Investigation of facilities management practices for providing feedback during the design development and review stages

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current practices of the early facilities management (FM) involvement during the design development and review stages (DDRS), and recommend activities aimed at achieving better integration. Design/methodology/approach: A comprehensive literature review was conducted to ascertain the challenges faced by the integrated design team (IDT) in the absence of the facilities managers’ review of design solutions, and underscore the significance of the early involvement of facilities managers during the DDRS. A questionnaire survey was then developed for collecting data on eight aspects of the current practices of early FM involvement during the DDRS. The questionnaire survey was administered to the FM departments of 13 long established, public universities in Saudi Arabia. Ten responses were obtained and analyzed. Findings: The findings suggest that the early involvement of the FM department enhances the operation and maintenance of facilities. This has been measured through reductions in the number of architectural, structural, electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilating and air conditioning defects. Practical implications: Recommendations were provided to facilitate the process of integrating the practices of two influential stakeholders of building projects. These recommendations encompass the need for maintainability considerations at the early schematic stage, the necessity of direct contact between the two parties and the necessity of facility managers’ increased familiarity of the design stage activities, among other recommendations. In this way, the study promotes the awareness of the significance of integrating FM with the IDT at the DDRS. Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature and practice by presenting a detailed analysis of the integration process between the FM department and the IDT. Furthermore, the outcomes of the integration between the parties were measured to assess the effectiveness of the collaboration and highlight the possible areas of improvement.