Facilities @ Management

2.27 Impact of Global Trends on Real Estate and Facility Management

Sabine Georgi

My interest in cities and architecture led me to start a career in the real estate industry and the built environment. After finishing the Diploma Study, I started working for a housing association where I already realized – based on my Diploma Thesis – that location as well as different aspects, like the availability of social infrastructure, matters most in building sustainable portfolios. I was heavily involved in convincing the government to support the local real estate markets in the eastern part of Berlin and East Germany to secure the housing companies against bankruptcy for avoiding even more negative socioeconomic downturns. Based on that I started in a real estate consultancy company where we implemented portfolio management systems; we gave advise how to structure the portfolio (where to invest, where to demolish, where to sell, etc.) to reduce the risk of the whole portfolio. An integrated part in the commercial real estate properties played a more efficient management – and therefore, to have a perfect Facility Management in place. An integrated approach enables you to gather real good data from the FM operator – if the tenants are happy: How big is the chance that they will stay on the property or will they leave when the contract comes to an end?

I am convinced that the Facility Management industry will play an important role in solving some of the most pressuring issues in our ...