We need to move on. That was the starting point for Workplace Futures 2013 – we need to take FM theory and practice to the next level.

We need to stop thinking about service delivery in the old ‘tried & tested’ ways and start thinking in terms of true alignment with business objectives and real customer experience. Combining a deep knowledge of business drivers with a full understanding of the needs and expectations of people in the workplace is the path to enhancing the strategic value of facilities management.

This is not a new argument – and we know that there are a few clients and service providers blazing trails towards genuine strategic partnerships for the future. But ‘tried & tested’ still dominates FM practice: costs, cuts and competition are too often the themes, too often pushing the discipline towards commoditisation and squeezing out the opportunities for adding real benefit and value.

Workplace Futures 2013 brought together some of the trail-blazers – both providers and their clients – to offer some of the best examples in the industry of ‘next generation’ thinking and practice.