Working Together towards Better Practices
The United in Montreal convention took place at the Palais des congrès in Montreal from September 19 to 22, 2016. Organized by the Canadian Elevator Contractors Association, the International Association of Elevator Consultants and the National Association of Elevator Contractors, the event was an opportunity for elevator industry professionals to meet and make new connections, discover the newest technology and products and to attend lectures, demonstrations and discussions featuring renowned vertical transportation experts.
Linda Plante, senior general manager at Place Ville Marie, Ivanhoé Cambridge and a member of the BOMA Quebec board of directors, participated in the Where is the Industry Headed? panel discussion along with Jay Popps, executive vice-president for the Asia Pacific region and Middle East at Lerch Bates, an international elevator and building consulting firm.
The discussion touched on many sensitive issues facing manufacturers and service providers in the elevator industry, as well as building owners and managers. These include the impact of prices – currently subject to downward pressure from building owners – and the quality and performance of products, as well as the frequency of maintenance. On the one hand, service providers are forced to make major concessions in order to retain clients. On the other hand, building managers delighted with lower operating costs are increasingly obliged to call on external consultants to ensure quality control of those services. As things stand now, no one is in a winning position.
That state of affairs has a direct consequence on maintenance of building assets, for any reduced maintenance means a reduction in the useful life of elevators and increased costs to ensure the continuity of their long-term performance.
Linda Plante stated: "I think it is important that building owners and managers be cognizant of how things stand now. It is essential to be aware of the issues and challenges facing all stakeholders, and to understand how those issues will impact the parties concerned. Together we can find common, effective and logical solutions that will lead to best practices for the property management industry. We sometimes forget that elevator service is an essential service of primary importance in buildings. Tenants have high expectations in that regard, and rightly so."
She pursued this idea further: "Managing building elevators constitutes a good part of a building's operating budget. Place Ville-Marie, which includes several prestigious tenants, allocates approximately 3% of its annual operating budget for elevator service maintenance, in order to ensure quality, speed and reliable service, not to mention the comfort of users at all times. The pressure to get submissions that are constantly dropping in price, together with the programmed obsolescence of certain elevator products, has a major impact on management and on operating budgets. That is why it is important to stay well informed and to collectively discuss how our management practices should evolve."
This sort of issue is precisely the reason why Linda Plante has invested a lot of time and energy with BOMA Quebec over the past several years. BOMA Quebec is the largest federation of commercial building owners and managers in Quebec. She was chair of its property management committee from 2012 to 2016, before accepting a seat on the board of directors in spring 2016.
"The mission of BOMA Quebec is to improve the knowledge, methods, tools and management practices of building owners and managers so that they can raise the profile and value of their commercial properties. The United in Montreal conference is an excellent example of the importance of providing common platforms to discuss the problems, issues and opportunities that affect us. BOMA Quebec is an incredible vehicle for meeting and discussing, taking positions, upgrading our skills and knowledge, fine tuning management practices, talking with our peers and getting involved so that we end up contributing to the growth and development of the industry. We must seize these opportunities, for it is by educating ourselves and working together that we will make progress," she concluded.