July 13, 2016 was World FM Day, and RICS in the Americas saw this as an appropriate time to celebrate FM professionals in the region and note three important FM initiatives in which the organization is involved.

First, RICS is proud to have joined in collaboration this year with the International Facility Management Association (IFMA). In April, the two organizations announced that they will work together totransform the US$1 trillion global FM industry. IFMA and RICS research has shown tangible advantages of effective facility management, from improved cost savings and productivity to greater energy efficiency and employee well-being. By joining strategic resources, the two entities are now working to create an unprecedented level of industry support to meet the growing demands of the 25 million FM practitioners around the world. As part of this collaboration, RICS and IFMA just issued a joint World FM Day release commending FM professionals worldwide for the key role they play in shaping our built environment.

Also in April, RICS released a major international study on public sector asset management (PSAM) at its 2016 Summit of the Americas in Washington. The report was based on a series of roundtables conducted with PSAM officials from around the world, and it is spurring additional conversation on public sector asset management in numerous locations. Among its key findings were that PSAM managers: believe we should decrease the total amount of both physical assets and space in their respective countries; seek to transform the vast amounts of data they receive into actionable intelligence; and are concerned about a lack of standardized training and education needed to attract talent and develop professionals for this century. Further, in light of the immense backlog of deferred maintenance that governments have accumulated among their portfolios, managers recognize that the old way of managing assets is unsustainable, and that the future model must be more strategic to prevent these backlogs from continuing.  

In addition, RICS is a leader in a major international initiative that it believes could provide greater clarity and confidence to facility managers in the Americas and around the world: the development of International Property Measurement Standards (IPMS). Property measurement standards differ drastically around the world, meaning that the same building could differ up to 24% in measured size depending on the standard used. In an interconnected global marketplace this inconsistency leads to confusion and risk for all property owners, occupiers (including facility managers) and investors, especially those that operate across borders.

RICS is a founding member of the IPMS Coalition, comprised of more than 70 professional and standards bodies, which is establishing common standards for measuring property and enhancing transparency and comparability in real estate. In 2014, the coalition issued IPMS for Offices, which establishes a consistent methodology for measuring office buildings around the world. This will be followed in the future by versions for industrial and then retail property. Facility managers operate in all of these sectors.