Social enterprise applications in an urban facilities management setting

Facilities management (FM) is commonly referred to as “the integration of processes within an organisation to maintain and develop the agreed services which support and improve the effectiveness of primary activities”, in accordance with Part 1 facility management terms and definitions as referred to in the European standardisation (EN 15211 series; Alexander, 2011). Moreover, FM researchers and practitioners express it as a multidisciplinary area of development and opportunity, which can also be categorised as a multifaceted phenomenon and responsible for managing changes through time (Chotipanich, 2004; Chotipanich and Nutt, 2008; Grimshaw, 1999; Price, 2001). The continuing body of academic literature and FM practice has pushed the interdisciplinary boundaries of FM, reinforcing the wide diversity in FM practice and therefore there is a need for FM to innovate in order to survive (Hinks, 2007; Nutt, 2000)