The collaboration between IFMA and RICS promises to transform the US$1 trillion global facility management (FM) industry in order to sustain the growing demands of the 25 million FM practitioners around the world. Their main goal is to develop and professionalize the field of facility management.

Facility managers can create a sustainable future by incorporating biomimicry techniques and products, which for sure gives FMs a blueprint — or, rather, a "green print" — for facility optimization. Two areas where significant savings may be obtained are water and energy management.

We live in an exciting time for facility managers as more and more studies are proving the value of the workplace to the corporate bottom line. Monotonous, dreary offices create a stagnant workplace and creativity suffers. The key to remember is that office design is not a one-size-fits-all prerogative; rather, it is important to provide employees with collaborative tools and areas that supplement the way they work rather than create new processes.