Facilities management innovation in public-private collaborations : Danish ESCO projects

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to investigate how facilities management (FM) units navigate Energy Service Company (ESCO) collaborations, here defined as examples of public collaborative innovation within the context of FM. The driving motivation is to inform and inspire internal FM units of local institutions on how to navigate and manage collaboration of different, intra- and inter-organisational actors throughout ESCO projects. Design/methodology/approach – A deductive research methodology was applied based on the first ten ESCO projects in Danish municipalities between 2008 and 2012. Findings – A model of FM roles in FM public innovation is proposed. The internal FM unit coordinates between clients and end users by acting as translator and demonstrator and collaborates with the ESCO company to implement the energy renovation (FM processor). Research limitations/implications – The data were collected from a limited sample of ESCO collaborations in Denmark. Future research should thus investigate collaborative innovation in ESCO (and other forms of private–public) collaborations outside of Denmark. Practical implications – Not only should FM units clarify what different stakeholders expect from an ESCO collaboration, but also they should translate stakeholders’ expectations into actual goals and objectives; process them together with the ESCO company; demonstrate their execution to all stakeholders throughout the process, not just when closing the collaboration. Originality/value – This paper contributes to FM innovation research by exploring FM innovation in the public sector and by depicting the coordinating role of local governments’ internal FM units engaging in public–private collaborative innovation.