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The purpose of this paper is to present a process model of value-adding corporate real estate and facilities management and indicators that can be used to measure and benchmark workplace performance and the added value of workplace interventions for an organisation.

The paper compares the performance measurement and benchmarking theory with current practice and data from different work environments. The paper builds on two books on adding value through buildings, facilities and services, both edited and co-authored by the authors of this paper. The books were based on literature reviews, interviews with practitioners, cross-border studies of performance measurement and benchmarking and in-depth analyses of various value parameters by experts from different countries. In addition, theory and empirical examples of benchmarking have been included.

The paper presents 12 value parameters that are seen as relevant in measuring and benchmarking of workplace performance: four people-oriented, four business processes-related, two economic and two social parameters. Because not all values can be easily expressed in monetary units, various other ways of measuring are presented that can help to monitor and to benchmark workplace performance. The 12 values and ways to measure can be used to support a more integrated business case approach that goes beyond “dollar-metrics” and spreadsheet-based decision-making. Both quantitative and qualitative performance indicators, including hard and soft factors, are needed to define the trade-off between the costs and benefits of interventions in corporate real estate, facilities and services and to cope with the interests and needs of different stakeholders.

To add value to an organisation, workplaces have to provide value for money by a positive trade-off between the benefits, i.e. support of the organisational objectives and the primary processes and the costs, time and risks connected with achieving these benefits. Widely used indicators to measure the costs are the investment costs, running costs and total cost of occupancy. These metrics are primarily connected to efficiency, i.e. to optimal use of the resources of a firm, but much less to effectiveness and benefits such as user satisfaction, productivity, health and well-being.

The paper links performance measurement and benchmarking to value-adding corporate real estate and facilities management and presents new ways to measure and benchmark the performance of buildings, facilities and services in connection to organisational performance.

This paper aims to focus on deliberate actions by the building client to integrate knowledge of facilities management, in particular building operation, in design and construction of sustainable facilities. Examples of current practices are studied to answer the following questions: Which initiatives to enable operational friendly and sustainable buildings are currently used by building clients in Denmark? Which initiatives could be appropriate to use in the future, and which parties are in the best position to implement the various initiatives?

The study is a hermeneutic multi-method study, which consists of a review of former research, a case study and a survey. It starts with theoretical background based on earlier research with the aim to identify initiatives to ensure the use of operational knowledge in building design. Hereafter, the paper presents, analyses and discusses two studies: a case study of current practices at a university campus organisation and a survey of five swimming facilities. All cases are from Denmark.

In all, 31 initiatives to enable use of operational knowledge in building design were initially identified. In the case study, 11 additional initiatives were found. The case study and the survey of swimming facilities show different degrees of implementation, varying from 18 to 31 initiatives implemented. However, the studies show that introducing the initiatives is not sufficient; it takes deliberate actions to get the initiatives well implemented. Within the building client organisation, three main actors should care for implementing the initiatives: Top management, building client division and operation division.

Research-based literature on practices in relation to knowledge transfer from operation to design is limited. This paper provides insights into deliberate efforts on transferring knowledge from operation to design among Danish building clients.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into strategic sourcing concerning facilities management (FM) and how it can contribute to a sourcing decision that combines the benefits of internal and external provision with consideration of business risk and cost.

The paper investigates a strategic sourcing and procurement process in a large public organisation in Denmark based on participating in internal meetings, a workshop, document studies and interviews. The process is compared to a new ISO standard with guidance on strategic sourcing and development of FM agreements.

A problem in the new ISO standard is that it is based on sequential model starting with detailing the demand and needs before investigating sourcing option. The case shows that the way needs are specified are depending on the chosen sourcing models. Based on a thorough analysis, the organisation decided to change the sourcing strategy with insourcing the most critical building-related activities and changing the procurement strategy from one integrated FM contract to three bundled and seven single-service contracts. The concept of right-sourcing is discussed.

The research is based on a study of one public organisation, which limits the possibility to generalise the results. However, it provides detailed insights into the strategic sourcing process in FM, which can give inspiration for practitioners and further research.

The paper throws light on a strategic sourcing process which is rarely available in public because of confidentiality considerations, and it provides the first evaluation of the new ISO standard from 2016.

IT platforms such as integrated workplace management system (IWMS) gain higher importance in real estate management, but there is a lack of knowledge on what IWMS is and what the drivers are for its implementation in real estate organisations. The paper aims to provide knowledge on this.

The research combines theories of real estate management, IT implementations and change management, with a qualitative case study of IWMS implementation in a public real estate organisation in Denmark. The research data consist of customer surveys, document studies, semi-structured interviews and in-depth analysis of IWMS features.

The paper identifies several drivers for IWMS implementation, such as data standardisation, validation and easier data exchange, business process optimisation, decrease in IT costs and improved customer service. Furthermore, the case study reveals that the IWMS implementation is not considered as a definite IT project but as an organisational change project impacting the entire organisation.

There has so far not been any public real estate organisations in Denmark using IWMS, and the knowledge about IWMS in public real estate sector is therefore limited. To date, no one has analysed what the drivers are for IWMS implementation in real estate organisations. This research paper brings new knowledge on IWMS and presents drivers for IWMS implementation, observed from an implementation process in a public real estate organisation.

The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical-based typology of facilities management (FM) and corporate real estate management (CREM) interventions that can add value to the core business of organisations and possibly the wider society. The typology is explained, elaborated and discussed with the aim to reach a deeper understanding of value adding management in the context of FM and CREM.

The paper is based on FM and CREM literature, a survey with 15 expert interviews from six different European countries and cases with examples of interventions from earlier research.

The typology consists of six types of interventions, some mainly product-related, some mainly process-related and some that can be both. Each type is underpinned by examples from a case company and from interviews.

The number of interviews is limited. The typology with related interventions is not necessarily complete. However, the typology is regarded to include the most important interventions in the current state of practice of FM and CREM.

The typology provides an overview of the different ways FM and CREM can add value. The cases and examples can be used as inspiration for developing specific interventions in practice.

The typology is the first to provide a classification of FM and CREM interventions. By integrating findings from interviews and case studies, this typology contributes to a better understanding and practicing of value adding management.

The gap between the expected and actual performance of newly built facilities has been widely described in the literature as “the performance gap”. Mostly, the performance gap appears to be synonymous with the energy performance gap. Little attention has been given to other performance aspects that facilities managers recognise as deficient in newly built or renovated buildings like for instance difficulties in operation and maintenance. This study contributes with a typology of performance gaps, with the aim to offer a more nuanced understanding of the term, where the interests of facilities management are in focus.

The empirical data consist of four in-depth interviews, two focus group interviews and three workshops. Except for one workshop, the data collection took place in Denmark.

The study identifies 12 types of performance gaps of which “higher energy consumption” is one. The gaps are interdependent and initiatives to reduce one type of gap can potentially lead to an increase in another. Furthermore, the study finds that the fatal (the most critical) gap is context-specific.

The findings of this study imply a need to change the way we previously have discussed the early involvement of the facilities management in design. The study shows that more involvement of FM is not necessarily better.

This paper is the first attempt to cover performance gaps of buildings from a holistic viewpoint and from the perspective of FM.

This article aims to present and compare research perspectives and theoretical reflections from a variety of academic fields on the concept of added value of facilities management.

The starting point is the so‐called FM Value Map, which was presented in a recent article in Facilities by Per Anker Jensen in 2010. The article is a first result of the work in the EuroFM research collaboration group and is based on literature reviews of the most influential journals within the academic fields of facilities management (FM), corporate real estate management and business‐to‐business marketing.

Good relationship management and building on trust is shown to be equally important as delivering the agreed services.

Usually the concept of added value is discussed from a monodisciplinary point‐of‐view. The different backgrounds of the authors add value to an increased understanding of the added value of FM by comparing and testing different ways of conceptualising this issue. This is of great importance to FM research and evidence‐based FM as a sound basis for the long‐term recognition of FM.

This paper aims to investigate how facilities management (FM) and corporate real estate management (CREM) can add value to organisations by contributing to improved productivity of knowledge workers, and to explore interrelationships between productivity, employee satisfaction and other value parameters.

This is a literature research of possible contributions of FM and CREM to improved labour productivity in relation to five activity areas of FM/CREM (portfolio management, project management, space and workplace management, property management and service management) and a first exploration of interrelationships between productivity and other value parameters.

The findings indicate that FM and CREM most directly can contribute to productivity by space and workplace management that supports different types of work and organisational activities. Portfolio and project management can mostly contribute by providing appropriate locations, adjacency relations between different parts of the organisation and supporting process flow and logistics. Property management can contribute to productivity by ensuring business continuity and comfortable indoor climate. Service management can contribute by relieving staff from trivial tasks by efficient services and by providing exiting experiences. Productivity shows to be mainly positively related to satisfaction; insights into interrelationships with other value parameters are still limited.

The results can be used to obtain a deeper understanding of how FM and CREM can add value to organisations by contributing to improved labour productivity. Practitioners can find inspiration on how to contribute to labour productivity and additional benefits within specific activity areas of FM and CREM. The exploration of interrelationships between productivity and other values can be used as input to a future research agenda.

The paper adds new insights to the growing body of knowledge about how FM/CREM can contribute to increased labour productivity and how other value parameters may be interrelated with productivity.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the collaboration between researchers and practitioners on developing standards and guidelines for Facilities Management (FM).

This paper is based on a longitudinal case study on research on FM value adding and its impact on FM standardization and development of a FM Value Guide. The sources used are literature and documents on FM value adding and standardization, published and planned FM standards, the FM Value Guide, internal documents and participant observations and experiences. All authors of this paper have both research and practical background. Two of them have been – and one still is – actively involved in developing European and international FM standards, and all three have been involved in developing the FM Value Guide. The research methodology can be characterized as retrospective action research.

The literature review shows that even though there are many references to standards in research papers, particularly in relation to definitions of concepts, there are only few studies on how research influences standardization and how researchers collaborate with practitioners on developing standards and guidelines. This paper presents a case study showing how research can contribute to standardization and development of guidelines in collaboration with practitioners and makes suggestions on how such collaboration can be improved.

The results of this paper provide understanding and inspiration for how researchers and practitioners can collaborate in the development of standards and guidelines.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first study on collaboration between researchers and practitioners on developing FM standards and guidelines.