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Welcome to InTheNews – covering all the FM news you may have missed over the last week:
Government is not yet on track to achieve its targets for reducing air pollution and it has not communicated effectively with the public on the issue, according to the National Audit Office (NAO).
While emissions of most air pollutants have been falling in recent decades, poor air quality continues to cause damage to people’s health and the natural environment. The UK has legal air quality limits for major pollutants at a local and national level.
This news is after Clean Air Day, which has highlighted the need for better ventilation. The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has given its wholehearted support to a hard-hitting government commissioned report calling for buildings to be made more infection resilient through the imposition of higher ventilation standards.
The report, which was requested by the government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, estimated that better ventilation and indoor air quality could help save the country £23 billion annually over the next 60 years by reducing the impact of future health emergencies and the regular disruption caused by seasonal diseases like flu.
The Sustainable Facilities Management Index (SFMI) and BAM FM have teamed up with an expert industry peer group of businesses to develop a standardised approach to calculate carbon emissions for the sector.
This project is the first stage of a wider vision where FM will position itself as a key partner in delivering zero-carbon solutions in the built environment. The vision aims to create a measurement tool for the sector, develop FM service level emission factors based on real-life data for more accurate reporting, and build a sectoral decarbonisation pathway.
It was also Armed Forces Week this week, and Sodexo has announced the opening of a new dining facility at the Army Training Regiment in Winchester with a brand new offer, JRD by Kitchen Works Co.
Specifically developed to improve the lived experience and meet the changing needs of service personnel the new offer delivers a modern, high-quality, attractive and value-for-money mess solution and aligned to the Army EATS programme.
As part of the development of this new food offer Sodexo commissioned bespoke research into the Lived Experience of armed forces personnel, giving a deeper insight into what service personnel want and how they want it delivered on-site.
And finally, in technology, contract caterer Elior UK, is excited to announce that it has begun trialling the use of robotic food delivery, aligned closely with its strategy of delivering innovative solutions through the use of technology.
Bella Bot, as it is called, works in the restaurant at the retirement village and delivers trays of food to the tables and assists with clearing the tables, freeing up the Elior team to spend more time interacting with the residents. Bella can deliver four 10 kg trays at once – twice the load capacity of manual delivery – and can deliver up to 400 dishes a day.
You can find out more on news.fmbusinessdaily.com
