Lisa Miller and the facility management team at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology not only serves a diverse client base of students, staff, faculty and visitors, but also a diverse portfolio of modern and historic campus buildings. Miller, a recipient of IFMA’s 40 Under Forty FMs, integrates people, place and process to prepare students for successful careers and lives. She is associate director, sustainable operations and quality assurance at SAIT.

Crane SimulatorTell us about yourself and how you got into FM.

Facility management was not an industry that was widely promoted when I graduated, nor was I very familiar with what FM was at the time.

After graduating from SAIT’s Architectural Technologies program, I spent many years as a technologist producing construction drawings for small renovations throughout campus. Our small design team happened to be a part of the facility management department at SAIT. As I learned more about what FM was, I became excited to understand the impact of our design decisions.

I sought various roles within the FM team including design and space planning, project management, operations and maintenance, contract management, and now sustainable operations and quality assurance.

I consider myself fortunate to have stumbled into a profession that has provided, and continues to provide, many growth and learning opportunities.

Heritage Hall and Parking GarageWhat is day-to-day life like at your facility?

SAIT’s mission of preparing students for successful careers and lives guides our approach. Our daily work contributes to this purpose but no two days are ever the same.

Managing facilities with high-traffic areas, competing demands for attention and varied expectations can prove challenging. SAIT delivers relevant, skill-oriented education to more than 50,000 students annually, supported by 1,900 employees.

Serving as the steward of our buildings and grounds, the prime focus of our facility management team is the physical operations of the entire campus ensuring spaces are safe, secure, functional and inviting.

Our team supports SAIT’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan by providing physical infrastructure that recognizes the diversity of the SAIT campus, preparing our recreational facilities to support our SAIT Trojan athletes, or providing tours of our facilities to our students.

Crane SimulatorWhat makes SAIT unique and what kind of challenges does your team face?

The buildings at SAIT have been built over the span of 100 years. Our landmark building – known as Heritage Hall – was completed in 1922 and the Trades and Technology Complex added state-of-the-art learning space in 2012. Our main campus sits on 96 acres of what was once the outskirts of the city and is now an urban location where land is at a premium. To grow our campus, we must look up and we must be cognizant of respecting the architectural heritage symbolizing SAIT’s history.

We are tasked with ensuring SAIT’s buildings are managed effectively and protected from challenging environmental conditions. This can be difficult when we can experience temperatures dropping below -30 C (-22 F) for extended periods of time. Ensuring that building temperatures don’t drop too significantly and pipes don’t freeze is an annual event for our team.

Working with various stakeholders to understand their needs while also outlining and communicating service levels, necessitates a partnership with students, staff and faculty in managing our facilities. Managing the response to a burst pipe isn’t just about remediation for us – it’s about ensuring students can still learn, athletes can still train, and someone still has a bed to sleep in at night.

How much space do you manage and how is it used?

SAIT’s whole campus is a classroom. Our facilities include 23 buildings, residences, satellite campuses and leased spaces – totaling nearly 500,000 square meters (or just over 5 million square feet).

SAIT offers certificate, diploma, post diploma, apprenticeship and applied degree programs, baccalaureate degrees, corporate training and more than 1,000 continuing education courses as well as six dedicated and award-winning research areas. As one would expect, spaces on campus are diverse, need to serve many purposes, and can change frequently in response to industry demand and needs.

Our campus is a place where people live and a place where people learn. It is a health clinic and a wellness centre. It’s a research facility and a power plant. SAIT is a lecture theatre and a woodworking shop. It’s a crane simulator lab and an e-gaming facility. Our campus is a world class culinary lab and an airplane hangar. A tech-driven data hub and a community for many!

Distillation Tower

Tell us about your FM team.

I work with an amazing team that holds responsibility for the operation and maintenance of SAIT’s buildings and grounds and the governance of our integrated facility management contractor. Our goal is to enhance SAIT’s physical learning environment, from buildings to electrical systems, roads and grounds to waste management, distribution services and sustainable building practices. 

My team is a critical part of FM providing a safe and productive work and learning environment for our students, faculty and staff while generating innovative strategies to maximize operational effectiveness. Everyone has a different knowledge base and skill set and a unique perspective which, when combined, can lead to some pretty incredible ideas. 

My team is highly engaged in both their own, and their teammates, professional and personal success and growth. They make having fun a part of their every day!

How is FM shaping the culture of SAIT?

The facility management team is generally known as the keeper of the physical space in an organization. However, unlike other organizations, our participation in the academic environment allows SAIT facility management to support students, faculty and staff in both teaching and learning. In supporting a post-secondary environment, we engage with students for initiatives and projects across many programs and work with faculty to create and operate ideal teaching spaces. Our daily work becomes integral in shaping culture at SAIT.

In a post-secondary institution that focuses on trades and technology, like SAIT, facility management has a unique opportunity, not only to maintain the physical space, but to showcase it. As they are being trained for the workforce, students are interested in seeing and understanding the inner workings of our facilities. Designing and operating our facilities as living labs allows us to lead with a world-class customer experience mindset and equip students with essential skills for career success.

Ambulance SimulatorHow does security shape the way you are able to perform your day-to-day duties?

SAIT maintains an extensive network of devices for the institution’s security, surveillance, access control and emergency response needs. Our facility management and security team work closely together to ensure spaces are designed and operated in a manner that manages and mitigates risk.

As an urban campus, we invite not only students and staff into our facilities, but also the public. We can see tens of thousands of people visit our campus on any given day and they all have different access needs. Our facility management team has the expertise that allows us to best manage these varying needs through different technologies that promote automation and streamline our services.

Security solutions are evolving at a quick pace, as are our own operational needs, meaning that a critical part of our job is to remain aware of trends, evaluate against our needs, and integrate the latest security solutions into our operations when appropriate.

What are some FM challenges you face at your venue that are common across the FM industry?

Infrastructure continues to age and there continues to be economic pressures. Like many organizations, our facility management team is tasked with maintaining, and often enhancing, services while containing operating, maintenance and repair costs with no sacrifice to the quality or level of service. This challenge requires a team that is willing to take risks and implement unique solutions. It’s not always comfortable taking those risks and there is always a chance of failing but often times the rewards are worth it. As an industry, taking risks is important - we need to test ourselves, realize new efficiencies, and utilize the strengths of our team members in order to ensure our buildings are managed effectively and keep moving the needle forward in our profession.

What do you like best about what you do?

Working in FM in a post-secondary environment we are often behind the scenes, but our impact is great! To know that my teams’ decisions and actions can positively impact the student experience is very rewarding. We were all students once – and I now have a much greater appreciation for the hard work FM undertook to make sure my own student experience was a positive one.

Why should someone choose a career in FM?

Working in facility management provides the opportunity to continue learning every single day. No one day, problem, or solution is ever the same and there are always others willing to share their knowledge and expertise. FM is a career focused on collaboration, teamwork, and continual improvement – it is a fast paced and rewarding career that provides a multitude of opportunities and a network of support.