Workplace Futures is a fixture of the workplace and facilities management calendar. The i-FM team has been organising the conference every year since 2007. I said on LinkedIn recently that it always seems to set the tone for the year ahead – being in February – and is never afraid to ruffle a few feathers.
Having attended the 2026 conference, I stand by that.
The theme this year was “a roadmap to the future”. What, i-FM asked, are the practices, the people, the organisations, and the innovations that will transform facilities management?
Last year’s focus was AI, and considering the hype around the technology shows little sign of fading, the organisers faced a real challenge to ensure the programme said something new.
Looking backwards to move forwards
One of the most engaging sessions came from Sarah Hodge, global director of experience at the London Stock Exchange, who delivered a whistle-stop tour through the history of facilities management. From its accidental beginnings in the 1960s and 70s – when responsibilities were split across building managers, office administrators and asset managers – FM has gradually evolved into a recognised discipline with its own institutions, standards and professional pathways.
It didn’t happen by accident, she reminded delegates. The industry grew because people cared enough to push boundaries, connect ideas and challenge established ways of working. With AI, hybrid working and environmental pressures reshaping workplaces once again, she implored the current and emerging generation of leaders sitting in the room to do the same.
The talent question
Facilities management has long described itself as a people business, but the urgency around talent has rarely felt stronger. The sector faces a demographic crunch, with large numbers of experienced professionals approaching retirement and not enough young people starting somewhere within the broad discipline.
Dr Mel Bull of Nottingham Trent Business School urged organisations to take a far more deliberate approach to developing talent, particularly given the limited number of academic routes into the profession. Mentoring, training and internal development programmes will be critical if FM is to build the workforce it needs, she said.
Others echoed the same message. Steve Gladwin of Nodus Solutions argued the industry must move away from the narrative that people simply “fall into” facilities management, instead presenting it as a career for individuals who can apply transferable skills to complex environments.
Simon Wrenn, CEO of Kindred FM, highlighted the importance of inspiring future leaders early through apprenticeships and outreach, while Louisa Clarke, co-author of The Human-centric Leader, posed a pointed challenge: if organisations doubled their technology investment tomorrow, would leadership capability be strong enough to turn that technology into meaningful outcomes?
Similarly, James Bradley, CEO of Churchill Group, a company that became an employee-ownership trust in 2023, explained how the transition has helped reframe skills training as a “self-perpetuating investment”, enhancing confidence and leadership capabilities across his teams. A view that would help the business undoubtedly tackle questions like the one Clarke posed.
Technology still loomed large over the conference. However, Andrew Targell of JLL Technologies argued the real challenge is not simply adopting new digital tools, but changing the mindset around them. Technology, he said, should support the physical workplace experience rather than exist as an end in itself.
Collaboration and opportunity
Later sessions moved the discussion from theory to practice.
Claire Atkins Morris of Sodexo and Alex Hammond of NHS England described how collaboration across supply chains is becoming essential to tackling sustainability challenges, while Ryan Horton of CBRE and Paul Dawson of Sky Studios Elstree shared insights into the realities of managing a film production campus, where facilities teams must balance sustainability ambitions with the unpredictable rhythms of production.
Social mobility emerged as a recurring theme. Debbie Dobson of ISS argued that widening access to opportunity should sit at the heart of workforce strategy rather than on the margins of corporate responsibility programmes.
Given the scale of the sector, the argument is persuasive. FM employs hundreds of thousands of people across the UK and touches almost every part of the economy. If any industry has the potential to open doors to people who might otherwise struggle to access meaningful employment, it’s this one.
And yet, sitting through a day so focused on talent pipelines, mentoring schemes and the future workforce, I couldn’t help noticing the tension hanging over the conversation. Because outside the conference hall, the narrative around artificial intelligence grows louder by the week. Technology leaders are falling over themselves to claim we are two years, one year – perhaps even six months – away from systems capable of reshaping entire industries and labour markets.
Maybe they are wrong. Perhaps, like many waves of technological hype before it, the reality will prove slower and more nuanced.
But if they are right, then all this talk about solving employment challenges, boosting social mobility and nurturing the next generation of facilities professionals could start to look a little like Cnut the Great trying to hold back the tide.
And that, perhaps, is the question Workplace Futures leaves hanging over the sector. Not that the sector is wrong to focus on these challenges. Only that they may prove smaller than the one heading towards us.
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