Guidance for people running buildings.
Practical writing on planned maintenance, statutory inspections and asset compliance, from the team building FacilityOptix.
Evidencing compliance: what an auditor actually wants to see
Being compliant and being able to prove it quickly aren't the same skill. Most facilities teams are better at the first than the second.
Estate-wide compliance reporting: what leadership actually wants to see
A report showing every individual task is too much detail for most leadership audiences, and a single green tick is too little. The right level sits specifically in between.
How often should planned maintenance actually happen?
There's no single correct interval for a given asset type — condition, usage and consequence all pull the answer in different directions. Here's how to actually work it out.
Pressure systems and the written scheme of examination (PSSR)
Pressure systems are one of the less-discussed statutory categories, but the written scheme requirement makes them one of the more procedurally demanding ones to get right.
Structuring a facilities team across multiple sites
The right team structure for one building rarely survives the jump to ten. Here's what actually needs to change, and what shouldn't.
Planning maintenance across a multi-building estate
A schedule that works for one building doesn't automatically scale to ten. Estate-wide planning has its own failure modes that a single-site plan never has to face.
LOLER thorough examination: what it covers and how often
Lifting equipment sits under its own regulation with its own examination regime, and it's easy for it to slip through the gaps of a more general maintenance schedule.
Triaging reported issues: building a facilities helpdesk that works
Most delays in reactive maintenance happen before a job is even assigned. Good triage at the point of intake fixes more than any amount of engineer efficiency afterward.