John Hinks

Dr John Hinks is Director of the Centre for Advanced Built Environment Research - CABER - the Virtual Research Organisation involving the Building Research Establishment, Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of Strathclyde. Part of his role is to examine the scope for virtual working within the construction industry and its clientele. He is a member of the BIFM Research Committee.
Previously Reader in Facilities Management at Heriot-Watt University, John is also the author of several books, including Appraising Building Defects and The Technology of Building Defects (both with Dr Geoff Cook of University of Reading) and a number of papers, many of which he has presented at conferences both in the UK and overseas.
John's present research interests in the field of Facilities Management address the strategic nature of the FM management process. He has developed tools to allow the impacts of incorporating specialised IT on the organisational management processes to be understood, and is involved in consultancy to business and FM provider markets on designing representative performance assessment tools for Facilities and the wider Facilities Management function. His work is also concerned with the issue of how Facilities Management can be used as a strategic lever for business competitiveness and the role of FM in creating or preserving agility in the changing organisation. This includes the strategic implications of virtual working for Facilities Management.
Previous Facilities Management research has examined the Perceptions and Strategic Priorities of Chartered Surveyors (RICS report). John has been Guest Editor of the international journal Facilities for special issues on Fire Safety Facilities Management (1999) and Business Strategy (2000). He was also involved in the development of the University of Salford Process Protocol.