Sustainability rises up the agenda in the UK Facilities Management Sector

This insight examines how the trends shown in the 2021 RICS World Built Environment Forum Sustainability Report Sustainability Report 2021 and COP26 Addendum (rics.org) (showing survey feedback of over 4,000 industry professionals from over 30 countries) are impacting the UK Facilities Management sector.

The Q3 and Q2 2021 editions of the RICS Facilities Management surveys (a quarterly snapshot of demand, activity and sentiment across the facilities management industry), were used to assess how sustainability and climate-related factors are influencing the industry and how stakeholder demand for these issues is evolving.

The survey questions were:

• How often do end users consider implementing energy efficiency measures in buildings to reduce operational carbon emissions?
  
• How often do end users consider implementing measures in buildings to increase resilience to the changing climate?
  
• To what extent do end users consider sustainability factors in the tendering process?
  
• Which of the following areas of sustainability has seen the strongest growth in investment over the past 12 months?