There will be a buzz about Glebe Island this week as the Total Facilities conference descends on Sydney Harbour.

The two-day conference at the Sydney Exhibition Centre is dedicated to improving Australia’s buildings and the way they are managed and maintained and is the largest gathering of facilities management suppliers, associations, clients and end-users in the southern hemisphere.

Facilities management is a critical area for all three levels of government, whether buildings are government-owned, occupied or operated.

The way buildings are built and run can materially affect the lives of the people inside them, whether they are hospital patients, school pupils, prisoners, library users, Defence staff or Department of Human Services officers.

The conference runs the gamut of building and facilities management with sessions covering sustainable buildings, water and energy efficiency, new directions in facilities management, lighting controls, waste management, intelligent buildings and exciting new products and technology.

Speakers will talk about high performance buildings, selecting vendors during tendering and retrofitting buildings to save money and make them more pleasant to work in while achieving maximum energy, waste and water efficiency. Some of the speakers are from government departments, including

This year, for the first time, there will be a selection of some of the sleekest, most exciting cutting edge products that are leading the way to drive productivity and innovation.

New products include Humanscale’s QuickStand, which is like a monitor arm and clamps onto existing workstation and encourages users to either sit or stand as they wish while integrating movement into their working days. It also means people have a portable work station.

Diversified Communications’ event manager David Skilton said around 2,500 delegates are expected to attend, including local council facilities managers, operations and maintenance managers, sustainability gurus and procurement managers.

Mr Skilton said it was the only exhibition or conference in the Asia-Pacific that was directly based in the facilities management industry.

“It’s about education and keeping people up-to-date,” Mr Skilton said.

“It exposes people to innovation, what technologies are changing the way buildings are built and managed.

“The market is moving very quickly because of technology and because of new rules and regulations in the industry.”

The southern hemisphere’s most anticipated building and facilities management industry event opens at its new home at theSydney Exhibition Centre, Glebe Island from March 25 to March 26.