A greener public estate will only be achieved through a professional workforce with the skills, knowledge and credibility to translate ambition into action, according to IWFM’s Mike Agate
Not so long ago, sustainability sat in a fairly defined space within many estates teams.
There might be a carbon reduction programme, perhaps an energy manager, and a series of environmental targets sitting alongside the day job of keeping buildings operational and services running. But it’s a distinction that’s largely disappeared.
Today, sustainability is a factor in nearly every significant decision made within facilities management. Procurement, maintenance, workplace design, retrofit programmes, asset lifecycle planning, cleaning specifications, waste strategies and supplier performance all carry environmental implications. Workplace and facilities managers are now expected to balance operational performance, public value and environmental outcomes simultaneously.
This is positive, and fully in line with the growing understanding that net zero ambitions will be delivered through day-to-day operational decisions as much as through major capital projects. The pressing question however is whether public sector organisations have the capability they need to deliver those ambitions themselves?
This matters because the sustainability imperative is gaining urgency just as government is encouraging departments and public bodies to take a more strategic view of how services are delivered.
The publication of PPN 024 and the associated Public Interest Test marks an important development in that respect. Rather than outsourcing almost by default, public estates are being charged with assessing how services are delivered against a broader set of considerations, including long-term value, resilience, accountability and organisational capability. The accompanying guidance also recognises that where insourcing is being considered, organisations need sufficient lead time to develop the skills, capacity and operational readiness required to bring services back in-house successfully.
For facilities management – the function that will ultimately translate these choices into practical outcomes – the issue is not simply whether services are outsourced, insourced or blended. It is whether the people responsible for those services have the professional expertise to deliver better environmental performance.
And that’s where the FM profession may face its biggest challenge over the coming decade.
Capability – the foundation of sustainability
Every procurement decision, maintenance intervention, lifecycle assessment and workplace change relies so some degree on professional judgment. Ambitious environmental targets have little value unless facilities teams possess the skills required to turn them into practical, measurable outcomes.
The organisations making the greatest progress are often not those with the most ambitious targets, but those with the strongest internal capability. Teams of professionals who understand the operational realities of service delivery and can translate strategic objectives into meaningful action. That capability requirement will only grow.
Professionalisation matters
This is one reason why the government’s ambition for 90 per cent of FM, workplace and maintenance senior practitioners and leaders to achieve accreditation with an approved professional body by 2030 is so significant.
The target is sometimes viewed through the lens of workforce planning or career development. However, it is just as significant as a statement of intent about the future of public sector estates.
Professional accreditation provides a benchmark of competence in an increasingly complex operating environment. It establishes common standards, supports continuing professional development and gives organisations greater assurance that practitioners are equipped for the responsibilities placed on them.
That matters because, as we’ve seen, facilities managers are being asked to do more than ever before. Understanding environmental legislation, carbon reporting, sustainable procurement, data analysis, building performance and organisational resilience – these are not niche specialisms. They are rapidly becoming part of the core skillset required to manage modern public estates effectively.
At the same time, many organisations continue to face challenges around recruitment, succession planning and the attraction of new talent into the profession.
If government is serious about building long-term capability within public estates – something that is at the core of its ten-year Education Estates Strategy, as one example – then professional development cannot be treated as secondary. It must be considered part of the infrastructure itself.
The role of professional bodies
Professional bodies like IWFM have a critical role in supporting that ambition.As service delivery models evolve and sustainability expectations continue to rise, organisations need a clear understanding of what good professional practice looks like. They need frameworks that define competence, support learning and help individuals develop throughout their careers.
This takes on an even greater significance as public estates plan to bring services back in-house. Insourcing may provide greater control over delivery, but it also places greater responsibility not just to develop the knowledge and capability needed to manage those services effectively, but to evidence that capability.
IWFM, at the heart of the facilities management profession, helps bridge this gap by defining professional standards, by providing recognised pathways into the sector, by providing professional accreditation to members, supporting their continuous development and ensuring standards keep pace with the changing demands of the role.
And through its strategic partnership with the Cabinet Office, and close relationships across the Government Property Profession, IWFM’s support for capability within public estates provides something that is often overlooked in discussions about skills: professional confidence.
As responsibilities continue to broaden, facilities managers, especially at a senior level, will increasingly be required to contribute to strategic conversations around sustainability, public value, service design and organisational performance. Professional development helps ensure they are equipped not simply to participate in those discussions, but to lead them.
Beyond an estates issue
Viewed this way, sustainability ceases to be solely an environmental challenge. It is a workforce challenge, a leadership challenge and, increasingly, a capability challenge.
The Public Interest Test introduces an important discussion about how public services should be delivered and where capability should sit. Whatever conclusions individual organisations reach, the direction of travel is clear. Public bodies are being encouraged to think more deliberately about long-term capacity, resilience and control.
For facilities management professionals, that should be welcomed. For many years, IWFM has argued that effective stewardship of public assets requires investment not only in buildings and infrastructure, but also in the people responsible for managing them. The growing focus on sustainability, combined with the renewed interest in insourcing, provides a timely opportunity to reinforce that message.
What does this all mean?
In the years ahead, perhaps the most important sustainability investment public sector organisations can make will not be in the buildings themselves, but in the capability of the teams entrusted to manage them.
The sustainability agenda will continue to evolve, and priorities within that agenda will continue to shift – in the afterglow of a historic heatwave, that is clearer than ever. New technologies will emerge, regulatory expectations will change and pressure on public sector organisations to improve environmental performance and adapt to climate change will only increase.
Those developments will shape the future of our public estates, but they should not distract from the fundamental point. Any sustainability strategy will live or die according to the skills of the people responsible for delivering it.
As government places greater emphasis on capability, professional FM accreditation and informed decisions about service delivery, there is an opportunity to recognise that sustainability and professional development are not separate priorities. They are intrinsically linked.
