i-FM: The online resource for facilities professionals

Mark did not take a conventional route into the property and FM industry.

Having graduated from Southampton University with a Batchelor of Science degree in 1978, he worked in central government in Whitehall for six years during which time he was a Private Secretary to two successive Ministers of State, Earl Ferrers and Lord Belstead, who were also Deputy Leaders of the House of Lords at the time. He was also seconded to the Financial Management Thatcher Initiative Team at the then Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, designing reporting systems for Ministers and Whitehall Mandarins.

In a radical career volte face, Mark left MAFF in 1983 in order to found his own start-up business. Derek Smith & Sons was born in March 1984, initially as an M&E services contractor operating in a traditional marketplace predominantly in the South East. Driven chiefly by client demand, the company rapidly evolved into a provider of fully comprehensive facilities management services to blue chips throughout the UK. The company changed its name along the way to reflect the changing business focus and is now styled as DSA, an acronym of Derek Smith Associates.

DSA won wide industry acclaim for its fmNet system, as well as both the BIFM Technology and the i-FM e-business Awards in 2003.

Mark then formed the Intelligent Property Group (IPG) in order to further develop the fmNet technology proposition and, in collaboration with Prudential Property Investment Management (PRUPIM), developed the market leading centremonitor.net solution specifically designed for the shopping centre sector. IPG went on to win the i-FM e-business award in 2006 in recognition of this innovation. New clients including Lend Lease, Landflex and Hammersons soon followed.

In 2008, both DSA and IPG were acquired by private equity investor Gordon Morrison.

Mark parted company with Morrison shortly after the acquisition and rejoined forces with Colin Payne, previously his Commercial Director at IPG, to form an exciting and dynamic new technology venture, complyNC. They are now leading a fresh, new-generation approach to the demands for operational compliance and efficiency in property and facilities management and are developing a unique, fully collaborative and consultative commercial model.

Mark is passionate about technology and the vital role it has to play in improving the management, delivery and perception of FM in the UK. There is still an awful lot of smoke and mirrors operating in the UK FM sector. Commercial gain, self promotion and protectionism have retarded the professional improvement and evolution of FM and have severely prejudiced the manner in which it is presently perceived in the wider property and business communities, he says. He is hopeful that the recent economic challenges will prove to have been a positive factor in weeding out many of these unhelpful individuals and practices. He is optimistic that the facilities management proposition will emerge in a stronger position as a result of the changes being forced by economic adversity and that a new breed of emerging, young professionals will be leading FM from the relative wilderness into a brighter and much more vibrant future.