Practical Facilities Tips, News & Advice.
Every construction project generates a large volume of critical information including drawings, O&M manuals, submittals, commissioning reports, warranties, and test records. Once the project is complete, that data often gets scattered or never fully makes its way to the facilities team. As Paul Petroski, a senior facilities leader with the Department of Defense, noted, “Drawings […]
Walk through almost any facility and you’ll see hard hats, safety glasses, first aid kits, and other personal protective equipment (PPE) in use every day. The gear is there, employees are trained, and everything appears to comply. But here’s the question many employers never ask: Is compliance enough? What some facilities managers don’t realize is […]
The global data center market is expanding as demand from artificial intelligence (AI) uses outpaces available space capacity, pushing vacancy rates toward historic lows despite a wave of new supply, according to CBRE’s Global Data Center Trends report. Global supply reached 16 gigawatts (GW) in Q1 2026 across the 16 largest data center markets, up […]
In a city like Chicago, electrification rarely happens in isolation. Large retrofit projects are almost always delivered in occupied buildings, alongside active operations, and under pressure to modernize multiple systems at once. The projects that succeed understand this from the start. Electrification works best when treated as core infrastructure—the backbone that supports building automation, electric […]
A fire scene can look calmer once the trucks leave: the flames are out, the alarms have stopped, and people want answers, access, and a timeline for reopening. That moment calls for a slower, more controlled pace from facility teams. Recovery should account for fire residues and odors that may affect the building, HVAC system, […]
In a single office, workplace design often reflects a company’s identity, but within a multi-office portfolio, it begins to define it. As organizations grow, it’s less about how individual offices perform and more about how they work together as a whole to establish a cohesive and consistent culture. Without a structured approach, each office starts […]
Facilities Management Advisor’s “Under Construction” series highlights some of the latest, most interesting facility project announcements every month. Smart Factory for Futuristic Planes JetZero, an aerospace startup developing futuristic “all-wing” commercial and military aircraft, has broken ground on a massive smart factory on more than 600 acres in North Carolina. The 8 million square-foot facility represents […]
Once students leave campus, the window opens for projects that are impossible to complete safely or efficiently during the academic year. Empty halls and classrooms create the perfect environment for overhauls and cosmetic updates. The big challenge here is often identifying which projects to prioritize. While every campus has unique needs, facilities managers should aim […]
When a warehouse hits capacity or a maintenance shop can’t keep up with fleet growth, facilities managers face a decision that shapes the next decade of operations. The traditional path is a stick-built expansion, where general contractors frame and finish a structure on-site from raw materials. The alternative is a prefab metal building, where major […]
That’s right, 24% of under or unoccupied office space will be blasting air conditioning for nobody this summer. At the end of each day, these same vacant, cooled spaces and unused bathrooms will be cleaned by the maintenance crew. The obvious contributing factors are summer vacations, hybrid schedules, and team outings. The less obvious and […]