Hermen van Ree, Head of Corporate Services at IPD Occupiers explains the importance of these new standards for all who use real estate in Europe.

Over the last five years the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) has been working hard to develop a number of European Standards for real estate and facilities management.  These standards are of key importance to European occupiers and bodies like IPD who measure their performance, focussing as they do on definitions, agreements, quality, taxonomy, processes, space and not least benchmarking. The EU Standards will take over from national standards once they come into effect in 2010. In this article we provide you with a brief update on their current state of development as well as what this year is likely to have in store.

Contributing to the objectives of the European Union and the European Economic Area, the CEN aims to remove trade barriers for European industry and consumers. Its mission is to foster the European economy in global trading, the welfare of European citizens and the environment. Through its services it provides a platform for the development of European Standards and other technical specifications.

With many of the twenty-seven member countries of the European Union currently working to their own standards, real estate and facilities management across borders remains a challenge in every day practice. For example, DIN Standards are used in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, BSi and RICS Standards in the United Kingdom and Ireland, NEN Standards in the Netherlands and Belgium, and DS Standards in Denmark. As a response to this lack of conformity, the EU Standards will create an EU-wide set of definitions, providing a transparent basis for management and supporting the communication of information - not least to help organisations make better decisions in a rapidly changing world.

Currently there are six European Standards in place for facilities management:

• EN 15221-1 - Terms and Definitions - provides a constructive classification for both primary activities and support services and defines Facilities Management as “the integration of processes within an organisation to maintain and develop the agreed services which support and improve the effectiveness of its primary activities”.

• EN 15221-2 - Agreements - Offers clear guidance on how to prepare Service Level Agreements including constructive Key Performance Indicators for facilities managers.

• EN 15221-3 - Quality - Provides guidelines for measuring, achieving and improving quality in facilities management and complements existing ISO 9000 Standards.

• EN 15221-4 - Taxonomy - Presents a detailed structure and full classification of all products and services typically found in facilities management.

• EN 15221-5 - Processes - Provides guidelines for the development and improvement of processes supported by an overview of complete workflows.

• EN 15221-6 - Space - Offers a clear and constructive framework for measuring space use and floor areas in buildings.

Joining the dots, the CEN is currently working hard to develop and deliver EN 15221-7 - Benchmarking. By providing a transparent basis for measuring, analysing and comparing performance data important to real estate and facilities managers, objective and consistent benchmarking across borders will become possible.

And crucially, all national standards bodies will be obliged to withdraw existing national standards once all EU Standards have been accepted. As a result, 2010 will see the end of DIN, BSi, NEN, BS and all other national standards currently in existence. As this will have far-reaching implication for occupiers’ organisations, IPD Occupiers is closely following developments - not least to align our service offering with EU Standards.

Representing a wide variety of occupier organisations, Hermen Jan van Ree is the Principle UK Expert and secretary to the CEN committee for delivering the EU Standard on Benchmarking.

For more information, please contact Hermen van Ree (hermen.van.ree@ipd.com, +44 7875 776 719).

The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) is a business facilitator in Europe, removing trade barriers for European industry and consumers. Its mission is to foster the European economy in global trading, the welfare of European citizens and the environment. Through its services it provides a platform for the development of European Standards and other technical specifications.

The European Committee for Standardization, was founded in 1961 by the national standards bodies in the European Economic Community and EFTA countries. Now CEN is contributing to the objectives of the European Union and European Economic Area with voluntary technical standards which promote free trade, the safety of workers and consumers, interoperability of networks, environmental protection, exploitation of research and development programmes, and public procurement

In line with the nature of the European Union and the European Economic Area, the main objectives of European Standards are to improve: a) EU-wide competitiveness, b) efficiency and effectiveness, and c) market transparency. Ultimately, the set of EU Standards for Facility Management will support education and certification, improve communication between stakeholders, and aid the development of new tool and systems. Not least to improve the effectiveness, the efficiency and the quality of service delivery across the board.