This week, the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) announced continued growth with new chapters in France and Croatia, as well as changes to existing councils that aim to improve the scope and service to existing component groups.
The association’s global board of directors approved petitions to form the new chapters in France and Croatia.
Meanwhile, the Religious Facilities Council has been renamed the Nonprofit Facilities Council, expanding its constituency and services, and the Health Care Council (until recently, the Health Care Institute) has been restored to full council status.
Chapters and councils, along with communities, are focused networking groups within IFMA. Collectively called components, these groups allow members to connect based on geography (chapters), facility type or industry sector in which they practice (councils), or specialization within facility management (communities).
“As IFMA continues to grow and unify the global FM community, the value to our members, partners and collaborators increases,” said Graham Tier, CFM, FMP, MRICS, chair of the association’s global board of directors. “I’m extremely proud of the hard work that has both expanded the localized support IFMA can offer into two new European countries, and also extended IFMA’s value to FM professionals who work in health care and nonprofit facilities. It’s an exciting time to be in FM as IFMA works to overcome fragmentation in our industry.”
New IFMA Chapters: France, Croatia
Just months after the creation of an IFMA chapter in the United Kingdom, two more bids for the chapters in France and Croatia were approved, bringing the total chapter count in Europe to 12. These chapters offer local connections for facility management professionals while at the same time contributing regional perspectives to the global facility management community.
Continuing to build on collaborative relationships in Europe, IFMA is joining its alliance partner Facility Management Netherlands in hosting the World Workplace Europe Meets Facility for Future Conference and Expo, 20-22 March 2019 at the Kromhouthal in Amsterdam.
Renamed: Nonprofit Facilities Council
With a new name to reflect the reality of its constituency, the Nonprofit Facilities Council (previously the Religious Facilities Council) is expanding the types of facilities professionals and organizations it serves. The name change recognizes the audience the council has served for years, including those managing buildings for faith-based as well as secular charitable and community institutions.
Restored: Health Care Council
After an experimental period as a unique entity in the IFMA component taxonomy, the former Health Care Institute has been fully restored to council status as the Health Care Council. Members who were a part of the institute will experience uninterrupted service while returning to a more unified identity.
“IFMA’s Health Care Council offers FM professionals serving in the medical community the industry-specific insights they need to excel in a highly technical field,” said IFMA board member and Vice President of Global FM for Johnson & Johnson, Bev Farrington. “What makes IFMA’s support of health care FMs uniquely valuable is the context in which that support is seated. Not only is the HCC a global network able to harvest best practices wherever they emerge, but it’s also a part of a larger FM community that brings in expertise from related fields. You simply can’t get that sort of support anywhere else.”
