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ontents
INDEX
VOLUME 1 / ISSUE 03 / OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
2 INTRODUCTION
Jamal Lootah, President of MEFMA, welcomes you to the third issue of Facility Insight.
4 NEWS
The latest developments in the field of facilities management.
10 GUEST
David Kentish, Director and Co-Founder of Kentish & Co, talks about making sense of facilities management at the workplace
12 TRAINING
MEFMA sets out to launch Taheel- a new training programme. We bring you the overview of this initiative.
26 SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS
Antonio Ramirez, CEO, Rosmiman Software Corporation, informs us about the work being done by the company to help the customers achieve their targets.
28 CLOUD COMPUTING
Ben Churchill, CEO, Urbanise , an insight as to how technology can help build a stronger link with the customer.
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20 INTERVIEW
Aparna Shivpuri speaks to the team at CHICAGO – where we learn how they fully service the education industry as well as educate and train their staff with the focus of exceeding the standards in the UAE and the region expected of themselves
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FM IN HOSPITALITY FM services are increasingly becoming important for the hospitality industry. Aparna Shivpuri Arya takes a look at this relationship.
SUPPLIER Unipods, the leading company for ‘plug-andplay’ construction, a closer look into the efficiency and concept of Off Site Construction.
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FM IN EVENTS Abdulhadi Ali Alalyak, MEFMA Board Member, what really happens behind the in managing an event
FACILITY INSIGHT, THE VOICE OF THE INDUSTRY, IS THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE MIDDLE EAST FACILITY MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
SUSTAINABILITY Saeed Al Abbar, Chairman of Emirates Green Building Council, highlights the issues and importance of sustainability in the FM industry.
OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
1
INTRODUCTION VOLUME 1
ISSUE 03
OCT-NOV 2014
THE “SMART”
FM INDUSTRY Latest developments in the Middle East
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n a new paper published by the Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ), the Emirates ID Authority has outlined its proposals to implement an ICT infrastructure that will better enable electronic payment systems, which will be a global first and is part of the country’s smart city strategy. In Qatar, the World Cup is a catalyst for its transformation into a smart city with three objectives that will improve the use of solar energy, water desalination and cyber security. And in Saudi Arabia, two new Smart Cities are under construction; Kingdom City and King Abdullah Economic City. Their success will no doubt pave the way for the development of old and new cities to follow suit. It is all part of the trend to develop Middle Eastern cities as smart cities, which will help create a world-renowned environment for sustainable innovation. Never before has facilities management had such a good opportunity to prove its worth by integrating itself into these government initiatives by helping to create efficiently managed assets. To build this indispensable bridge, facilities management cannot do it alone. The industry needs to pool its resources and partner with technology providers to host building management software and active management analytics. Likewise 3D-modelling techniques need to be adopted by architects and facility managers to anticipate how a building will be used by its tenants, and managed by its FM provider. As Ben Churchill of Urbanise outlines in this issue, the opportunities to create added value with a more IT-focused and customer-centric strategy, are endless. MEMFA is doing all it can by actively engaging governments and supporting industry discussion through events such as Smart Cities by MEED. It is also organising its own collaborations with the likes of Emirates Green Building Council and incorporating the topic into its training programmes. But the best approach, just like the technology, is for ever changing and it is critical that we stay abreast of new innovations through the likes of Facility Insight. So I want to take this opportunity to encourage the industry to use MEFMA as a platform to share new technologies, research and insight that will help governments realise their vision for a smarter society.
Jamal Lootah
President of MEFMA
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MIDDLE EAST FACILITY MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION PO Box. 1166, Dubai, UAE Phone: +971 4 3409595, Email: info@mefma.org CONTACT US Sinead Bridgett Director Phone: +971 50 8491447 Email: sinead@mefma.org Alaa Alboali Relationship Manager Phone: +971 55 8482808 Email: alaa@mefma.org Kamya Kundani Coordinator Phone: +971 4 3409595 Email: kamya@mefma.org ADVERTISING INQUIRIES Vass Mafilas Phone: (D)+971 4 361 4177 Mobile: +971 55 887 0720 Email: Diversified.media@mail.com
Cover Story:
Aparna Shivpuri speaks to the team at CHICAGO – where we learn how they fully service the education industry as well as educate and train their staff with the focus of exceeding the standards in the UAE and the region expected of themselves - pg 20
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NEWS GENERAL
UAE’S FM INDUSTRY TO REACH USD 5.44 BILLION BY 2015
F
acilities Management (FM) services contracts in the UAE could be valued at approximately USD 5.44 billion per annum by next year, according to G4S, a leading global security and outsourcing group in UAE. The statistic included FM services that ranged from cleaning services, pest control, office services, landscaping, waste management and building management systems with the exclusion of security services, an average of 60% of most industries in the UAE may outsource its FM requirements, says the firm.
IMDAAD SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH MRHE
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mdaad recently signed a five-year strategic agreement with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Housing Establishment (MRHE) to offer full and integrated maintenance services for MRHE’s occupied residential units and houses with expired maintenance contracts.. The partnership is in line with the Establishment’s commitment to providing world-class community services and the highest standards of quality, luxury and welfare to its beneficiaries in Dubai. The agreement was signed by H.E. Sami Abdullah Gargash, CEO, Mohammed Bin Rashid Housing Establishment, and Jamal Abdullah Lootah, CEO, Imdaad, in the presence of high-ranking executives from both sides. The partnership between Imdaad and Mohammed Bin Rashid Housing Establishment covers a total of 3,485 houses including 544 units in Al Warqaa; 940 in Oud Al Muteena; 509 in Al Warqaa; and 252 houses in Al Barsha. The prices and types of services are applicable to the Establishment’s 1,240-unit project in the Al Barsha area
MIDDLE EAST CLEANING AND HYGIENE INDUSTRY TO GROW BY 275% BY 2020
A
ccording to the Middle East Facilities Management Association, the industry will rise from close to USD 21.7 billion to USD 81 billion. Addressing this key sector will be the theme at the second edition of the Middle East’s premier international trade expo on cleaning and hygiene, CMEP - Clean Middle East Pulire. CMEP Expo is set to be held from October 21st to 23rd, 2014 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. This year’s exhibition is 30% larger than the previous edition. Dubai Municipality is leading the charge to maintain international hygiene standards in the emirate, and, as such, will be presenting interesting studies on the country’s facilities management industry at the International Cleaning & Hygiene Conference.
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WASL DISCUSSES WORKPLACE SAFETY
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he workshop started with Tariq Chauhan (CEO EFS) & Steve Moore (GM Operation) from EFS, giving a short introduction on their Centre of Excellence & also discussed on importance of EHS. Shanu Mohammed (AMSS Wasl) briefed on Wasl philosophy for accident investigation & reporting. After this Manzoor Chowdhury (EFS) elaborated on the topic – Investigation of Incidents & Reporting. Mahamat Ali (Idama) mentioned the incident about the gas leakage, and its impact, as a case study. Sathishbabu (EMCO) presented on Hazard & Precautions on Manual Material Handling. The floor was opened to the audience where topics, such as importance of liaison with the police and government authorities, periodicity for cross checking and many other issues were discussed.
NEWS GENERAL
BUILDING INFORMATION MODELLING SOFTWARE GAINS POPULARITY
D
esigners and contractors need to convince clients to allow for proper design periods in order to gain the full benefits of Building Information Modelling (BIM) software, according to Jeffrey Freund of Abu Dhabi-based iTech. Speaking at the second in a series of BIM Breakfast panel events held by Construction Week in association with Middle East Architect and MEP Middle East last week, Freund mentioned several projects in the region which had seriously overrun cost and/or budgets, which he said was due to unrealistic targets initially being set over delivery dates. He pointed to Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, which was initially due to open last year, but will not now open until 2015, and has run over its initial budget. He also mentioned Dubai’s Cayan Tower, which he said finished AED 81 million over budget. However, Elizabeth Peters, a BIM lead practitioner at Aecom’s Building & Places division, said that clients will not simply accept a request for more time to model projects. Instead, the industry needs to convince property owners and investors of the long-term benefits of BIM by assuring them of the return on investment they will receive.
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WATERFRONT PROJECT BY DP WORLD ANNOUNCED
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ubai Properties has revealed details of a third project in the unique Culture Village district - a luxury waterfront hotel. The hotel, due to open in early 2018, will be one of the first luxury hotels in Culture Village, and will be operated by Anantara Hotel Resorts and Spa. The news was announced by Group, following an agreement with luxury hotel operator and owner of the Anantara brand, Minor Hotel Group, in the presence of Mohammed Al Habbai, DPG, Chief Officer, Urban Planning and Infrastructure, DP World and James Kaplan SVP, Development from Minor Hotel Group.
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NEWS GENERAL
NAKHEEL LAUNCHES TWO RESIDENTIAL PROJECTS IN DUBAI
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ubai Developer Nakheel announced the launch of two new residential projects in Dubai at Cityscape 2014, including a three-tower residential complex at the Palm Jumeirah. Located at the entrance to Palm Jumeirah, the Palm Gateway is a threetower waterfront leisure complex with more than 1,300 homes, a beach club, retail, dining and health and fitness facilities, a statement said. The 5.5 million sq feet. project will comprise of three individually- designed high-rise residential buildings – the tallest topping 260 metres – with one, two and three bedroom apartments, available for lease. According to the statement, the towers will be constructed on the existing Palm Monorail Gateway
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terminal, the roof of which will be transformed into a 15th floor podium with infinity pool, shops and sports facilities. The Monorail is linked to the Dubai Tram and the Dubai Metro, and allows residents and visitors to travel to and from the Palm Jumeirah. Unveiling the project, Nakheel Chairman Ali Rashid Lootah, said, “The project combines luxury beachfront living, exciting shopping, dining and will have convinient transport links for travel within the surrounding areas and across Dubai.” The second project, named the Jumeirah Heights Fronds, is a lakeside residential complex of more than 1,400
apartments and villas at the northern edge of its high-end Jumeirah Islands community in Dubai. The 900,000 sq feet project, which will be constructed on two plots of land, will consist of four towers – two on each frond – each containing 343 apartments ranging from one to four bedrooms, as well as 34 three-bedroom villas, with leasing opportunities available, a statement said. The site is also the location for Nakheel’s Jumeirah Islands park, recreation and retail centre, a new waterfront leisure and dining hub for residents of Jumeirah Islands and surrounding areas, as well as a gated community of 84 townhouses.
GUEST
MAKING “SENSE” OF
FACILITY MANAGEMENT
We spend the majority of our waking hours at work and most of us have thought about what we like and, more importantly, don’t like about the work place. So what is that makes a difference ? David Kentish, talks to us about it.
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THE SENSES RULE Many companies now bring in consultants to help them engineer the way their building both externally and internally will promote well-being of their workforce. Take sound as an example. We have a very small amount of bandwidth for processing auditory input, which is why office noise is extremely damaging for productivity. If you have to work in an open-plan office, your productivity is greatly reduced. You are one third as productive in open-plan offices as in quiet rooms. There is also convincing evidence that pleasant fragrances can improve our mood and sense of well-being.
hat is it that creates an environment that nurtures a feel good factor and atmosphere that you are consciously unaware of but subconsciously getting the benefit from? An FM’s sole responsibility is to keep the building/estate he/she is in charge of maintained and running smoothly for the businesses in that building in order to allow their staff to perform without interruption. If you’ve got that covered, so far so good. But what if the businesses wants more than that? They may have done some research that shows how altering the way the building looks, smells, and feels has a perceptible benefit to their employees, which may have a positive impact on their well-being and productivity.
THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND I have a personal story to tell here. My wife and I were flying back from Australia to Dubai and there was a planned two-hour stop-over at the Singapore airport, (I’m not a great lover of airport departure lounges at the best of times). However, after getting off the plane, we walked straight into the most amazing and uplifting departure lounge I have ever seen. Landscaped waterways full of koi carp, bright and exotic flowers, warming and calming facilities, music that relaxed me, shops that were interesting and fun. As much as I wanted to be grumpy I couldn’t maintain it and when we got the call to re-board the plane I actually wanted to stay longer. This departure lounge appealed to my senses and it made me feel good. How your subconscious reacts can start even before you reach where you are going. Your subconscious will al10
OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
If you have to work in an open-plan office, your productivity is greatly reduced. You are one third as productive in open-plan offices as in quiet rooms.” ways give you your first impression. If you have been working somewhere for a while your subconscious will reinforce your first impression!
WHAT CAN YOU DO? The company that you provide FM for wants a better place for their staff to work in and draws up a plan which involves, new décor, lighting, furnishing, sound systems, almost imperceptible fragrances and revamped catering services, all of which hopefully you have been involved in, or possibly not. In either case it’s the FM who has to make it happen and keep it happening. So as an FM how would you view this new order of environmental development? Is it a pain because it creates more work for you and your team/suppliers? Is it all going to be worth it? Well the powers that be certainly hope so, it’s costing them a fortune and you need to deliver! Just look ahead to when it’s all finished, the work environment is more conducive, which is great because they complain less, which in turn makes your job more enjoyable and satisfying. You know it makes sense!
Get ahead of the competition... ...with MEFMA accredited courses
MEFMA conducts regular accredited training courses in a wide variety of Facility Management disciplines which help industry professionals and companies get an edge over their competition. The association is leading the way with practical qualifications that you can implement in your daily role. These comprehensive accredited and certified training courses inlude:
Foundation in Facility Management
Certified Professional in Facility Management
Training FM manpower to Middle East standards
Training of Mobile Aluminum Towers
Training of Powered Access Equipment
Santia HSE training by MEFMA
In addition, MEFMA also provides the following training courses and more: • Customer Service Training : Managing Customer Service • Writing Reports & Proposals • Management Skills for the Administrative Assistant • Cooling Load Calculations & Building Energy Simulation • Psychrometrics
TRAINING CENTRE
Approved Training Centre for:
Contact: info@mefma.org
www.mefma.org
TRAINING
BRIDGING THE SKILLED
MANPOWER GAP
On August 19, 2014, MEFMA organised a networking evening to talk about one of its flagship initiatives, Taheel. This initiative serves the critical function of providing access to quality and trained personnel. We bring to you an overview of this initiative.
There is also a very high skill gap of 45%, which is impacting the service delivery.” 12
OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
I
t is not easy to find trained personnel in the FM industry in this region. For instance, the average rejection rate for FM foremen, technicians and engineers is 70% and currently there is no programme in the region that provides certification courses, which blend hard skills and the culture of this region. There is also a very high skill gap of 45%, which is impacting the service delivery.
According to Satish Chandran, Principal Consultant, PHI Strategic Consultancy Services, “Even before MEFMA’s inception, one of the main gaps was hiring qualified resources at different level within the FM industry. That is the reason we have decided to launch this initiative which was initially driven by MEFMA board members, especially Ali Al Suwaidi. As FM consultants, we worked with AfriGulf who has
TRAINING been the HR consultant & MEFMA to lead the launch of the Taheel initiative.” With this background in mind, the networking evening, began, with a presentation by Ali Al Suwaidi, Executive Director – Ejadah and MEFMA Board Member, who highlighted the role MEFMA and AFRIGULF can jointly play in alleviating this situation. He then went on to explain the structure of Taheel, which is aimed at solving these problems through “quality talent access”, providing hard and soft skills to ease cultural integration, with a focus on high-level training across all levels and sectors of manpower recruited from India. The initiative is led by Ali Al Suwaidi, Board Member, MEFMA, Sandeep Thapa, CEO, AfriGulf Manpower Solutions, and Satish Chandran, Principal Consultant, PHI Strategic Consultancy Services, the Taheel programme has been envisioned as a platform through which FM companies in this region can recruit benchmarked, qualified and certified professionals to work in all aspects of FM, ranging from technical engineers needed at a site, or staff to take care of housekeeping. Al Suwaidi expounded on this and stated that the need of a programme was on their mind for the last one year. Rejection rate of candidates who used to appear for interviews, was very high. “Here we should take into account the fact that the engineers have to go into the field with technicians, who are raw and who don’t even understand the terminologies that are being used in the Middle East.” Elaborating on the importance of this initiative, Sandeep, CEO, Afrigulf UAE, said, “Taheel has come at a right time, when the whole Middle East is transitioning towards the efficient and effective FM operating model benchmarked with the best FM practices of the world. The major USP of Taheel is that the training intervention is customised to the needs of the Middle East . It is designed by the Middle East FM industry experts and is endorsed by MEFMA. It is an industry readiness programme, which aims to bring good FM professionals to become the best. More so it is also an employability enhancement programme.” The Taheel programme has been especially designed for those people
This is going to be a big learning curve even for us and the biggest challenge is to make the candidates ready for the Middle East market,” Al Suwaidi said. who are eager to work in the Middle East’s FM sector, but do not have the requisite skills for the same. The programme will start off with training centers in India, where they will implement Taheel, along with AfriGulf and PHI. “We will kick start the programme with training for FM engineers to be followed by FM supervisors and then FM technicians. There will be a very practical process for short-listing candidates to start with and at the end of the course there will be an exam and once they pass this they will be issued with MEFMA certificates and unique ID cards. During the training, we will address the need to
create awareness on the cultural and social elements, HSE, etiquettes and much more, apart from the technical training. This is going to be a big learning curve even for us and the biggest challenge is to make the candidates ready for the Middle East market,” Al Suwaidi said. The programme will be administered through training institutes located in those countries where FM manpower has been traditionally sourced from— these include nations like India, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
TAHEEL TENTATIVE PROGRAMME STRUCTURE The programme aims to reduce the hiring costs and increase the quality of manpower in the MENA region. ►TAHEEL FM Engineer Certification (TFMEC) ►TAHEEL FM Supervisor Certification (TFMSC ►TAHEEL FM Technician Certification (TFMTC) ►TAHEEL FM Engineer Training Program (TFMET) ►TAHEEL FM Technician Training Program (TFMTT)
OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
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TRAINING
OF THE MATERIAL PREPARATION HAS BEEN COMPLETED
These MEFMA certificates will be valid not only in the Middle East, but also beyond the MENA region. The first three courses will be for a duration of 10 day each, while the last two will be for 34 days each. There will be 10 modules and this is an integrated programme with MEFMA Taseesy programme. Material preparation is in full swing and almost 70% has been completed. Once the rough cut is ready mock training sessions will be conducted to fine tune the programme. “There is a team of six people working for the last one month to put together the material for training and we want to make this material useful and practical for the candidates. We are trying to create 14
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material based on past experience with state –of- the- art buildings and facilities and to highlight what can go wrong if the asset is not maintained as per best practices and standards,” Chandran highlighted. As pointed out earlier, this pro-
gramme has come at the right time, when the region is witnessing a boom in the demand for trained FM workers. Companies will benefit in terms of time, cost and efficiency, when the employ workers who have taken the training through the Taheel programme
STAFFING
C
onventional wisdom regarding the outsourcing decision states that you should outsource your “non-core” business activities. However, there is no set guideline for defining core and non-core activities. Therefore, in many organisations, this demarcation of services ends up being highly subjective. One occupational hazard of this industry is that there are a lot of issues, such as funding, information about the life-span of an equipment, business plans, which are beyond an individual’s control. But one area where the facility manager does have direct influence is the department staff. Making time to develop a personnel plan will have a far-reaching and long-lasting effect. One place to start is to determine
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IN-HOUSE OR
OUTSOURCE?
This is a question many companies wrestle with, and there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Competence, quality, and cost should decide whether to contract out facility functions. the best source for the expertise that is required to accomplish facility functions that range from engineering to leasing, space planning and maintenance. For some facility managers, the answer is outsourcing.
COMPETENCE, QUALITY AND COST It comes down to the question of core competency, say outsourcing supporters. One company started by contracting out operations, but retained management in-house.
STAFFING
FRESH THINKING
T
he skills needed by an organisation depend on the strategy for staffing. An in-house staff clearly needs to maintain a higher level of technical competence. Organisations that outsource technical expertise put more emphasis on new areas. Others hire employees from other parts of the company even though they have no real estate or facility background. The idea is to embed knowledge of the business into facility functions. Approaches like that are likely to become more common. Outsourcing is being looked at seriously in a growing number of organisations— even ones that had rejected the option in the past. When it comes to outsourcing, of course, money is a major consideration. Facility managers are frequently asked to compare the cost of in-house staff against the going rate for contract services. And in some cases the decision is made purely on the basis of the bottom line. Even though staff is important, facility managers should try to keep the focus on long-term impact, and not short-term costs.
reduce outside service contracts, by sometimes hiring new staff to handle the work, if that proves cost-effective.
DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS
If you partner with the right company, you do end up with someone who is aware of the latest technology and takes ownership.”
In many organisations, of course, there is a mix of outsourced and in-house staff. What’s more, it isn’t uncommon for outsourced functions to be brought back in-house. Service quality is one reason, while another is the sense that the facility manager has lost control. For all the disagreement — sometimes heated — about whether the skills needed in facility functions are best obtained by developing an in-house staff or by outsourcing, there’s consensus that the skills themselves are changing. Technical knowledge, long the mainstay of the profession, is still important. But increasingly facility managers are focusing on soft skills. At the top of the list is the ability to communicate. That skill is essential as customer service has become very important for facility managers.
For management positions, financial and other quantitative skills and strong management abilities in areas like team-building and decision making are high on the list. In the end, it’s all about managing people efficiently.
But many other facility managers are equally convinced that in-house staff provides better service to the organisations at lower cost. However, some facility managers prefer to get things done in-house. This has been called in-sourcing where the concerned person tried to eliminate or OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
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TRAINING
SAFETY
FIRST
The International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) promotes the safe and effective use of powered access equipment worldwide, through providing technical advice and information. Jason Woods, Middle East Representative, IPAF, gives us the details.
I
PAF is a non- profit organisation, owned by its members, which include manufacturers, rental companies, contractors and users. Talking about the importance of the Middle East market, Jason said, “Within the Middle East we have a lot of movement of Powered Access Equipment. These units come in various sizes with different lifting elements. Our mission is to create safer users by issuing the correct training certification. Over the past few years IPAF has run a number of events, from exhibitions, safety talks and working with high safety panels. All the work with height panels has included the Ministry of Labour.” Elaborating further on their training programmes for platform operators, Jason remarked that the IPAF training programme for platform operators was developed by leading industry professionals. It is certified by TÜV as conforming to the international standard ISO 18878:2004 Mobile elevating work platforms – Operator (driver) training. More than 100,000 operators are trained each year through a worldwide
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TRAINING network of over 600 training centres. Successful trainees receive a PAL Card (Powered Access Licence), a safety guide, a log book and a certificate. The certification is valid for 5 years. IPAF itself does not provide training. It is provided by approved training centres, mostly manufacturer and rental members of IPAF. Approved training centres set the course fees independently for the training provided. They are regularly audited by IPAF and class sizes are kept small. Courses generally last one to two days and are a mixture of theory and practice, with a written and a practical test. Course material is available in many languages and training centres receive regular updates.
IPAF Training courses:
►1a - Static Vertical Lift ►1b - Static Boom Lift ►3a -Mobile Vertical Lift ►3b - Mobile Boom Lift ►H - Harness ►Mewps for Managers IPAF Training Level:
►Operator ►Demonstrator ►Instructor While training is one side of the rope, the other is safety. So what does IPAF do to ensure safety standards for operators? According to Jason, the IPAF UAE Country Council and Ministry Bodies, are working together and focusing on safer practices. “Whilst we deal with working at heights, there are many risk factors we have to think of, for example, making sure that the operator understands the emergency lowering device. Contractors are also focusing on better standards of training and are requesting IPAF training over non IPAF training,” he added. In the UAE, IPAF Training Certification is fully accepted by Dr Ali Salem – Director of Occupational Health and Safety Ministry of Labour UAE. Dr Ali has welcomed the commitment of IPAF Training through a network of professional centres. Both IPAF & Ministry of Labour share the same goal to minimise the risk of people falling from a height, while at work. “We believe by having the training
programme fully accepted by the Ministry pushes out other training providers who do not cover the essential information for safe use of mobile elevating work platforms,” Jason stated. IPAF has just received an award from the Ministry of Labour, for their commitment to the UAE and other Government sectors are also welcoming IPAF standards. At the same time major contractors throughout the UAE are also recognising IPAF certification as a sign of good training. In early 2014, the IPAF UAE Country Council was set up and the council members consist of rental companies and manufacturers. There is also no denying that there are benefits of being a part of IPAF, and these include:
TECHNICAL ADVICE AND INFORMATION 1) Guidance documents and videos covering topics including harnesses, ground conditions and Inspections 2) Work of the IPAF Manufacturer’s Technical Committee 3) Magazines and publications including the IPAF Powered Access Rental Market Reports. SAFETY PROMOTION AND DEVELOPMENT 1) Campaigns including Clunk Click and Spread the Load 2) Accident reporting project 3) Work of the IPAF Country Council and Regional Councils. PROMOTING THE POWERED ACCESS INDUSTRY 1) IPAF Rental + quality mark
2) Conferences and events including the IPAF Summit and International Awards for Powered Access (IAPAS), Europlatform, the IPAF North American Convention, the IPAF Asia Conference, Regional Meetings and more 3) Participating in major exhibitions in sectors such as access rental, construction, and health and safety.
INFLUENCING AND INTERPRETING LEGISLATION AND STANDARDS 1) Developing standards including European EN standards, US ANSI standards, Canadian CSA standards, ISO standards; 2) Monitoring international regulations that govern equipment use; 3) Working with health and safety authorities worldwide. MANAGEMENT AND OPERATOR TRAINING PROGRAMMES 1) Internationally recognised PAL Card for trained operators 2) Backed up by auditing and quality control 3) Professional Development Seminars for Instructors So what does the future hold for IPAF in this region? Jason was extremely optimistic about it and said, “The promoting of IPAF Training will never stop and we will continue to drive the safety message throughout the UAE/ Middle East. This will run through our network of members and safety campaigns along with workshops and networking events.” With the goal of becoming the only accepted license for operating mobile elevating work platforms, IPAF has definitely started on the right track OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
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INTERVIEW
- Chicago’s COO- Craig Adams 20
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INTERVIEW
YOUR ALL-IN-ONE
FM PARTNER
CHICAGO Services is a division of CHICAGO Maintenance & Construction Co. LLC, and a leading integrated facilities management provider throughout the UAE. Aparna Shivpuri speaks to the team here to get a better understanding of the work being done by them in the UAE and the region.
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HICAGO’s facilities management division provides a holistic package of services, including both hard and soft services. It operates with a focus on predictive and preventive maintenance, such as HVAC systems, maintenance, life safety systems, energy management, to name a few. However, CHICAGO also knows that these facilities have to be matched with soft services and hence provides an array of additional options, such as housekeeping, 24/7 help desk, pest control, security, and more. The approach of the company involves customer services, safety, environmental and health issues. It only outsources certain specialist activities, making it not only effective but a very resourceful company that is always able to meet its commitment and still adhere to a high standard of quality and service. The company provides solutions to over 40 schools in the UAE. Elaborating further on this Craig Adams, COO of CHICAGO Maintenance and Construction Co. LLC said, “In the contracts that we have, we provide a variety of maintenance agreements where we follow standard practices. We do everything in terms of the hard services from HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems to VAV (Variable Air Volume) systems.” CHICAGO has a team of close to 956 female employees, who double as cleaners when the school is in session and as school bus conductors otherwise. When school sessions are on-going we provide the front and back of house cleaning services. Then
We started our projects for GEMS Schools where we provide them with furniture. We also do hotel furniture among other things, which depends on the project that we are working on. In our factory we do products like fire-rated doors, claddings, kitchen cabinets and more.”
during the summer and Christmas school breaks we do deep-cleaning, external facades and everything else in terms of cleaning and soft services.” While their primary focus is on the education sector, Adams was quick to point out that they are also looking at other industries. “Since May we have revamped our brand and have started targeting commercial and hospitality sectors. By October 2014, we are looking at doing business in the residential segment. CHICAGO is not just in FM business. We are also in services business – we have a joinery factory and are also active in the trading industry. We manufacture and supply products such as timber cladding, facades, fixed
and loose furniture and the likes.” Having started their joinery business less than two years ago, Adams elaborated on this and spoke about their interiors & furniture section. “We started our projects for GEMS Schools where we provide them with furniture. We also do hotel furniture among other things, which depends on the project that we are working on. In our factory we do products like fire-rated doors, claddings, kitchen cabinets and more.” Some of the clients that approach CHICAGO, already have their own design consultants and a particular design in mind. CHICAGO’s team works with these consultants to deliver their client’s vision. CHICAGO, unlike other manufacturers, does not only sell a standard set of products but is happy to adjust the designs depending on its client’s needs. It is mostly about informing the clients and getting their budgets in line with their expectations in the aesthetic and specifications aspect, and this is something that most manufacturing companies do not do. But how aware are the property developers in this part of the world, about the importance of facilities management at every step of the way? Adams was quite ambivalent about this and said that sometimes it’s just overlooked. Robbie Cameron, Head of FM, added to this and remarked that they are trying to get developers to consider the importance of the role of FM in the infrastructure design. There are still discussions going on about the need for involving facilities management companies in the design process, but OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
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INTERVIEW
Our construction business also follows these standards and policies. We have teams that are regularly monitoring and auditing these standards throughout the year rather than doing it all in one go.”
sometimes they do get lucky. There are scenarios wherein the end results are much better if a FM professional is involved in a project. Moving on to another important topic, I wanted to know if sustainability is a part of their work. To this, Adams said, “Yes, as a matter of fact we have recently accredited all our ISOs. Our construction business also follows these standards and policies. We have teams that are regularly monitoring and auditing these standards throughout the year rather than doing it all in one go. We have assigned people to monitor the sites, factories and our clients’ facilities as well. We always make sure that we track every aspect of quality and sustainability in our operations.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF TRAINING An important milestone for CHICAGO recently, has been the signing of an agreement with MEFMA, which will make them a founding member of the organisation and allow them to contribute to its work in the future. CHICAGO was also very impressed with the work being done by MEFMA to train workers 22
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through their Taheel programme, as training and investing in workers is an important part of CHICAGO’s policy. Earlier this year CHICAGO opened a training centre which was very well-received by their partners and clients. “As an example, as of now we have 356 new cleaners. When they arrive in the country they go through a standard orientation process – a company welcome, the dos and don’ts in the Middle East, health and safety information, and so on. Afterwards, they go through the next stage which includes an intensive training course and practical examinations. We have a number of training areas where we can examine how they work in various aspects of the job,” Adams said. He further added that there are senior supervisors and managers involved to assist them, should they need further directions or training. The duration of the training sessions vary based on the level needed to be achieved, and ranges from two days to two weeks. Therefore CHICAGO makes sure that the workers are all prepared and equipped with the knowledge they
INTERVIEW
FEMALE EMPLOYEES
need before they are deployed to their respective assignments. Their engineers also undergo several training programmes and use the test beds for mock up situations in order to stay updated with the latest techniques and software, because these things change on a regular basis. “As part of our recruitment process, earlier this year we spent a few weeks in India with people from the ITI institutes selecting people that are ITI qualified, so we know that we are getting a baseline that we can work from. As a policy we will not hire people who don’t have these basic qualifications. These are some of the things we do to enhance our services,” Adams pointed out. According to both of them, the FM industry has come a long way from when they first came here, when the FM engineers used to carry all their equipment in a plastic bag. The system of safekeeping the tools has improved and is more secure now. The equipment that they use is also much better. There is little doubt left that with this complete package of services provided by CHICAGO, it is at the top of the game. The team doesn’t deny that. “Roughly around November we should be launching CHICAGO Home – we have just signed-off the branding and worked out everything in its business side. CHICAGO Home will offer different kinds of services, such as maid, nanny and other soft services. We will also offer maintenance services and a
variety of packages to suit each individual customer.” A lot of other FM companies offer packages like regular cleaning and maintenance of AC systems and 24/7 services, but CHICAGO can give various packages far beyond that of your typical FM provider. Earlier this year it worked on a large number of apartments that were painted, deep cleaned and furnished.
THE ROAD AHEAD So what does the future look like? CHICAGO already has an office in Oman and has recently acquired a license in Qatar and has a team there. According to Adams, they will be more focused on efficiency and in relation to that they will offer further training, and make sure that their people are following the standards and actively practicing them. “We definitely see this as one of our strengths, as we apply the training and standards in our operations. As you may know, MEFMA, is looking into having the Star Rating System for buildings, which we think is a brilliant idea and everybody in this industry will have to step up their game.” Adams also highlighted that they are working on a project called CHICAGO Unity. “We have our construction office, services office and worker camps in several parts of Dubai, and we are looking at combining all of these in one area. We are in the process of finding
land. The idea is to bring everyone and everything under one roof. We have also recently got into a partnership with Urbanise a company that created a cloud-based platform for delivering building services, designed for the facility management industry. The partnership will enable us to work together on aspects such as Computer-Aided Facility Management (CAFM) and is firmly focused on customer care.” “We believe that FM is a people or employee-oriented business. If you have the right people and you look after them they will be more productive. We try to address all our employees’ needs, however small, and we make sure that they are well taken care of,” Cameron pointed out. Krishna Kumar the CHICAGO Human Resources Director and his team have invested a significant amount of their time into developing the CHICAGO accommodation for all of their operatives which has paid dividends when CHICAGO was awarded recognition from Dubai Municipality for the high standards that they provide to all their operatives. From sports facilities to Labour Day celebrations they work on ensuring that they go that extra mile for all their employees. It is CHICAGO’s vision to be amongst the top FM companies in the region and beyond. They have a very robust and sustainable plan to achieve that in the next three years
If you have the right people and you look after them they will be more productive.” OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
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PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR FORAY INTO PROCURING FACILITIES MANAGEMENT SERVICES? As an asset management company, wasl plans its facility management (FM) strategy internally through its Asset Management Services and Solutions Department (AMSS), with execution outsourced to external FM companies. This enables wasl to rapidly scale and expand its scope as per market demand. wasl properties established five customer service branches in different areas in Dubai in addition to a 24/7 Call Centre to cater to all kinds of customer requests. The call centre, branches, AMSS, the Property Management Department and the FM service providers are all connected to an integrated system that ensures that all maintenance and facility management needs of all projects are attended to in a timely and professional manner. In line with this strategy, wasl properties has recently opened a new service provider training centre in conjunction with our FM service providers to enhance its customer operations. Located within our Deira Zone portfolio, the newly inaugurated facility will provide housekeeping, security and Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) training to teams on the ground. CAN YOU TELL US SOME INTERESTING ANECDOTES OR MILESTONES ALONG THE WAY, WHICH HAVE DEFINED THE WORK BEING DONE BY YOU? Before 2008, wasl properties used to deal with over 100 service providers. With the company’s rapid growth and expansion leading to managing over 27,000 real estate residential and commercial units within the Emirate of - Dubai Creek Golf-Yacht-Club-Villas-3
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-Club house
THE LEADER IN
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
wasl Asset Management Group, one of the largest real estate management companies in Dubai, was established by the Dubai Real Estate Corporation (DREC) in 2008 to oversee the administration of its assets and grow its real estate portfolio. We speak to the management to get all the details about their interaction with the FM industry. Dubai, wasl properties has consolidated service providers into five or six. Previously, each building was managed by a single service provider and without a proper communication system, all calls could not be attended in a timely manner. Now, the call centre receives and processes all maintenance calls in real time, with defined KPIs, response time is kept to a minimum. In addition, wasl has implemented advanced IT systems with state-of-the-art technology to make it easier to e-communicate with the various service providers working with us. The adoption of the new smart strategy has led to vastly improved maintenance job completion times. Overall, this consolidation of ser-
vices and operations has resulted in improved customer service.
WHAT IS YOUR OPINION REGARDING THE FM INDUSTRY IN THE UAE? The FM industry in the UAE now has an integrated FM service provider approach to managing asset, which is more advanced than other Middle East countries. Local companies started with few FM services and then grew into integrated FM service providers. Market conditions are competitive in the UAE due to the cost control approach by landlords, who tend to source FM services from multiple service providers and manage them directly. Majority of the landlords don’t have a life cycle
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT costing approach in their planning process. However there is a gradual shift to integrated FM solutions by other larger real estate companies as they have observed the success of wasl properties as a leader in managing assets through outsourced integrated FM service providers. Other smaller landlords have also now changed the outlook in favour of quality service delivery rather than focusing only on cost.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN CHALLENGES/ BOTTLENECKS? The main challenge for the FM industry is the availability of skilled labour at a short notice. The recruitment process is a long-drawn exercise stretching for several weeks and months with low success rates. FM service providers need to incorporate career planning of their employees in their strategy. In a region with significant asset growth, there is an obligation on the industry to make a contribution proportional to the growth levels. The absence of technically certified FM workforce generates lack of confidence in the industry. Creation of a specialised training and development center and programmess for the shortage of skills is mandatory to address the skills gap. The laws applicable to maintaining assets and the local regulations are currently managed by several local authorities. Clients tend not to comply with such regulations due to lack of awareness or understanding. Another challenge would be the absence of any established benchmarks for various FM operating parameters, which makes it difficult to verify and confirm whether the operating efficiencies are the best. The other main challenges facing the FM industry include sustainability and the importance of preserving the current resources for the succeeding generations. HOW DO YOU WORK WITH FM COMPANIES TO PROCURE SERVICES? IS THERE A STANDARD FORMAT OR IS EACH PROJECT TAILOR MADE? The selection methodology for our FM services procurement involves multiple stages. The first stage is the prequalification of the integrated FM service providers. The prequalification exer-
- Wasl Square
cise enables us to shortlist the best FM companies and makes it easier to compare their ability and costs fairly. The prequalified FM service providers list is periodically reviewed and updated so as to ensure that new companies are also given an opportunity to participate in wasl’ s tenders. The final selection of service providers is done through an analysis which is based on weighted average of scores of multiple evaluators on various significant parameters like the company’s credentials, financial standing, client base, technical capability, value add services, energy saving and environment protection. The technical assessment especially for new service providers is done by visiting a few of their full-fledged FM integrated managed sites, their staff accommodation and site office to assess the ability to provide central support services. wasl properties believes in transparent procurement processes and every shortlisted bidder is given an opportunity to present itself and market its capability.
ONCE A CONTRACT HAS BEEN AWARDED, WHAT IS YOUR PROCEDURE FOR FOLLOW UP?
Once a project is awarded, the performance measurement assessment and score card is applied to assess FM contracts in all projects. The SLA (Service Level Agreements) and KPI (Key Performance Indicators) are also part of the RFP and once a contract is awarded they are converted into performance assessment tools. With each year of the contract the target score is increased to push service providers to continuously improve each year. There is a transition phase, where the service provider is given a three
months window to familiarise with the site and focus on training resources and fine tune services and other logistics. Multiple meetings at all levels are held to communicate and convey feedback. Moreover, a team of qualified facility supervisors conduct scheduled site visits to evaluate the service delivery. Every six months FM compliance full audit is done to provide high level feedback to the service provider. The best performing service providers are rewarded with certificates and plaques of appreciation. Individual performance of service provider’s resources who have done specific outstanding work is also appreciated and rewarded. Wasl also conducts FM workshops, annual supply engagement programmes, which create a platform for service providers to discuss innovations, creative ideas and challenges, which helps us enhance our relationship with the service providers. DO YOU FEEL THAT THE FM INDUSTRY HAS CHANGED IN THE PAST FEW YEARS, IN TERMS OF TRAINING OF WORKERS, SERVICES PROVIDED AND THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN THE MAINTENANCE OF A PROPERTY? There has been a lot of emphasis on training resources in the last few years. Many companies in the FM industry have set up training centers to train their resources on the latest technologies, which are expected to significantly enhance their output and efficiency. The management of FM companies has realised that training is needed and should be imparted not just to the new recruits, but refresher courses for the existing staff should also be there as they yield rich dividends in terms of improved productivity. Some companies track the performance of resources after the training and incentivise high performers to motivate others as well.
- Park Hyatt
OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
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SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS
A
fter 20 years of experience and thanks to a highly qualified team, the company has one of the most complete and comprehensive suites for asset and facility management, as well as service automation. Currently, more than 500 companies all around the world with more than 10.000 users trust Rosmiman solutions to manage their assets. As part of company expansion, we have already opened our first office in Dubai in order to better support the customers and increase the presence in the region. Based on our incessant efforts to improve, our goal for the next years is to consolidate our leadership as a global supplier of smart technologies and services. In the last few years we have seen how our activity field has evolved rapidly both in business and structure. With the purpose of facing those challenges and be able to lead the market, we have set the following goals:
►Broaden our knowledge in order to undertake new areas of business. ►Empower our passion for new technologies and improve our technical capabilities and infrastructure.
►Add the most recent trends and technical disciplines, enhancing the exchange of knowledge, technological partnerships and our R&D. ►Consolidate
our international projects with global partners in a basis to exchange knowledge and technology.
PRODUCT AND SERVICES FOR FM Facility management is a continuously evolving field and the companies involved should be aware of the emerging technology trends. These new technologies will add value and help to improve efficiency as well as effec-
In RSC we have always bet for innovation and to maintain our products one step ahead of the trends.” 26
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THE SOFTWARE
EXPERT
Rosmiman Software Corporation (RSC) was founded in 1993 as a developer of its own MMS (Maintenance Management Solutions) software. Antonio Ramirez, CEO, Rosmiman Software Corporation, tells us about the work being done by the company to help the clients achieve their targets. tiveness. Rosmiman offers unique solutions to maintain all assets of a company enabling all people, who interact in the environment of the company to have access to the same maintenance tool. However, the tool has different en-
vironments or portals customised to the needs of each type of user. In that way, all information is always up to date and available from anywhere at any time in the most comprehensive way. Our solution specially developed
SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS to support facility management, provide an overview of all costs related to a property through its entire life cycle. This solution shows the necessary information to control all aspects of the usage and maintenance of the assets in a comprehensive manner. Moreover, it helps, both, to reduce maintenance cost as well as to plan resource and costs assignment. This solution has been specially designed to support real estate maintenance. Thanks to its web based and graphic-management system for space planning, Rosmiman brings a comprehensive way to manage all graphic information based on CAD vector maps, GIS information and inventory information. With this functionality the user can easily define as many spaces and sub-spaces as necessary, to know and to control the use of each space, dimensions and availability, to manage its reservations or organise relocation of assets assigned to each space. We also help to gather all information of an exhaustive building inventory, by using our mobile solutions. All these functionalities gather up enabling the user to deal with the daily tasks like rental maturities, income statements, tax payments, licenses or agreements with outsourced services. All in all, the facility management field has today an important significance also for cities. Rosmiman Smart Cities is a new concept, which is the result of the evolution of the already existing solutions for government that the company has been implementing. Based on the experience and results consolidated in several real projects in different cities as well as different administrations of the Spanish Government, this concept has been technically redesigned in order to innovate and evolve in connectivity, utilities and services to contribute to a more
sustainable future, smart and user friendly environment for the citizens.
UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION We are known for our level of innovation, versatility and its capacity to adapt to our customer needs. Thanks to the recently added improvements, our solutions benefit entirely from mobility. Our solutions already offer a fully integrated variety of mobility solutions specially developed for facility management; all of them supported by the main OS in the market, such as iOS, Android and Windows mobile. Thereby, the company allows the user to remotely manage notifications, spare parts, work orders,
purchase orders, GIS, asset management on a map or prepare inventories. This solution brings facility management to the next level of performance and optimisation. In RSC we have always bet for innovation and to maintain our products one step ahead of the trends. Proof of that is the fact that the company is always using the latest technologies, e.g., RFID (radio frequency identification) to easily identify assets, QR codes and integration with several new technologies, enabling our customers to lead on business excellence. RSC shall provide quality policies to guarantee that the implemented environment of the application fulfills the requirements of the ‘Good Practice of Development; for security management, information management and product development. These policies are based in the current SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) of RSC with certification and audit Num. SGI 6009141 issued by TÜV Rheinland Inspection, Certification & Testing, ISO9001:2008 “Support Centre and Administrative and Internal Organisation Processes”, ISO/IEC 15504 “Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination” also denominated SPICE, and ISO/IEC 12207 “Systems and software engineering – Software life cycle processes”. All this solutions are provided with a flexible integration and the company develops its software to promote an easy integration with third party suppliers, such as ERP, Oracle and SAP and also offers its installation either on client’s premises or under the SaaS (Software as a Service) modality
Thanks to the recently added improvements, our solutions benefit entirely from mobility.” OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
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CLOUD COMPUTING
We live in a world of growing urbanisation, where the tension between our environment and our lives is ever - increasing. Where the expectations of the people who occupy buildings, and those of the building owners themselves, are changing. Now more than ever, there is an imperative to do things differently. Ben Churchill, CEO, Urbanise, tell us how technology can help build a stronger link with the customer.
T
raditionally, building managers, and the technologies at their disposal, have focused on the engineering of buildings. Managers have been more concerned about the building, than the people who occupy it – the residents, employees and visitors. Their technology has been ‘built by engineers, for engineers’, which is often very inward looking. Basically, building mangers have not been at all ‘customer’ or ‘end user’ focused.
CUSTOMER CENTRIC Global thinking is shifting towards a more customer centric approach to satisfy consumer expectations for convenience and personalisation. Even in traditional B2B industries, consumer-focussed advertising campaigns are being used as a tactic to build the brand on a B2B level. Think IBM, Oracle or Airbus, who are all attempting to build brand equity with the consumer in order to win over the supplier or operator. In a similar vein, building managers need to consider their reputation with the end-user of facilities. However, much too often, the upfront investment in either time or money keeps the industry focussed on short-term profit over long term reputation. It’s a misconception that is hard to fathom since any reputable and for28
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FM CUSTOMER CENTRICITY IN
CLOUD COMPUTING ward-thinking company, in any industry, is consistently identifying expansion opportunities that increase revenue and improve service, without significantly increasing costs. In FM the most logical opportunity for a company to start providing value added services, is to focus on the people who live and work in communities under their management. In the Middle East this is especially pertinent because the built-in environment revolves around residential towers and gated neighbourhoods that are controlled by a single FM provider, except these providers historically fail to capture the business of ‘consumers’ within these common grounds. The practicalities of extending these services would mean having to manage thousands of customers, rather than a smaller number of corporate relationships, which typically deters management. But technology is rapidly changing how customers interact with businesses, whether booking flights or doing grocery shopping from home. So why can’t the same expectation not be met when ordering building services?
CLOUD-BASED PLATFORM Through the use of technology and cloud-based platforms (like we have developed at Urbanise), FM providers can today extend their offer to encompass the purchase of services (and management of interactions associated with the sale of those services) to the people who live and work in the properties under management. While the use of e-commerce is not new, it has typically focused on the sale of ‘products’ and managing SKUs (stock keeping units). This approach needs to be different in the FM sector because, unlike a product, a ‘service’ has a life cycle involving multiple customer touch points and workforce interactions that need to be woven into a cohesive and simple online customer journey. With this new approach, a gamut of new channels and go-to-market strategies open up for a company’s lifestyle services, as well as its B2B commercial contract businesses. Like with IBM, Oracle or Airbus, the added bonus is the symbiotic eco-systems that start to form between a building owner and their customers. For example, a bank will typical-
ly tender contracts for maintenance services and the employees would be none the wiser what uniform the technician is wearing or the FM company they work for. But with our cloud-based platform, the FM operator can extend its B2B maintenance service to the people who work at the bank and need maintenance services such as air-conditioning repairs at home – this service can even be adjoined with ‘nice to have’ amenities like dry cleaning! The opportunities with this kind of platform are endless and I use the bank as a perfect example because they typically offer mortgages for customers buying a home – which will at some point need cost effective maintenance. Again, the scalability of the technology can allow the FM company to rebrand its services into packages tailored to the bank’s very own customers and promoted directly by the bank – establishing a B2B2C model in which everyone wins; the company, the employees, its customers and ultimately – the FM company who is now contributing to the banks bottom line and brand equity with added value. The power of integrating e-commerce with an operational service management engine that plans and deploys the field-force can dynamically change an FM company’s DNA. It offers a whole new way to take services to market and is suddenly agile – able to design and deploy new services, including home energy saving measures, and even extend the experience to smaller, distributed businesses such as coffee shops.
MONITORING Cloud-based technology can also provide functionality for real-time monitoring of building systems. The traditional maintenance of assets in buildings is driven by ‘planned preventive maintenance’ schedules – sending an engineer to inspect a pump on a regular
basis – rather than providing service. The systems that exist to automate this scheduling more often than not overlook whether a visit from the engineer is actually required and just how critical the asset is to the business it’s supporting. By deploying low-cost sensors, building managers can receive an alert when an asset is not operating to full efficiency. With improved visibility, FM companies have the ability to implement a more strategic and cost-effective approach to business-critical maintenance. This critical asset response service can also be overlaid on traditional manpower contracts enabling any FM company to offer higher service-level agreements and fewer resources than competitors. In addition, FM companies can also use the same technology to remotely monitor and sub-meter energy consumption in the buildings they manage, leading to the implementation of an entirely new level of value added services for B2B customers. Rather than simply tendering to maintain assets, a company can adopt an energy-driven FM model where it would offer to implement the technology as part of the contract and then use the energy savings achieved to discount its core maintenance services below the cost of the pure manpower solutions that competitors were offering. While remote monitoring and energy measurement is nothing new, the cloud-based installation and operational costs of the technology are so low that customers could literally bundle the solution into its offering for free, providing a huge perceived value-add service to its corporate clients.
SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR BUILDING MANAGERS? The future of FM means the transformation of building managers into customer-focused service providers, which will demonstrate that the ‘customer-centric service experience’ has well and truly arrived in the FM sector. The FM companies that are brave enough to embrace this change will quickly stand out from those who remain content with suppling ‘mops and buckets’; and become recognised as market leaders in the industry OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
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FM IN HOSPITALITY
G
etting the human resources mix right is an ongoing challenge in any industry and market, but globally the hotel sector suffers more than most, because of the difference in occupancy and seasonal cycle playing a major role. In an ideal world staff would be on call – and on the payroll – 365 days a year. To add to this, company loyalty would be guaranteed, staff turnover would be minimal and customer service levels would be world-class. In the real world, where recruitment and budget go head-to-head against projected occupancies, yield and market uncertainty, in an unpredictable region, this remains an HR director’s pipe dream. This part of the world also has its own unique recruitment challenges. While the UAE hotel sector is one of the fastest growing in the world, the absence of a flexible local workforce means that overseas recruitment has long been the sole source for the bulk of manpower requirements. In a relatively small market dominated by 5 and 4 star hotels, customer expectations are also above average when it comes to service quality. According to Sinead Bridgett from MEFMA, “ In a competitive environment such as the hospitality industry, it is increasingly difficult to maintain consistency with every bed change, laundry wash, floor clean and deep clean – day in, day out. Whilst, quality assurance inspections, work order turnaround, and check-in times might all be very interesting to maintain a level of consistency, at the end of the day, what truly counts is the guest experience.”
HOTELS AND FM –
WHAT’S THE NEXT STEP? It is quite evident that to have a good understanding of the hospitality business, it is important to know the developments in a parallel field – that of facilities management. Aparna Shivpuri Arya takes a look at this relationship. She further added that as a consequence of this, every aspect of a hotel establishment, from the reception to the check-out procedure has to be of an expected standard and the simplest inconvenience can ruin the overall experience. It could be an old soap left in the bathroom, a towel not changed or a dirty window. Bridgett also pointed out that even though traditionally all these services have been managed in-house, it is time to look at outsourcing. “This brings in facilities management which, in the Middle East, has traditionally been handled in-house but as an increase in supply creates an increase in stan-
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dards, cleaning becomes ever more technical and specialist – not just in the delivery but also the management of it. You only have to look at hotels in New York, which were badly affected by a bed bug infestation in 2010, spreading to department stores, cinemas and theatres to understand how quickly a consistent standard can become, well, inconsistent!” Which is why outsourcing FM, specifically to one specialist provider, ensures that hotels are minimising the risk because all the non-core operations of a hotel are being passed over to those who have a technical knowledge of such crises. This subsequently allows
FM IN HOSPITALITY management to focus on the guests and will allow the hotel’s internal operations department to focus on its own longer term strategic priorities rather than concern themselves with everyday logistics. There are many different reasons that explain the role of FM in the success of hotels. These reasons might be classified as strategic, operational, or functional. Mentioned below is an indicative list of reasons on why a professional FM service is essential to hotel operations: 1. To keep up with the competition 2. To maintain or increase market share by satisfying current or potential customers 3. To improve the operational efficiency of the hotel that will lead to an increase in both productivity and long-term savings in operational expenses 4. To maintain corporate image and standards 5. To upgrade the hotel to a higher category(e.g. from four-star to five-star) 6. To comply with the new trends and technology in the market (e.g. the green movement) 7. To cope with the governmental requirements (e.g. laws for the disabled etc.) 8. To recover from natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquake A specialist FM company can handle the hotels’ staff requirements, starting from their recruitment, to visa and residence, accommodation, leave settlements, replacement staff for sick leaves, re-recruitment and much more. However, there has been a lack of awareness among the hospitality industry about the services that come under the scope of FM. For example, a recent study on the development of FM and its application to the hospitality industry in the Middle East region established the apparent importance of FM in renovating processes in the industry. However, the report found that although owners and operators of luxury hotels understood the importance of continual renovation and refurbishment in order to meet customer expectations and competitive pressures, there appears to be a lack of strategic planning with regard to FM management in hospitality in this region.
As FM providers tend to work across industries they are already in a unique position to pool resources and best practice and apply that thinking to the hotel sector.” Despite the importance of renovation, owners do not value it as an important FM tool. There is therefore a need for the continued development and investment in FM in the region .The challenge for hotel managers is how to utilise the discipline of an FM approach to renovation projects without merely adding another layer of bureaucracy and administration. FM providers can also help hotels become more sustainable – an issue that is become of prime importance in the hospitality industry. Speaking about this, Bridgett said, “When we discuss sustainability, in any vertical, it must go hand-in-hand with smart building management solutions that can monitor the hotel’s energy consumption and streamline efficiencies. Hence hotels need to look beyond their own circle of energy and sustainability consultants
and assess how other industries are creating effective systems. As FM providers tend to work across industries they are already in a unique position to pool resources and best practice and apply that thinking to the hotel sector.” Furthermore, a total FM company can assess and compare the sustainable performance across all its services, from pest control, landscaping, waste management, window cleaning right through to room cleaning, security and MEP, Bridgett said. There is no denying that there is a strong link between FM providers and the hospitality industry and this was also reinforced by MEFMA’s participation at The Hotel Show in September 2014 in Dubai. Elaborating about their positive experience at the event, Bridgett said, “We are pleased to see that more hotels are waking up to the advantages of outsourced FM and cleaning because it is illustrative of the progression our industry is making and the recognition it is receiving. The perception of a facilities manager is shifting from that of an interchangeable supplier to a true strategic partner. To meet increased demand for services and the need to efficiently manage costs, hotel administrators in Europe and North America have successfully partnered with industry experts who provide complete non-core service solutions. The same, I believe, is now beginning to take shape in the Middle East that will support and enhance the industries performance” OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
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SUPPLIER
D
riven by the need to control cost and quality of construction, several construction companies in the Middle East are using off-site building solutions. The modular bathrooms concept of using a pod, which is literally ‘Plug and Play’, easily aids contractors in completing their projects within their build schedule time. The use of bathroom pods is now a growing phenomenon in the GCC since in the traditional build method there is a lot of work for the contractor including coordinating plumbers, electricians, plasterers, tillers, joiners and painters and more, which is time consuming. Unipods, a member of the Al Rajhi Holding a Saudi-based Group with investments in many companies across
the UAE., has successfully extended its expert services in building, producing and supplying supreme quality bathroom pods with bespoke specifications for hotel, residential and commercial projects in the GCC. Sadig Abuagla, Head of Sales & Marketing at Unipods says that leading contractors and developers are now using bathroom pods, since they are well-versed about the wide ranges of benefits pod concept offers over traditional construction methods. With the adoption of pods, the key advantage for the developer is saving significant amount of time on the overall project. The project start up to completion time is cut by a minimum of 2-3 months, say Abuagla. This is because the pod construction runs in parallel
PODS GROWING
POPULAR
‘Plug and Play’ pod concept is a growing phenomenon in the GCC. The leading company, offering this globally renowned concept ,in the Middle East is Unipods LLC, based in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE.
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OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
along with onsite construction, resulting in saving on-site the buildup and installation time. It also means there is less need for skilled labour on–site and coordination of site services, which can add significantly to the build time. Bathroom pods are sustainably built at offsite locations maintaining high energy efficiency standards. Hence, the wastage in construction of these pods is completed eliminated, which makes it environmental friendly practice. Building the pods in a quality assessed factory environment also ensures much more consistent quality standards compared to the traditionally built bathrooms. Abuagla explains, “After receiving the client’s requirement, a reference pod is prepared for client’s approval. Once client approves it, one reference pod is kept in the factory and other is shifted to the site. With this process we ensure that the quality is consistent and every pod leaving the factory is identical to the other, which cannot be achieved in the traditional built methods.” This Plug and Play concept is convenient for the developers and contractors. He explains that when you use the pods you are eliminating the process of sourcing suppliers, which otherwise is a daunting and time consuming task in the traditional way. “When you select Unipods bathroom pod services, we source the suppliers, do the fit out works and install the pod for the client, freeing him from all the hassles of sourcing supplier and eliminating all logistics work.” On a recent completed project, Unipods has manufactured, designed, supplied and installed bespoke bathrooms pods for the world’s largest Holiday Inn in Makkah, due to open in KSA in 2016. The two towers consist of 5 and 4 star hotels with 1,238 rooms, which now houses Unipods exclusive pods. Company’s immense success in their previous projects has allowed Unipods to secure prestigious residential villas project - Al Waseel Hills in Riyadh for Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), one of the world’s largest petrochemical groups and the Gulf’s biggest listed firm. Al Waseel Hills high-end villas will soon feature 2006 bathroom pods that will be manufactured, supplied and installed by Unipods
• Pods shorten on-site construction time by as much 20% as production runs in parallel with on-site construction • Our experienced teams can produce and install 20-30 bathrooms per day • JIT deliveries perfectly fit the construction master plan • One point of contact from design to installation saves time and reduces administration, recruitment and supervision problems
• Factory-controlled environment production process • Agreed quality procedures assured by QA Team • All units are live tested prior to leaving the factory • All pods are made to clients’ bespoke specifications • 95% reduction on snagging within the crucial completion period
Unipods_Ads_414x270 AW.indd 1
Head Office - Ras Al Khaimah, UAE +971 7 2216 116 / 117 / 118 Branches in Jeddah, Riyadh & Dammam Member of the Al Rajhi Holding
Save time
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www.unipods.ae | info@unipods.ae
The pod is a full turn-key bathroom solution, manufactured off-site and tailor made to the client’s specifications. The pod is a pre-engineered, pre-fitted, ready-plumbed bathroom, and is delivered ready for installation, the perfect ‘Plug & Play’ concept for today’s construction industry.
Why Bathroom PODS?
Traditional assembly and installation of bathrooms can be a complex and challenging experience with the requirement for coordination of a number of different suppliers and on site fitters. This reality coupled with a diverse workforce can have a devastating impact on quality, speed and cost of construction.
Construction Simplified
9/29/11 1:04 PM
• Automated process in a factory environment increases efficiency • Cost certainty from an early stage mitigates financial risks • Waste reduction on site saves more than 40% on skips and labour time • Higher Quality delivered in shorter time improves overall profitability
Increase profit
RE-TENDERING
AVOIDING THE PITFALL OF
RE-TENDERING Ali Al Suwaidi, MEFMA Board Member, explains to us how re-tendering can be avoided.
T
he risk of losing a business is fundamental to ensure that best standards in operations and customer service are maintained. Therefore, there should be a valid reason if a client feels the need to re-tender a project. These could include, among others, lack of reassurance of continued best value, service levels dropping, rationalisation of property portfolios, new technology entering the market or client re-structuring.
There are a handful of very well respected FM consultancies who have an international pedigree and do very well in the Middle East�
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OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
RE-TENDERING
The level of service that an FM provider delivers has an effect on the end user and therefore on the brand equity and value of the building. To take this away and focus around cost will only serve to reduce value in the long term.”
MONTHS, TO HANDOVER UPON WINNING A NEW CONTRACT
Despite the cost, time, effort and disruption involved, tendering for a contract happens in every business whether it is related to construction, engineering, IT or law. So, if the tendering or re-tendering of a project is fair, there can be no complaint. However, there is a growing concern that the re-tendering of projects in the Middle East is becoming arbitrary and often the result of a company-wide procurement policy that dictates a review every two or three years with little consideration for the service being provided. This is fast becoming one of the biggest concerns for MEFMA because it is inhibiting the industry’s growth and for reasons given below. First, the lowest price is not necessarily a fair price. In life, I believe you get what you pay for and if prices are continually driven down it restricts the industry from progressing. As a result, the FM provider will end up streamlining resources and in the worst case, taking a short-cut in order to break-even, let alone make a profit. Therefore there is no room for innovation or a desire to exceed expectation. Second, upon winning a new contract the handover takes up to six months. Establishing a presence and settling in takes another six months. Therefore, optimising one’s presence happens over the course of 12 months. So the benefit to the client, whilst realised at the beginning of any contract is not maximised until an FM provider is the FM ‘partner’ – a process that is often not allowed to happen. Third, the level of service that an FM provider delivers has an effect on the end user and therefore on the brand equity and value of the building. To take this away and focus around cost will only serve to reduce value in the long term. This problem is unique to the Middle East, because the average length of a contract in the Middle East appears to be two years compared to a global average of five years.
THE SOLUTION So how to address it? It is up to the industry and MEFMA to reach out to the concerned owners & their procurement teams and educate them on the value of FM. By the same token, it is not the responsibility of MEFMA to act as a mediator between the client and the provider. The best person for this job is a FM consultant. There are a handful of very well respected FM consultancies who have an international pedigree and do very well in the Middle East. However, there is an opportunity for an even greater uptake of their services, once clients begin to move away from tactical implementation and focus on a strategic approach to maximise savings and increase life expectancies of buildings. Part of this process will mean identifying a FM provider, who can help improve the productivity of a commercial organisation and modernise systems and processes that may even herald a return on investment. With such a plan in place, created by the FM consultant, there should be no need to tender every two to three years with a long term objective in mind. Furthermore, in order for the letter of acceptance to be legally binding, it must be in accordance with the tender – so both parties understand expectations at the very outset of the relationship. Likewise any new terms added by either party must be mutually beneficial and again an FM consultant can help offer impartial advice from the outset and throughout the duration of the contract. Once employed, a clear and continual conversation with the client must be established so that it is not just status reports and faults fed back to the client but also success stories and proof of a return on investment – financial or otherwise. That way the client can benchmark against the original strategy and all being well, will be discouraged from re-tendering!
OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
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FM IN EVENTS
B
ased upon the previous World Expos, MEFMA estimates that nearly 10% of the operational budget is dedicated to facilities management for events of such magnitude. It would be interesting to dig deeper into this issue at the regional level, since the Middle East organises major large-scale sporting occasions like the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The region will continue to build on its ambition to host events on an unprecedented scale by hosting the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 and Dubai Expo 2020. It has even begun to make references about the possibility of organising a Summer Olympics. Therefore, research on the subject will certainly highlight what we in the industry already assume, that FM is a critical component to ensure the success of any major event. But I wonder how much of that reputation extends beyond our own circle?
THE UNSUNG HEROES OF
EVENT MANAGEMENT
Behind every successful event is a dedicated and professional facilities management team. However, how many of us know about the work that they do? Abdulhadi Ali Alalyak, MEFMA Board Member, gives us the details.
Abdulhadi Ali Alalyak, MEMFA Board Member
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OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
Think for a moment about the Dubai World Cup at the Meydan Hotel. On most days of the year it functions as a hotel but then for one day everything changes when it throws open its doors to 80,000 race-goers for the world’s most rewarded race! This is a very different dynamic and the demand on a hotel organising this size of event is staggering, with limited contracts being signed for maintenance, cleaning, security, waste management, crowd control and everything else in between. For any integrated FM company, these services are off-the-shelf, but a team that manages a built asset cannot simply replicate what they do on a daily basis and expect to achieve the same efficiencies, when organising an event. From a first-hand experience, it is important for an FM provider to work
hand-in-hand with event planners that know the intricacies of organising a particular event for a particular demographic.
LESSONS FROM LONDON To illustrate, the London Olympics was considered a great success because it addressed one of the principal cornerstones of an Olympic bid – the strategy which needed FM to be involved from the architectural concept. This was because previous Olympic events failed to find a future use for the venues, which meant that millions of Dollars of construction went to waste. For instance, the 2004 Olympic complex in Athens is similar to the Acropolis and likewise many venues used in 2008 in Beijing are ghost towns. But two years on and London’s fa-
FM IN EVENTS cilities are still being put to good use, such as The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, which came to my attention through a conversation with BIFM. Today the venue doubles as a public park for recreational use and still utilises its Olympic venues for sporting events. As a consequence its management was passed over to the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), which was tasked with opening and maintaining the parkland area for public use. All facilities services for the park were contracted out to Cofely GDF Suez. After the removal of the temporary walkways, stands and three temporary games venues, new parkland intertwines with roads, cycle paths and walkways, and five venues remain for the FM team to operate and maintain. So the challenge for a FM team is to balance state-of-the-art facilities that remain relevant for elite athletes whilst making them accessible to the general public with continuously changing peak times and off-seasons. For example, the London Aquatics Centre, now open as a public swimming pool and diving centre inside the park, presents a challenge on being available for public use as well as being readily accessible to international race standards. Lifeguards have monitors to see underwater (connected to cameras used to broadcast races). The centre is kept at a constant 27째C and the two swimming pools must have their pH level monitored daily. The team also faces the added challenge of maintaining and keeping the touch-plates (for use during races) correctly aligned. The park highlights the changing paradigm for FM providers, who are becoming more accountable for the
successful management of an event, almost as much as the event planners themselves. To tackle this in the Middle East, a gap in the market needs to be fulfilled with FM consultants who can advise on the intricate matters that no FM provider can be expected to traditionally understand, such as setting up starting blocks for swimming events. This means FM providers need to start thinking outside their comfort zone, if they want to begin positioning themselves as similar partners for the major events, slated for the region. They should also start looking at bringing in new talent with a completely different experience. By bringing in a new way of thinking, FM will begin to have a more important seat at the table and will be able to foresee issues. For example, the team used to manage the Sydney Olympics were able to visualise the consequences of road restrictions and closures, along with access to buildings. As a result, FM providers advised a policy to ensure all non-perishable
goods were delivered in advance and to stockpile everything a month before the games. For facilities management in the Middle East this represents a huge opportunity if it can adapt, innovate and position itself as a critical partner at the highest level of an organising committee. Therefore we must use the time to focus on training the workforce towards international standardisation and best practices. This is a very different demand on an industry which typically operates behind the scenes maintaining commercial and residential units. Now our industry is coming directly in front of the consumers and operating under time pressures. Therefore we cannot replicate the two or three year agreements we have with clients for a global event like the World Cup or World Expo. We need to show flexibility and an ability to add to the experience for fans and visitors to the events of the Middle East. Only then can we claim to be the hero for a successfully delivered event OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
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PRODUCT REVIEW
ON THE MARKET
Facility Insight looks at some of the latest products available for our industry. If you have a new product that you want the industry to know about, let us know.
BELL & GOSSETT TECHNOFORCE XLS The TechnoForce XLS controls up to eight pumps from one system to meet the head and flow requirements of a building. The system provides up to 300 pounds per square inch of pressure boosting with vertical multi-stage pumps and stainless steel piping. Programmable logic controller (PLC) technology commercialises features normally associated with an industrial PLC, including Ethernet, wireless, and smart phone access for advanced monitoring and controls. http://bellgossett.com
CAT LIFT TRUCKS The 15,500-pound capacity diesel DP70N pneumatic tire lift model features the Perkins 854E three-liter, turbo-charged, four-cylinder engine. The lift features a diesel particulate filter that burns off soot in the system as needed during normal operation. The lift features a three-section hydraulic control valve with fingertip controls, a full-suspension seat, and noise and vibration reduction features to improve operator comfort. Available Options • Light and strobe packages for your specific applications • Hydraulic control levers • Fire extinguisher http://www.cat-lift.com
ORBIT INDUSTRIES INC. EESLA-LED COMBINATION LIGHT The EESLA-LED combination light includes two fully adjustable lamp heads. The fixture housing is constructed from premium-grade aluminum and is UL listed for damp locations. A back-up battery provides 90 minutes of emergency operation. The fixture measures 11-3/4 inches tall, 12-1/2 inches wide, and 2-3/8 inches deep. The housing and faceplate are available in white and black. Letters are available in red or green. The components require no electricity since they absorb energy from ambient light and re-emit it when the light is out. The performance of a photoluminescent component is measured primarily by brightness and the amount of time it produces light. http://www.orbitelectric.com
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PANORAMIC POWER SENSOR SERIES Sensor series is made up of non-invasive, self-powered, miniature, wireless current sensors. The sensors clamp on the electrical outgoing wire from the circuit breaker, harvesting the magnetic field as a power source for monitoring the flow of electricity and sending information back — wirelessly. Real-time, high frequency current data is transmitted every 60 seconds to the company’s cloudbased application. Hundreds of sensors can be installed in a few hours with no disturbance of daily operations. Once installed, the remote sensor technology become part of the building infrastructure, never requiring maintenance, service or battery replacement. http://www.panpwr.com
FM advert with printer marks.pdf 1 31/07/2014 18:29:32
Access & FM Machine Bio
Platform name: Power Tower
Safe working height: 5.1m
Safe working load: 250kg
Powered by:
AGM Battery (18km Duty Cycle)
Transport dimensions L:1.6m x W:0.78m x H1.85m
Gross Weight: 342kg
Typical uses:
Dry lining, AC maintenance, Mall Maintenance, Cleaning/painting,
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Designed from the ground up with the FM industry in mind, Power Towers range of low level access equipment is strong, safe & now available to rent or purchase for your facilities management team today.
SUSTAINABILITY
HOW IMPORTANT IS THE ISSUE OF SUSTAINABILITY IN THE UAE? A commitment to sustainability is important not only for the UAE but for the entire world. In the UAE, specifically, it is estimated that between 1965 and 2013, the nation’s population increased by over 6000%, with 85% of its residents residing in urban centres. The UAE continues to develop rapidly, and the challenge is to sustain the development given the fact that the region’s resources, such as electricity and water, needed to sustain life, are limited. The economic development of the country has enhanced wealth and millions of people benefit from the all-round growth. However, according to recent environmental reports, UAE residents also have one of the highest ecological footprints in the world, suggesting an imbalance between the demand and supply of resources that sustain a comfortable lifestyle. A focus on sustainability – meaning the effective management of the demand for resources –
GO
GREEN
Saeed Al Abbar, Chairman of Emirates Green Building Council, speaks to us about the importance of looking at the issue of sustainability in the FM industry. is imperative to achieve a balance with the supply of resources. Resources such as energy and water are critical and need to be monitored and managed as their usage greatly
contributes to the country’s ecological footprint. It is estimated that 57% of the footprint is attributed to energy consumption alone.
ACCORDING TO YOU, HOW CAN THE FM INDUSTRY PLAY A ROLE IN PROMOTING SUSTAINABILITY? Over the years, FM service providers have included several sustainability related functions into their portfolio. Today, energy and environmental monitoring for effective operational maintenance is an integral part of most FM contracts. By providing energy audits and services to facility owners, the FM industry promotes an important requisite needed for the sustainable management of a facility. The audits establish the baseline energy usage for a facility, which owners can use to measure their environmental impact and reference any improvement they make. FM Companies also have a vital role in 40
OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
SUSTAINABILITY ensuring the efficient, safe and healthy operation of buildings.
WHAT GREEN BUILDING PRACTICES WOULD YOU SUGGEST TO THE FM INDUSTRY? Several sustainable practices can be adopted by the FM industry, which are cost effective in both the long term and the short term. These include: Follow best practice for O&M: At the bare minimum, FM Companies should follow best practice measures for the operation and maintenance of building systems. This is vital not only for efficiency purposes but also to ensure the safe and healthy operation of buildings. In this region, O&M practices have typically been quite poor and there is a big need for improvements in the quality of building maintenance. Improved ventilation: Ensuring adequate fresh air provision, HVAC retrofits, installing heat recovery technology, and demand-controlled ventilation can contribute to reduced energy consumption as well as the well-being of end users. Efficient Building Management: Designing spaces that are integrated through intelligent centrally automated management systems ensure that systems within the building follow operational patterns and are shut down when not in use. Energy Saving products: The FM industry can offer energy saving technology as part of an upgrade packet. Efficient lighting, solar technology, and replacing old and inefficient systems with energy-rated ones can bring in energy savings to facility owners over time and help maximise the life of existing assets.
New developments in the UAE have begun to increasingly adopt rating tools to their construction methodology and many go on to be certified upon completion.� Engagement with building owners: This is a key strategy which introduces an educational component to sustainable FM practice. Educating building occupants on the proper usage of equipment, promoting an efficient waste strategy such as through recycling and environmental awareness programmes, can help in preventive maintenance, affect asset efficiency and promote the continual improvement of a facility.
has a cleaner indoor environment, and will also last longer than a counterpart that is not built to the same standards. Existing buildings that are built to older standards are often extremely energy intensive and wasteful of resources. These can be retrofitted by using existing rating tools as a framework and as a roadmap for progress in sustainability. The Emirates Green Building Council is on course to publish a technical guideline which will provide just that framework, which existing building owners can use to advance their sustainability goals. The EmiratesGBC Technical Guideline for Retrofitting Existing Buildings is a comprehensive set of instructions which will offer facility owners and operators a cost-effective reference tool catered to the local region, which they can use in lieu of certification, enabling them to reduce their energy and resource consumption over time and create a sustainable building overall
HOW CAN BUILDINGS, EXISTING AND UPCOMING, USE THE RATING TOOLS TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT? New developments in the UAE have begun to increasingly adopt rating tools to their construction methodology and many go on to be certified upon completion. Rating tools such LEED and Estidama Pearl help ensure a building was built using sustainably sourced materials, uses less energy and water, OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
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COUNTRY FOCUS
TAKING A LOOK AT
KUWAIT Ahmad Yousef Al Kandari
42
Since its foundation in 2010, MEFMA has never limited its focus on one country. MEFMA’s interest in the region is reflected in the composition of its current board, whose members are made up of industry leaders from across the region including the Vice Chairman & CEO of United Facilities Management (UFM), Ahmad Yousef Al Kandari, who is a major business figure in the Kuwaiti real estate and FM industry. In this article, he elaborates on the challenges in the FM market in Kuwait and the role being played by MEFMA.
OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
COUNTRY FOCUS
T
he facilities management market in Kuwait is still in its early stages. However, mega projects are being launched and recent report from Ventures Middle East is projecting that construction contracts in the country are set to reach USD 17.5 billion by the end of 2014, up from USD 9.8 billion in 2011. With such growth, the FM market is set to experience tremendous expansion which would translate into great opportunities for FM companies, who are already ready to act. Key major infrastructure projects are propelling Kuwait into the limelight. Projects like the USD 698.5 million Kuwait International Airport expansion, the metro and rail projects. As a result, facility owners are now aiming at higher level of service delivery to ensure that such enormous investments are being protected.
WHAT ARE THE ROADBLOCKS? However, with growth come challenges. Currently, FM companies in Kuwait are facing the challenge of addressing the release of large facilities projects in the market, while awareness for comprehensive facilities management services remains stubbornly low. Customers in Kuwait are still either reluctant in embracing the concept of FM outsourcing or continue to operate in a single-service approach. MEFMA’s relentless efforts in the past few years, working with companies like UFM, in promoting the short and long term benefits of facilities management have indeed made a difference. We have seen an incremental increase in awareness, specifically with large real estate companies. MEFMA has been indeed instrumental in making the case for outsourcing facilities management services. Another challenge for the FM industry in Kuwait is the complex bureaucracy and government red tape that hinder the development of categorisation and company classification rules that ensure comprehensive licensing programmes for FM companies. The acquisition of foreign labour continues to be complicated and cumbersome. Issuing tenders focused solely on FM services are appearing but at a slow rate and are still limited to the private sector. Public tenders for FM services
Customers in Kuwait are still either reluctant in embracing the concept of FM outsourcing or continue to operate in a single-service approach. MEFMA’s relentless efforts in the past few years, working with companies like UFM, in promoting the short and long term benefits of facilities management have indeed made a difference.” tend to be fragmented requesting services separately and not as an integrated solution. This is a difficult challenge to overcome as it requires a change in business mentality and habits at the government level. Such a challenge has been discussed in detail at MEFMA to come up with a programme on how to convince government agencies to re-
ally change the way they see FM fitting in their work processes. Nonetheless, we, at MEFMA are confident that the Kuwaiti market is reaching a tipping point where FM services could become standard requirements for any major real estate development project. Government ministries are becoming more aware of the importance of sustainability of their facilities and its impact on finances. Tenants in modern buildings tend to be environmentally-aware and are demanding a “green environment”. Real estate developers will have to respond to satisfy such needs. And that can only be through the adoption of integrated facilities management services. MEFMA’s commitment to Kuwait was reflected in organising the ‘Awareness into FM Conference’ which was held in Kuwait in 2013. The conference helped in opening discussions and debates between stakeholders in the real estate industry for the need of FM services. In summary, MEFMA will continue to apply its commitment to the FM market in Kuwait by educating customers, exposing stakeholders to the benefits of FM and by training and certifying professionals to enable the implementation of best practices and efficiency in service for existing and new facilities. OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2014
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DIARY DATES
UPCOMING EVENTS EVENT
DATE
LOCATION
MEFMA - EGBC Networking Event
18-11-2014 (9:00am) to 18-112014 (11:00am)
Sheraton Hotel, Mall of The Emirates
Pre-Conference Workshop - Riyadh
18-11-2014 (10:00am) to 18-112014 (3:00pm)
Riyadh
MEFMA Conference - Kuwait
24-11-2014 (9:00am) to 24-112014 (5:00pm)
Kuwait
Arabic Ta’aseesy - Foundation in FM Course - Riyadh
07-12-2014 (8:30am) to 11-122014 (4:30pm)
Executives Hotel
MEFMA is supporting Gulf Traffic Exhibition & Conference
08-12-2014 (10:00am) to 10-122014 (7:00pm)
Dubai World Trade Centre
MEFMA Workshop - Qatar
11-12-2014 (10:00am) to 11-122014 (1:00pm)
Doha
Networking Event - Qatar
11-12-2014 (5:00pm) to 11-122014 (7:00pm)
Doha
Arabic Ta’aseesy - Foundation in FM Course - Kuwait
14-12-2014 (12:00am) to 18-122014 (12:00am)
Kuwait
Networking Event - Abu Dhabi
15-12-2014 (8:00am) to 15-122014 (10:00am)
Abu Dhabi
MEFMA Board Meeting
18-12-2014 12:00 am to 18-122014 12:00 am
Dubai
Ta’aseesy - Foundation in FM Course - Dubai
11-01-2015 (8:30am) to 15-012015 (4:30pm)
Arjaan by Rotana Hotel
MEFMA Conference - Riyadh
21-01-2015 (9:00am) to 22-012015 (5:00pm)
Riyadh
MEFMA is supporting the Middle East Electricity Exhibition
02-03-2015 (11:00am) to 04-032015 (7:00pm)
Dubai World Trade Centre
MEFMA is supporting Solar Middle East Exhibition
02-03-2015 (11:00am) to 04-032015 (7:00pm)
Dubai World Trade Centre
Pre-CONFEX Workshop
15-03-2015 (9:00am) to 15-032015 (3:00pm)
The Address Hotel Dubai Marina
MEFMA Annual CONFEX - Dubai
16-03-2015 (8:00am) to 17-032015 (5:00pm)
The Address Hotel Dubai Marina
MEFMA is supporting Saudi Power Exhibition
11-05-2015 (10:00am) to 13-052015 (9:00pm)
Riyadh International Convention & Exhibition Center
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