BDC Magazine 2016 - Keepmoat MJ MAPP - BDC July 2017 | Page 8

PROPERTY & FACILITIES MANAGEMENT SPECIAL M J MAPP Carl Brooks continues, “Sustain- ability is a key part of what we do as a company, and we have been looking at this in some detail over the last four years. I have been with the company for three and a half years and it is my job to increase the level of understanding around sustain- ability, and increase our focus towards this area. Not only does it fit in with our company values, but it is also a response to the market moving towards an increased awareness of how valuable sus- tainable assets can be in the marketplace, and how we need a management strategy in place to seize opportunities as well as manage any risk. We take our responsibilities very seriously, but we are also in a very privileged position in the sense that our role allows us to leverage our influence to help investment and asset manage- ment companies and give them more of an understanding of the real risks throughout their port- folios. We can then address how these risks can be managed across all aspects of the risk to achieve a positive outcome.” M J Mapp is externally au- dited through SGS, and when setting up business practices, the company works very close- ly with industry groups such as the BCO as well as the Better Buildings Partnership (BBP). M J Mapp has also been involved with setting up, and current- ly chairs, the BBP’s Managing Agent’s Partnership which came into fruition in July 2015 and saw 12 companies collaborating with ideas as to what best prac- tice in property management should look like. The overall aim of the Part- nership is to transform the in- dustry across the board and have everybody working to the same standards, because al- though these companies are competitors it is in everybody’s best interests to have certain common ways of working. For example, if these companies are going to the same suppli- ers with the same questions in regards to the handing over or acquisition of a building, then compliance documentation and data would be available instead of having to start from scratch every single time. Carl Brooks has comment- ed, “We are always looking at buildings and seeing how man- agement could potentially be improved. We constantly review time clocks for lighting, heat- ing and cooling so that we can have certain areas on or off at particular times in the day, and when security patrol the build- ings we ensure that the usage is minimal. There is a maintenance re- gime in place to check general building operation, or for things like leaks or faults. Once the management process has been addressed we can then look into how we can potentially leverage the plant maintenance life cycle for our buildings. If you replace plant or equipment earlier than scheduled then you might re- coup the cost you would spend There is a maintenance regime in place to check general building operation, or for things like leaks or faults. 36 BUILDING DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION MAGAZINE