About EuroFM

(For downloading the 'Vision 2020 and Strategy 2011-2013' and 'Annual Report 2010' scroll to Attached Documents at the end of the page.) 

In 1987 the first exploratory meeting to create a European FM network was hosted by Mr. Bart Bleker in The Netherlands. He helped develop the association till 1990. In 1993 the European Facility Management Network was officially registered by NEFMA, the Dutch FM association now called FMN, the Danish FM association DFM and the British Centre for Facilities Management led by professor Keith Alexander. The CIB (International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction) had helped develop and found the association. The diversity of the founders explains the focus on Education, Research and Practice. Mr. Bart Bleker was the first informal chairman of the network from 1987 to 1990 before Professor Keith Alexander took over and formally chaired the association from 1993 till 2000. The other members of the first board were Mr. Bert Zwikker, Mr. Kjeld Nielsen and Mr. Geoffrey Gidley. Lionel Prodgers was chairman till 2004. Spanish Jose Luis Garcia Cuartero chaired the network from 2005 till 2007 and introduced the europeanFMInsight magazine. Austrian Albert Pilger chaired the association till 2010. Currently Wayne Tantrum chairs EuroFM Network.

Lots of others joined the 'EuroFM project'. Olav Saboe, Svein Bjorberg, Paul Stadloder, Dries van Wagenberg, Walter Moslener, Jan Ake Granath, Michael May, Tore Haugen, Ole Emil Malmstrom, Wim Pullen, Tom Markus, Francois Lautier, Helena Ohlsson, Margaret Nelson, Gordon McMillan, Michael Munday, Frans van Eijnatten, Robert Wahlen, Markus Aschauer, Joszef Czerny, Ondrej Strup, Ruud van Wezel, Kari Levainen, Marie-Cecile Puybareaud, Thomas Wehrmuller, Rients Jorna, Kunibert Lennaerts, Silvano Curcio, Piet DeBacker, Berit Tyldum, Mehmet Caliskan, Hans De Jonge, Suvi Nenonen, Bev Nutt, Sir Antony Walker, Albert Pilger, David Ernest, Friedrich Quentin, Balasz Barts, Herman vande Putte, Stan Mitchell, Reinhold Wischhof, Ian Fielder, Francine Schumacher, Bernard Williams, Wim Bakens, Fred Kloet, Alexander Redlein, Phil Roberts, Wim Kooyman, Bert Zwikker, Hans Braat, Dave Wilson, Alistair Edie, Wayne Tantrum and Kauko Tulla and many others helped push the development of facility management in Europe.

    

From 1993 till 2002 each one of the 27 European national FM markets developed in its own pace and direction. In some countries facility management was started by real estate or maintenance professionals. In other countries the focus was more on services. IFMA helped develop the European FM market by founding national IFMA chapters and organising the World Workplace Europe conference in collaboration with EuroFM. Several countries also founded a Centre for Facility Management or developed a faculty for FM at universities. On the websites of our members one can read more about the history of facility management in every single country. To get an idea about the European diversity have a look at these pages of our members:

• BIFM (UK)
• GEFMA (D)
• FMN (NL)
• BGFMA (BY)
• MFS (CH)
• Terotec (I)

In the first 25 years EuroFM developed from a small network organisation to the European representative of workspace facilities and services. In those first 25 years EuroFM focused on:

• grouping organisations of facility management experts existing in different countries and individual facility management experts, into a European network
• to promote the establishment of such organisations in countries where such do not exist
• to promote the inter-relationship of participating associations
• to promote mutual hospitality between participating associations and the members thereof
• to encourage and promote (international) symposia, conferences, information meetings and business meetings on facility management and related fields
• to encourage and promote any other activities that may contribute to the objectives of the association.

Today the association focuses on:

1. Promoting FM across Europe
2. Adding value to our members
3. Financial Stability
4. Dissemination of knowledge and information
5. To facilitate networking opportunities to share best practice.

The mission of EuroFM is:

the advancement of knowledge in Facility Management in Europe and its application in Practice, Education and Research.

At the start of 2011 the EuroFM association represented 100 organisations working in the € 650 billion large European FM sector. Our sector is the largest European Business Services market, the second largest European sector (5-8% of GDP) and the largest FM market in the world. January 2011 sixteen organisations were Corporate Associates (clients and service providers) representing € 110 billion turnover and 1.300.000 staff. 23 Were national associations representing 22.000 members. The university and educational members represent 14.000 students. The members are based in 23 European countries. Our newsletter is read by 65.000 people around the globe. The open network of professionals, academics, educationalists, practitioners and researchers generates a rich mix of activity. Projects and activities are initiated by four groups:

• the Practice Network Group,
• the Education Network Group
• the Research Network Group
• the Corporate Associates group.

These groups form the core of EuroFM. The EuroFM members are involved in an open exchange of information and experience through meetings, seminars and workshops, through collaboration in research projects, sometimes funded by EC, and through the development of joint educational programmes. Proceedings of these activities are disseminated through the association via the EuroFM website, an annual conference, two EuroFM Meetings hosted by members and through newsletters, research papers and publications.

  

The subjects of the network groups are the focus for all members’ activities and initiatives. Each member organisation is able to belong to any one (or two or three) of the Network Groups, according to their interest and/or resource. However, in so electing, they commit to fully participate and support to the work of the groups to which they belong. Each group has a committee of voluntary representatives with an identified leader responsible for facilitating the network activities. Each Network Group has set out its objectives along with its criteria for success, and a co-ordinated programme of “projects” will enable a proper exchange of information across the specialisations.

The association takes standpoints by writing whitepapers and participating in governmental and industrial working groups, roundtables and committees. EuroFM also organzies its own Roundtable meetings to address specific subjects affecting the membership interest. When necessary and in the interest of the membership the association initiates partnerships and affiliation agremeents with organisations that have a similar interest and are willing to share their network, knowledge and information. 

After having participated in a European Union project (Brite-EuRam III) in the early 2000's EuroFM did not actively seek a new involvement in a European Programme. Starting 2010 however the association has renewed its interest in the European programs. Encouraged by the interest of the real estate industry and construction industry and the focus of the European Union on business services the association started connecting itself again to 'Brussels'.

Due to the focus on helping develop the profession on national level the association focused on content a lot. The past five years however this has changed. The website was relaunched, the online magazine europeanFMInsight was professionalised and more initiatives were taken to communicate with members, stakeholders and colleagues in the building and workspace life-cycle.

   

The annual conference EFMC remains one of the major meetings of the association. In collaboration with IBC Informa the EFMC 2010 in Madrid became the first ever annual conference delivering surplus revenue for the association. 500 Delegates from 40 countries participated. The program was inspiring and the content was good. The combination of a Business Conference with a Research Symposum proves to be succesful if integrated carefully. The links between research and practice are crucial to delivering added value to delegates. At the annual conference the winners of the EuroFM Awards are also being announced. The award categories are 'Partners Across Borders', 'Student of the Year' and 'Researcher of the Year'.

EuroFM is present at national events. It supports the national development of facility management by delivering speakers, knowledge and information. The association helps its members connecting to the international FM market to find the best solutions at the right moment. One of the projects supporting European collaboration is the 'Market Data' project managed by the Practice Network Group. This project delivers the yearly report on the developments and volume of the European facility management market.

EuroFM has become famous because of its research projects. The high level output of the projects has inspired many. Academics from universities around Europe focus on subjects such as workspace, FM future, productivity and service value. Today however also our Education Network Group has gained attention. Over the past years the European FM educationists have developed strong curricula and have now focused on becoming the leading European network of academic and professional educators by:

• orientation to the needs of the FM industry
• having providers of FM programs become actively involved in the ENG
• investing in cross-border collaboration between educational and training institutions
• developing common standards regarding professional qualification. 

Providing a set of agreed European competences in facility management, promoting and implementing the EN15221 standards and connecting the association to European Union (research) programs form important goals of the long term strategy laid down in Work Plans and Action Plans developed in collaboration with market representatives.

Hear what the current chairman Wayne Tantrum says about the EuroFM strategy.

The EuroFM Network represents the practitioners, researchers and educationalists delivering the management, information and knowledge to provide workspace facilities and services to the European Union. What started as a small network in 1987 has become an association innovating the largest business service in Europe and delivering about 40 million FTE of work every year. Our vision is we can facilitate building a smart, sustainable and competitive Europe. If you are interested in joining us contact us.