Australian War Memorial’s Jana Johnson on connecting to a cultural institution, by Helena Morgan
As far as stereotypes about facilities managers go, the assumptions pertaining to Jana Johnson’s role as facilities manager of the Australian War Memorial err on cinematic, nationally significant and headline-worthy.
“A lot of my friends think from the stories I’ve told them that I simply make sure the eternal flame stays lit,” says Johnson.
As usual in Facility Management’s ‘Meet Your Local FM’ series, the assumptions regarding facilities management are far from reality, and myths are busted and lessons learned. Read more
2. An industry of choice and inclusion: Pursuing gender parity in construction, by Helena Morgan
Shock can be immobilising, but it often goes hand-in-hand with frustration and can galvanise people into action.
This is a reality that Urban Core founder and managing director Dominique Gill hopes will occur after the recent release of the gender pay gap figures by the Women Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), which left many confused and disarmed as to how and why pay inequity persists in 2024. Read more
April’s top stories
1. The built world from both sides – architectural graduate and carpenter calls for industry change in construction, by Helena Morgan
Former architectural graduate and associate Sally Wills used feelings of frustration and dissatisfaction towards the discipline to propel her forward into a carpentry apprenticeship.
A year into the apprenticeship, she still experiences the effects of a jarring yet rewarding sea change, and working in construction has seen Wills adopt a completely new and exciting way of life. Read more
2. Flexible working is reliant on trust, by Helena Morgan
Brisbane-based Plus Architecture principal Rebecca Wright argues that offering flexible working solutions can only be a good thing, and with trust, understanding and openness, a break from tradition can contribute to enriched employee health and wellbeing. Read more
Gill believes that changing the construction industry starts with elevating the level of sophistication associated with construction and changing public perception. She says it is wrongly dismissed as overly patriarchal and exclusive.
May’s top stories
1.“As the maker intended” – Foodifox leads the charge of a new frontier in dining experiences at educational facilities, by Helena Morgan
Forever committed to solving food delivery woes, Foodifox is thrilled to expand its presence into the educational residency market with the installation of QR-code-operated heated lockers on the University of New South Wales campus.
“We were really trying to figure out how to synthesise food and technology. It was the starting premise of where we wanted to go and what we wanted to be,” says Foodifix CEO Tim Pagram. Read more
June’s top stories
1. Parkable a key player in sustainable modernisation of the built environment, by Helena Morgan
Parkable seeks to eliminate the time, energy and morale that facilities unnecessarily dedicate to parking, by offering effortless and seamless car park management and reducing parking administration by up to 93 percent.
‘It’s not everyone’s job to save the world, but it’s everyone’s job to contribute and everyone can and every business can,” says Parkable CEO Toby Littin. Read more
July’s top stories
1. Meet Your Local FM – Marriner Group’s Greg Watt on managing venues that provide an escape to a former time, by Helena Morgan
Like many facilities managers, Greg Watt relishes the variety of his days, the camaraderie and the vast array of people who make up the staff and contribute to an inspiring community of creatives and artists. Read more
The Princess Theatre, Regent Theatre, Comedy Theatre, Forum Melbourne and Plaza Ballroom all fall under Greg Watt’s scrupulous eye as facilities director.
August’s top stories
1. “You can’t protect what you can’t see” – Nozomi Networks’ Kevin Isaac on how visibility, intersectoral collaboration and maturity curves could save us from cyber attacks, by Helena Morgan
Facility managers, chief information security officers and directors, respectively, walk the tightrope towards cybersecurity meltdowns by failing to harness the possibilities of intersectoral collaboration in pursuing visible systems, Nozomi Networks CRO Kevin Isaac says. Read more
September’s top stories
1. Science community celebrates First Nations knowledge systems receiving long-awaited focus in National Science and Research Priorities
Science & Technology Australia and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering praised the National Science and Research Priorities and National Science Statement’s mission to uplift First Nations knowledge systems and redefine Australia’s relationship to science. Read more
2. Michael Petrovich champions dry ice as a sustainable and non-toxic cleaning force for factories and facilities, by Helena Morgan
Michael Petrovich is a self-proclaimed jack of all trades – a draftsman by profession, a former sales manager for Mercedes Benz, a telecommunications technician, a Masters degree holder in Commerce, a vintage car aficionado and the founder of ICEBLASTER.
ICEBLASTER specialises in dry-ice blasting as a sustainable, non-toxic and non-abrasive cleaning method for hospitality and automotive sectors, in addition to fire and flood-damaged properties. Read more
Petrovich describes dry-ice blasting as the “perfect fit” for food packaging machinery due to its efficacy.
October’s top stories
1. Meet Your Local FM: Government House Queensland’s Ty Beale on the dynamism of a facilities team, by Helena Morgan
Invaluable heritage fabric and heritage-listed bushlands, valiant efforts to nurture surrounding biodiversity, event management prowess and identity as a haven for Queenslanders scattered far and wide – these attributes make Government House Queensland a compelling case study in the possibilities of harnessing the skillset of an interdisciplinary team in facilities management. Read more
2. Veolia slashes waste collection costs and frequency at Circular Quay, by Helena Morgan
Veolia Group’s custom-designed waste compacting solution has decreased weekly waste collections by almost 66 percent, alongside reducing transport emissions by the same amount and halving waste operational expenses. Read more
Government House Queensland is an exemplar in a multi-purpose facility capitalising on every moving part to operate an efficiently managed space that gives back to the community and repays the planet.
November’s top stories
1. Something in the air: Why a faulty HVAC means a sick building, by Helena Morgan
Many would choose to do things differently in the next pandemic. Ashburner Francis senior mechanical engineer Clinton Walker is prioritising setting a better benchmark for living indoors – starting with more stringent measures around HVAC operation and maintenance. Read more
December’s top stories
1. KONE is shaping the future of cities through energy-efficient vertical transportation, by Helena Morgan
Titans in the smart elevator and escalator industry, KONE is refining the flow of urban life and capitalising on the present opportunity for modernisation and technological innovation.
“We are determined to really drive our industry forward to rise. We believe there are few battles that are worth fighting,” says KONE CEO Philippe Delorme. Read more
Wormald is committed to ensuring Sydney Airport, Australia’s largest and most traffic-dense airport, maintains optimum fire safety and compliance.
2. Wormald nabs specialist fire service contract for Australia’s busiest airport, by Helena Morgan
Wormald has toasted the end of the year by securing an eight-year contract to operate as the on-site specialist fire service contractor for Sydney Airport. Read more
Thank you for reading and we look forward to returning in 2025!
