In 1986, a group of local real estate professionals joined together to launch the Pittsburgh chapter of IFMA. Its founding members represented the city's major industrial powers: Westinghouse, Alcoa, and PPG Industries to name a few. The city was a fundamentally different place then. As Gary Rotstein of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette pointed out in a 2013 article, "From a tale of Rust Belt woe to one of urban transformation, it is indisputable that the Pittsburgh region is a far different place than it was 30 years ago."

 

The office environment was also quite different from today's work spaces. Private offices and open desks were the prevailing standard. Individual workstations were just beginning to be introduced and technology consisted of a telephone, a desktop calculator, and seemingly endless rows of filing cabinets. And, as a discipline, facility management was only in its sixth year of development. IFMA has been one of the primary organizations showcasing the importance of the built environment and the people who work in it, and the Pittsburgh chapter continues its work with the local facility management community.