A shortage of skilled facility managers is the biggest hurdle to the delivery of FM services in Asia Pacific, according to a Jones Lang LaSalle survey of over 60 senior facility management professionals at the recent World Workplace Asia 2012 conference held in Singapore.

Key survey findings were:

• Almost three-quarters, or 73% of respondents, believe that skills shortage is the most important factor inhibiting the delivery of facility management in Singapore.

• Turnover of talent is the second biggest challenge facing the industry in Singapore for two-thirds of respondents (67%), suggesting that skilled FMs can and do utilise their significant bargaining power.

• More than half (57%) believe that a lack of understanding around the value of facility management is a major challenge to the delivery of these services in Singapore.

• The top three benefits that respondents expect facility management outsourcing to deliver are access to best practice, value for money and innovation in business.

• The top three factors that will shape the future of facility management are alignment to core business, business continuity, and cost and risk management through outsourcing.

“Facility managers in the region today are faced with a difficult challenge: businesses are asking for—and expecting—more from their service offering and delivery. This means that preparedness and access to non-traditional skills are now the most pressing concerns for professionals in the industry,” said Jordi Martin, Managing Director of Integrated Facilities Management in Asia Pacific for Jones Lang LaSalle

“At the same time, businesses are embracing facility management as a key component of their real estate strategy and are keen to work in partnership with FM providers. For potential new recruits within and outside the industry, this is an attractive prospect,” Jordi added.

via Facility management industry faces talent challenge.

CRE Firms Enter Important Second Half of 2012 Facing Lingering Questions About Global Sovereign Debt, Job Growth And Economy’s Potential Impact On Property Markets

By Randyl Drummer

August 1, 2012

CEOs of the major publicly traded real estate services firms hit on several of the same themes this week in outlining their mid-year financial results, presenting a portrait of busier transaction activity and improving property fundamentals in a still tentative real estate recovery, hindered by uncertainty over the U.S. elections — and especially, slower-than-expected job growth and other setbacks in the ongoing saga of the U.S., global and European economic recoveries.

Common themes in conference calls for second-quarter and six-month financial reports by executives for CBRE Group, Jones Lang LaSalle, HFF Inc. and FirstService Corp., parent of Colliers International — companies at the center of real estate activity and market conditions — included solid growth in investments sales activity, especially in the Americas; and weaker leasing revenues as landlords and tenants put off making decisions.

Other themes sounded by CEOs and their teams included:

Growth in outsourcing business by the industry’s two largest players, CBRE and JLL, as global companies strive to become more efficient in light of the global economic slowdown.

Increasing operational expenses from investments in higher sales headcounts, and acquisition and integration costs which cut into several firms’ margins.

Year-over-year growth in commercial mortgage brokerage business driven by continued capital availability, generally low interest rates, competitive spreads and investors continued search for yield.

via Top CRE Firms Report Solid Mid-Year Returns, But See Caution in Market Uncertainty – CoStar Group.

CHICAGO, LONDON, SINGAPORE, September 12 2011 – Jones Lang LaSalle has been honoured with a number of awards at the prestigious annual Euromoney Real Estate Awards (2011), being voted number one Global Real Estate Advisor and Consultant.  This is the third time Jones Lang LaSalle has won the overall global award since the award programme was established in 2005; this year the firm also was voted top Global Advisor and Consultant for Valuation and Research. 

Colin Dyer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Jones Lang LaSalle said: “Recognition in the Euromoney Real Estate Awards 2011 is noteworthy because the winners are voted for by companies within the real estate industry.  Jones Lang LaSalle’s recognition as the top global adviser and consultant reflects the calibre of our people and the quality of the advice and service they provide to clients across all areas of our business globally.”

Including this global recognition, Jones Lang LaSalle won a total of 64 awards in this year’s Euromoney Real Estate Awards, including number one overall adviser in Asia, Middle East & North Africa (MENA) and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).  Jones Lang LaSalle was awarded the top award for Valuation in Asia and MENA, Agency and Letting in Asia and CEE and Research in Asia, the Nordics and Baltics and MENA. The firm also won the overall adviser award in a further 15 countries.

via Commercial real estate news. Jones Lang LaSalle..

 Events of 9/11 Changed the Workplace

CoreNet Global Survey: Companies now employ a variety risk- management measures emphasizing business continuity

ATLANTA, GA (6 September, 2011) – CoreNet Global, the world’s leading association of corporate real estate (CRE) and workplace professionals, today released the results of a survey which found that the tragic events of 9/11 had a permanent effect on the workplace.

Three-fourths of the respondents believe that companies in general are as vigilant about security measures today as they were in the aftermath of 9/11.

The focus on risk management as an intrinsic strategic planning and management function also grew stronger.

“Business disruption planning became a common element for many corporate workplace and asset managers as a result of 9/11,” said Richard Kadzis, Editor of LEADER Magazine and Vice President, Strategic Communications for CoreNet Global. “Elements of this planning include mobile work plans for employees, facility collocation policies, redundant facilities, energy back up, business continuity plans, and off-site data storage.”

“While technology advances and the 2009 recession would have facilitated the trend toward mobile work before then, 9/11 demonstrated the value of so-called ‘distributed work,’ in which employees are contributing toward the final product from various locations, including the home,” Kadzis said. “Before 9/11, the scale of flexible workplace strategies was limited more to companies we used to call the ‘leading-edge’ adopters.”

Some respondents in the survey indicated a reluctance to lease space in high-rise office buildings, yet nearly all (84 percent) believed that the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site in Manhattan will be a commercial success, and more than 40 percent said that they would consider leasing space at the site.

Read more: http://www.corenetglobal.org/files/home/info_center/global_press_releases/pdf/pr110906_post911Workplace.pdf

Original post:
Research and Markets: Facilities Management Outsourcing Corporate Sector Report UK 2011-2015 Analysis Report …

Growth in the FM corporate outsourcing market is expected from 2012 onward, but will be slow and in line with construction projects being finished.

According to the latest FM outsourcing report from AMA Research, “Maturity in the corporate FM market makes it heavily dependent upon the economic climate.”

“As a result, the market is expected to exhibit some stabilisation and subsequent growth over the short to medium term, recovering only slowly from 2012 as construction activity improves and new projects reach completion.”

The report, Facilities management outsourcing: corporate sector market, 2011-15, focuses on commercial offices, retail, entertainment and leisure, manufacturing and warehousing, energy and utilities, and privatised transport services.

via www.fm-world.co.uk

Joining a growing list of corporations that are moving their real estate operations to a third-party provider, financial services firm Principal Financial Group (NYSE: PFG) today outsourced facilities management for its 4.3 million sq. ft. of office space to Jones Lang LaSalle.

The five-year contract includes Principal’s 2.4 million sq. ft. corporate campus in Des Moines and more than 150 owned and leased field offices across the United States and in more than 15 countries throughout Asia, Australia, Europe and Latin America.

The deal is remarkable for the range of services it will bring into play, says Richard McBlaine, international director at Jones Lang LaSalle. “They wanted a company that could bring a complete suite of integrated services, everything from real estate consulting through transactions, project management, facility management, occupancy planning — basically the entire suite of services that we provide to occupiers.”

via nreionline.com

More:
CoreNet Global Launches Corporate Real Estate 2020 Transformative Research Initiative

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The Principal Financial Group Selects Jones Lang LaSalle as Real Estate Services Facilities Management Provider

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