Z-squared: sustainable facility management

About the report

Looking at the ongoing management, support structures, services, obligations and responsibilities associated with sustaining the 2,000 home Z-squared concept community into the future. 

The report is one of ten in our Z-squared report series.

Published July 2005
Pages 54

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BioRegional is a registered charity – if you would like to make a donation for this report please visit www.justgiving.com to do so securely on-line – suggested donation £4.00.  

Your support will help us to continue developing vital solutions for sustainable living.

Introduction

Professor Franklin Becker, Director of the Cornell University International Workplace Studies Program and founding editor of the Journal of Facilities Management, has defined facilities management (FM) as:

“The responsibility for coordinating all efforts related to planning, designing, and managing buildings and their systems, equipment, and furniture to enhance the organisations ability to compete successfully in a changing world”

The aims of this study
The ethos behind the Z-squared community is to create and support a community in which it is easy for the residents, workers and other users to choose to lead sustainable lifestyles at a level consistent with using their fair share of the planet’s resources. The proposals developed in the Z-squared main report1 describe the proposed community in terms of masterplanning, building performance standards, as well as the infrastructure, technologies and services required to support the community.

Although the Z-squared report does refer to some management and maintenance issues, the aim of this study is to consider the ongoing management, support structures, services, obligations and responsibilities associated with sustaining the Z-squared community into the future. A further important aim of this study is to investigate how the management responsibilities and requirements of the aspects of Z-squared could best be inter-related to support and benefit the sustainable ethos of the community.

Z-squared Community
The mixed-use Z-squared community will offer a variety of residential accommodation, local employment, retail and commercial spaces together with a range of community and institutional facilities to support the population in achieving a high quality of life whilst consuming resources and producing wastes and emissions consistent with achieving sustainable development.

There are several key challenges in attempting to develop a facilities management strategy for the Z-squared community. These are primarily associated with scale and characteristics of the community, the innovative technologies and infrastructure proposed, and the triple-bottom-line approach to management.

Download report PDF
........................................................................................................
BioRegional is a registered charity – if you would like to make a donation for this report please visit www.justgiving.com to do so securely on-line – suggested donation £4.00.  

Your support will help us to continue developing vital solutions for sustainable living.