A key player in Dubai’s growing facilities management market is predicting that the FM industry will outstrip the emirate’s booming construction business in the next few years.
Edward Sanders, of Dubai-based Drake & Scull Facilities Management, said that while the pace of building work in the city will eventually begin to slow, the need for companies to maintain and manage the completed resorts, buildings and facilities will increase at a rapid pace.
Sanders, Head of FM Consultancy, said: “The facilities management industry is going to be massive, both in the UAE and across the Middle East. It has been estimated that in the lifecycle of a building the design and construction phase only accounts for 20 per cent of the overall costs. The remaining 80 per cent is for operations, maintenance and management of the facilities during their lifetime.”
He said that currently US$36 billion was invested in construction and infrastructure works in Dubai, putting the life cycle cost of managing all of these upcoming facilities at around US$ 144 billion according to this 20 / 80 per cent estimate. Drake & Scull Facilities Management is part of the EMCOR Group of the UK and USA, a leading facilities and engineering company servicing over 1 billion square feet worldwide with annual turnover in excess of US$4.7 billion. It will be exhibiting at FM EXPO, the region’s first exhibition dedicated to facilities management. Organised by Streamline Marketing Group and dmg world media, it takes place from June 4 - 6 at Dubai World Trade Centre.
Facilities management is the integrated management of all types of built environments from commercial towers, resorts and hotels to oil refineries and hospitals. FM practitioners oversee the management of a building from its inception, providing a range of services including property strategy, building maintenance and operations, management of space, energy and communications infrastructure.
Sanders said: “According to figures from UK construction research organisation BSRIA, the facilities management market in Dubai was worth 2.5 billion AED in 2005. However as more and more developments come online the potential growth over the next three to four years is off the charts as all of these new buildings will need facilities management.”
Drake & Scull Facilities Management offers a range of services from consulting to FM operations and project management. It currently has offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar, with 220 staff in the UAE alone. It is opening new offices in Bahrain and Kuwait in the coming months and also plans to expand into Oman and Saudi Arabia in 2007. The company has helped to pioneer the use of service levy modelling, Service Level Agreements and technology-based system solutions in the region, which allow FM practitioners to work more efficiently with clients by specifying exact service requirements and allowing their performance to be measured.
Regional contracts include consultancy services for Dubai International Airport, Jumeirah International and the 6-million square metre Dubai Festival City development. The company also provides operational facilities management at a range of sites including Abu Dhabi Mall, HSBC Bank, Barclays Bank, Al Rostamani Real Estate and First Gulf Bank. They provide operations and maintenance services to a number of major district cooling plants including for Jumeirah Beach Residences and Dubai Festival City.
Managing Director Scott Wilson will give a presentation at FM EXPO on the importance of involving facilities managers at the very start of a building project, to make sure that the design is suitable for its eventual function and ensure maximum efficiency and cost savings, as well as all the way through the commissioning and operation phases.
Sanders said: “FM EXPO is one of the first exhibitions in the region to recognise facilities management in its own right. It is important that we are there helping to educate the market on what the proper standards of facilities management are. I believe that this new event will go from strength to strength and eventually become as important as The Big 5, the largest construction industry trade show in the Gulf.”
