Let's Talk Facilities

Most people walk through an automatic door and never think about what is inside it. Most FMs inherit one and never get told what it costs to keep it working. Aaron and Ben sit down with Nathan Clarke and Brendan Herbert from Tormax to talk about what automatic doors actually involve, what FMs are responsible for when something goes wrong and why the gap between opening day and year five looks so d...

Most buildings get managed. The best ones get cared for. Aaron and Ben sit down with Rick O'Connor from Rise Facilities to talk about what running a strata building well actually looks like, why the relationship between a building manager and the people who live there is the thing that makes or breaks everything and what it means to create a place where people genuinely love where they live. -...

The office used to be somewhere people went because they had to. Now it has to be somewhere people actually want to be. Aaron and Ben sit down with Lisa Mhaya, Partner and Head of Workplace at Knight Frank, to talk about what it takes to create that kind of workplace. The buildings getting it right are thinking about community and experience as something worth investing in and the results speak fo...

Compliance is the bare minimum. Real safety is something else entirely. In this episode, Aaron takes a walking tour of the Victorian Pride Centre with Tyler Beck, the person behind the building's day-to-day operations. Tyler shares the thinking behind the centre's design and how that same thinking carries through into security, contractor onboarding, and everyday risk management. ---------...

No one thinks about HVAC until something breaks down. By then, the bill can run into the millions. In this episode, Aaron and Ben sit down with Juan Castro from Beaver Williams to unpack why mechanical services, despite making up 20 to 25 percent of a building's total cost, remain one of the most overlooked systems in facilities management.-----------#LetsTalkFacilities is a podcast from the t...

A fire door only works if it's closed. Leave it open, and you've turned a safety system into nothing at all. In this episode, Aaron and Ben sit down with Rob Broadhead, Director of 2020 Fire Protection, to unpack what fire compliance actually means for Australian facility managers. Rob breaks down the fundamentals of compartmentalisation and walks through real disasters in Australia. He al...

Most facility managers can tell you the temperature and humidity in their building right now. Almost none can tell you the CO2 levels because in Australia, there's currently no mandated indoor air quality monitoring at all. In this episode, Aaron and Nick sit down with Doctor Lidia Morawska, one of the scientists who helped establish the case for airborne COVID-19 transmission, a shift that ch...

Most commercial buildings are being maintained on a schedule and nobody questions it because that's how it's always been done. In this episode, Aaron and Ben sit down with Wissam Salama, Managing Director of Guardian Mechanical Services, to talk about what building optimisation actually looks like in practice. Wissam brings 20 years of HVAC and fire industry experience to the conversation, coverin...

Having a plan on paper is not the same as being ready. Most buildings find that out the hard way. Aaron and Nick sit down with David Gilmore from Evac Services to talk about what genuine emergency planning looks like in practice, how to run drills that actually prepare people and why life safety is everyone's responsibility not just the warden's.-----------#LetsTalkFacilities is a podcast...

Every FM wants to sleep at night knowing the building is in good hands. Getting there starts with who you put on the job. Aaron Kelly and Ben Young sit down with Jimmy House and and Jake Bray from Prime Maintenance Projects to talk about what a great service provider relationship looks like and why selecting the right specialist matters more than most FMs realise. -----------#LetsTalkFacilities is...

Every FM job has something unique in it. Aaron and Ben sit down with Janene Hansford to talk through what FM looks like beyond the corporate building, what change management has taught her about people, and why curiosity is the most underrated skill in the industry. ----------- #LetsTalkFacilities is a podcast from the team at Premrest, Australia's go-to for commercial floor care. Cleaning and Ins...

Most annual inspections only cover the areas a person can safely reach yet facility managers are forced to sign off a building as "safe." In this latest episode of #LetsTalkFacilities, Aaron and Nick sat down with Jamie Green from Green Sky Group to talk about what drone technology is revealing about the buildings we thought we knew. From roofs that inspection reports declared problem-fr...

Most people in the industry have a mentor. Far fewer have a sponsor. In this episode of #LetsTalkFacilities, Aaron and Ben sit down with Jodi Whelan to talk about this distinction and what it takes to build a career in facility management. Jodi unpacks the difference between mentorship and sponsorship, what career scaffolding looks like in practice, and how the industry can do better at putting th...

It starts with something small. A door handle that sticks. A defect that sat on a report for two weeks because it did not seem urgent. Kristy Keech has spent 22 years in risk and compliance watching those small things become the biggest problems an FM will ever face. In this episode of #LetsTalkFacilities, Aaron and Nick sit down with Kristy Keech to talk about one of the most confronting realitie...

Most facility managers are either drowning in data they cannot interpret or flying completely blind with none at all. Bob Sharon, Founder and CEO of Blue IoT says IoT sensors are the simplest way out of both. Aaron and Ben sit down with Bob Sharon to talk about what IoT sensors are actually doing inside buildings right now. From detecting water leaks to monitoring CO2 levels, the conversation cove...

The building management system runs everything — fire, lifts, security, HVAC. So why is it buried in the mechanical contract? In this episode of #LetsTalkFacilities, Aaron and Tim sit down with Adrian Michaels to talk about why building automation deserves to be treated as its own separate package and where the technology is heading over the next decade.-------------------------- #LetsTalkFaciliti...

Most buildings are designed with an exit strategy. At the University of Melbourne, there isn't one. Aaron and Ben take the podcast on the road for their first ever site tour, walking the University of Melbourne campus with Andrew Moore, Workspace Strategy and Operations Manager for the Faculty of Engineering and IT. In this episode, they walk through what it actually looks like to manage a por...

In this episode, Aaron and Tim sit down with Davina Rooney, CEO of the Green Building Council of Australia, to talk about why existing buildings are now the most important frontier in sustainability, what's coming legislatively for FM teams, and why facility managers are the most powerful (and most underrecognised) force in the built environment. ---------------------------------- #LetsTalkFac...

In this episode of #LetsTalkFacilities, Aaron and Tim sit down with Daniel Lazarus, CEO of Industrias Services Group to talk about solar maintainance. Daniel shared that there's $1.5 billion worth of underperformance sitting in unmaintained solar systems across Australia right now and the majority of facility managers have no idea. They also break down why commercial solar is the most overlook...

In this episode Aaron and Ben sit down with Kristy Megaw, Senior Director of Client Partnerships at Cushman & Wakefield. Kristy has spent her career leading large-scale FM accounts across APAC — and she's got a lot to say about leadership, women in facilities, and why FM is a far more exciting career than the industry gives it credit for.------------------#LetsTalkFacilities is a podcast from...

We’re kicking things off by looking back at a milestone we didn’t expect. In this premiere episode, we reflect on winning FMA Industry Advocate of the Year and how a flooring company ended up building a platform that supports facility managers across the industry. What started as a way to share knowledge internally quickly grew into something bigger. A space to learn, connect, and solve real probl...

Facility managers and asset managers often get placed in the same bucket, but the work they do, the pressures they face, and the goals they chase are very different. In this episode of Let’s Talk Facilities, Aaron Kelly and Nick Grace sit down with Ujwal Lakra to clear the confusion and talk through what each role is really built for. Ujwal explains how daily operational demands pull FMs into fast...

In this episode of Let’s Talk Facilities, Aaron Kelly and Nick Grace sit down with Arbab Shah for an honest look at what it really takes to grow in the FM industry. Arbab shares the early challenges that shaped him, the pressures new facility managers often face, and the turning points that helped him build confidence on the job. Whether you’re starting out or guiding a team, this episode offers r...

In this episode of Let’s Talk Facilities, Aaron Kelly and Sammy Gilham sit down with Paul Sor, Head of Property and Asset Management at RSL LifeCare, for a conversation on empathy, ethics, and people-first leadership in facility management. Paul shares how his journey from accounting to FM shaped his unique approach to creating functional, dignified, and sustainable spaces. From managing donor-fun...

Sustainability is more than a corporate goal, it’s personal. In this Let’s Talk Facilities sustainability special, Tim Bradbury sit down with Dave Moolman from Shaw Contract to explore how the drive for a better future often begins with personal experiences that shape our values. Dave shares how Shaw Contract’s approach to manufacturing looks beyond production efficiency to focus on long-term envi...