Facilities management guides

What is integrated facilities management (IFM)?

Integrated facilities management (IFM) means one provider manages several building services, such as cleaning, security, fire and security systems and maintenance, under one coordinated contract and management structure. The aim is less contractor management, joined-up delivery and better value than buying each service separately.

Soft FM vs hard FM: what's the difference?

Hard FM covers the physical building and its systems, such as heating, electrics, plumbing, lifts and fire systems. Soft FM covers the services that make a building safe and pleasant to use, such as cleaning, security, waste and reception. Many contracts mix the two.

Separate, bundled or integrated contracts: which suits your school or trust?

Separate contracts suit a single school with good in-house premises staff. Bundled contracts suit schools that want fewer suppliers without changing how services run. Integrated contracts suit trusts with several schools that want one coordinated service, aligned renewal dates and trust-wide reporting.

How to tender facilities services for a multi-academy trust

Map every school's current contracts and renewal dates, decide whether to buy by lot or as one integrated contract, write an output-based specification, plan for TUPE, weight quality properly against price, and leave enough time for mobilisation before the start date.

10 questions to ask a facilities management provider

Ask how much of the work the provider delivers itself, who will manage each service, which accreditations each service holds, how alarms and faults are handled out of hours, how you'll get reports, how pay rises are priced and who your single point of contact is.