Brian Crockford, a Board Director of the local Chapter, and FM consultant to a major international investment bank, will talk about how businesses, which have become service quality driven and cost aware, should now be taking a closer look at the provisions of management fees.

Enquiry & Registration - Miss Serine Li Email: serine@aft.com.hk Tel: 3427 8100

News & Views

360 E-zine from Steelcase

A new edition of the Steelcase 360 e-zine is on-line now at http://www.steelcase-ap.com/360/vol3/hk/

It features the latest knowledge, news and product information from Steelcase Asia Pacific, with ideas, insights and resources that will help you start the year on an informed and inspired note.

The e-zine also features the new corporate headquarters for DaimlerChrsyler in Canada , which provides staff with a comfortable inspiring workplace environment that can be easily and inexpensively reconfigured to accommodate changing user needs and new technologies.

Optimising building performance without compromising service quality - by Eric Krantz

Eric is a consultant currently working with JPMorgan Chase. In this short article, he provides some helpful tips on how to optimise the performance of plant and equipment within your building without compromising service quality:

OPTIMIZE ENERGY USAGE This does not have to mean shutting equipment off and providing less service although you should make sure that, in general, you are not running equipment you don't need to run. REVISIT EVERY SYSTEM YOU ARE RUNNING What would happen if you simply turned it off? Remember cold complaints equal wasted energy, not just client dissatisfaction. Are there any areas where you can raise the set-points? ARE YOU SUPPLYING AIRCON TO OUTDOOR AREAS? Many buildings "lose" much of their air conditioning to the outside from "leaks" and open doors. Check your building for obvious signs of leakage and bad building seals. ARE YOUR AIR AND WATER SYSTEMS PROPERLY & EFFICIENTLY BALANCED? Most commercial buildings use a lot of energy to run pumps and fans. Air and water systems have balancing dampers (or valves) which are used to regulate/throttle the air/water flow so that the right amount is distributed to the right places. Check with a balancing engineer who can audit your facility to see if some of these dampers (or valves) are closed too much. If many of them are closed too tight, then your systems may benefit greatly from rebalancing. In some cases, this may allow you to turn down your pump or fan speed and save money. It can also improve the life expectancy of the system and equipment by reducing stress and strain.