PATHFINDERS
30 | September 2019 | Commercial Design
M
alhotra strongly believes that the key to a
successful building function is to understand
the requirement and the business processes
of the staff occupying it. +e states, ́,f the ofÀce is
designed to suit their requirement aptly, half the battle
is won. Additionally, the involvement of facilities team
right from the inception acts as a boon in the long-term
management of any space. To top it off, proper material
selection and technology integration goes a long way in
adding to efÀcient maintenance of the setup.μ
Following these principles, Malhotra proactively works toward attaining
sustainably efÀcient buildings in the urban setup. +e recommends every
organisation to encourage alternate power generation like solar power, biogas
power in rural where space is not a constraint. Using architecture as a tool to
chisel projects, keeping in mind the limited space and resources to appropriately
suit the requirement of the business, leads one to model successful facilities.
Malhotra declares, ́&onsidering the vastness of the Àeld, it becomes important
that we deÀne our limits clearly. Most importantly, a FM must identify himherself
as an enabler and work towards the focused organisational goals using data
analysis. This changes the perspective in a major way and adds value to the bottom
line at work.μAMIT PANCHAL
Senior VP, Kotak Mahindra BankAMAN MALHOTRA
SVP – Corporate Services; head – Projects and Facilities
RBL BankP
anchal worked towards introducing
a training and development calendar
which includes six training programmes
for FM executives and 12 for utility staff in a year.
This practice resulted in self-development of team
members, improving conÀdence and knowledge
sharing in this Àeld. 3 anchal also aided in updating
energy conservation in ofÀces through new
technology like LED lights replacements, UV lights
in AHUs, IBMS in HVAC, better monitoring and
benchmarking practices, which led to a signiÀcant 2 savings in energy
consumption.
Frequent revision in compliances of contract labour and differentiation
of wages and bonus amounts of different states became a major challenge
for FMs. Instead of having multiple service providers, Kotak partnered
with just one per region and took advantage of the synergies that were
achieved by having a common FM, chief engineer and security ofÀcer.
Each month, a key service like housekeeping, security, technical service,
etc, is audited by a senior member and a report is generated to ensure
that all services and processes are on track without any deviations.