In the first quarter of 2022, the modern office stock in Budapest officially reached 4 million square meters. On this occasion Portfolio.hu asked facility management experts about the market.
For almost a year Portfolio has been waiting for the moment to announce: “Got it! We have crossed 4 million”. Of course, professionals who over the years have ensured that the domestic office market is in constant motion by conducting a number of transactions were looking forward to this date with similar enthusiasm.
More and more know what FM stands for
Who would know better the Hungarian office stock than the FM experts who work every day – right from the construction of the buildings – to transform the offices into functional, usable, liveable workplaces.
“One of the most significant events of the last decade in Hungary in the field of FM professional development is the establishment and operation of LEO (National Association of Facility Management and Building Management Service Providers),” – László Vágó, CEO of NEO Property Services Zrt., Told Portfolio.hu. The organization was founded in 2013 by 13 companies with significant market share and experience in the FM sector. Today it has 19 regular and 21 supporting members.
“LEO has a key role in increasing the awareness and recognition of the FM profession. By this day, more and more people know that the abbreviation “FM” on the service cars stand for Facility Management. We are proud to be one of the 13 founding companies and have been actively involved in LEO ever since.” – Vágó added.
Research & Development is essential for innovation
“One of the defining trends in facility management in recent years has been the emergence of technological innovation. Today, research and development is an essential part of everyday operations. We are getting further and further away from the state where we “only” cleaned, kept the offices tidy. As market leaders, we are at the forefront of the renewal of the industry. One of the technological innovations of our 20-person R&D department is our automatic cleaning robot called ROBIN, which keeps large areas, corridors and halls clean in office buildings. It is not a complete replacement for human labour, but our colleague ROBIN can focus on non-mechanizable tasks. An important benefit of the development is that cleaning can be monitored. This way, we always know exactly when what, and how our robot cleaned up in a given area.” – Csaba Szij, Deputy CEO of B+N Referencia Zrt., told portfolio.hu.
Szij also highlighted that: “Another recent “invention” in the industry is data collection and processing. This takes our classic portfolio of services to the next level. It is a major competitive advantage for us to be able to continuously identify trends from data collection and analysis. What to expect in connection with the service life and failure of a given piece of equipment? What to look for in a wide variety of built-in techniques?”
The expert also added: “In the aforementioned 10-year perspective, serious digitization has also started in the office market. “E-cleaning” is a smartphone application that elevates the service to a higher level and supports quality assurance related to the service. Using it we can monitor the quality of cleaning and the customer can also check whether the requested service has been delivered. The control and support system is already operating in some office buildings, and will be launched at the other partners in the near future.”
A new trend in the office market: Tenant Experience
The specialist of B+N Referencia Zrt. told Portfolio that “a new trend in the office environment is that the facility managers started making moves toward the “tenant-experience direction”. There are a number of extra services for tenants from yoga education to massage, from clothing repair to cafe design. This direction is reinforced and complemented by the presence of the generation Y workers. Their approach is different in many ways than that of the older age groups. In addition to these convenience services, environmental awareness, energy-saving and the reduction of the carbon footprint are important to them. This is also a new challenge for us.” – Csaba Szij said.
