In order to facilitate knowledge sharing across industry, the following information on our Members responses to COVID-19 and best practice for building management during and after lock-down have been collated.

Member Responses

• Aberdeen Standard Investments
• Aviva Investors
• Blackstone Group
• British Land
• Bruntwood
• Canary Wharf Group
• Capital & Regional
• Derwent London
• Great Portland Estates
• Grosvenor Britain & Ireland 
• Hammerson
• intu
• Landsec
• Legal & General Asset Management
• Lendlease 
• M&G Real Estate
• Nuveen Real Estate
• Royal London Investment Management
• Shaftesbury
• The Crown Estate
• Transport for London
• Workspace

Building Management Best Practice Guidance

Some takeaways: 

• Basic building maintenance must continue during lockdown. In order to avoid mould, legionella and corrosion, water services must be on a regular flushing schedule. Assuming the lockdown period lasts only a few months, wet heating systems should stay in operation but can be kept at a reduced temperature of 14 degrees Celsius in order to reduce energy consumption. Read more in the CIBSE article here. 
• Review your consumption and get a handle on your energy monitoring. Taking stock of your current energy consumption is a very cost-effective way of identifying savings. However, it’s important to acknowledge that there may be conflicts between necessary safety measures and energy savings. Read more about some “quick wins” in the Verco guide here. 
• Plan building operation for staggered re-opening. RICS has provided a selection of reopening guides for domestic and commercial property here (same link as below). In a webinar on 30th April, the lead authors of the BCO “Wellness Matters” roadmap emphasised the importance of dedicated “health zones” once buildings re-open. Assuming many workplaces begin with only allowing 25% capacity, this means blocking off certain workstations and areas, having quotas for lifts and toilets, and reducing the number of people who can enter at once so that people can remain 6ft. apart at all times. Watch the recorded webinar here. 

Additional guidance: 

1. arbnco Ltd. –  A Data-driven Indoor Air Quality Framework for PostCOVID-19 Workplace Re-entry. Read more here.
    
2. Buildings Alive – Great building managers are making the most of a bad situation. Read here.  
    
3. British Council for Offices – Thoughts on Office Design and Operation after COVID-19. Download here. 
    
4. BSRIA – Water Systems Maintenance. Download here. 
    
5. BSRIA – Planned Preventative Maintenance during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Read here. 
    
6. Carbon Intelligence – Quick Wins to Manage Facilities in the COVID-19 Lockdown. Download here. 
    
7. CBRE – Building services engineering best practice advice – COVID-19. Download here. 
    
8. CIBSE – Emerging from Lockdown: Safely re-occupying buildings. Download here.
    
9. CIBSE – Health and Wellbeing in Building Services: New Edition. Download here. 
    
10. HM Government – Working safely during COVID-19 in offices and contact centres. Download here. 
     
11. IES – Adapting Workplaces to Life Post-Lockdown. Read more here.
     
12. Property Management Pacific – Seven Facilities Management Considerations for Re-entry Post-COVID-19 and Beyond. Read here. 
     
13. REHVA – How to operate and use building services in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) virus (SARS-CoV-2) in workplaces. Download here
     
14. RICS - Beyond COVID-19 Reopening Guides: a selection of guides for the opening and inspections for commercial and domestic property. Read here.