Facility space-time management.

One of the main problem areas in the management of facility space in the office sector is maintaining an appropriate balance between the supply and demand for space as organisations change. The need for balance necessarily requires management to recognise the constraints which limit the effective use of space in any particular situation and to prepare measures which will permit adjustments to change over time. The relationship between space and user has traditionally been managed through the procedure of allocating floor space per person. However, technology and working practices have changed significantly during the last ten years, as has the nature and pattern of office work. As a result, the space standards and practices of the past are rapidly becoming inadequate in terms of meeting contemporary demands and conditions. An explicit inclusion of time considerations within management procedures promises to produce more reliable method in the management of space. The introduction of such practices can be approached by conducting a space-time budget analysis at different levels of the organisation. The varying proportions of time which employees spend inside and outside of the organisation's premises will affect management decisions concerning the amount, type and location of facility spaces. The relationship between space and user is now managed through allocation procedures based on utilisation levels that relate people hours demand load to space hours supply availability. A sequence of comparative analyses between traditional and space-time methods were undertaken through three case studies and against the conclusions of extant literature. The findings indicate that the space-time method of management is more flexible than the traditional method in solving capacity needs, allocation procedures and utilisation target problems albeit with some disadvantages. It is anticipated the method will not completely eliminate traditional practices, rather will enhance and support management for making secure decisions about use and management of space in rapidly changing circumstances and offer a basis to further develop a general theory of space management of facilities