Breakfast Club

[More Images]



Gemma Davies (GD), principle consultant FM, Now Careers Middle East (image due on Wednesday)  

From a recruitment perspective we are obviously seeing more candidates due to the current economic climate. That has also revealed some inconsistencies in UAE labour law and contributed to the migration of expatriate workers due to inflexible visa restrictions.

The government should look to make it a straight forward process to change jobs and secure a new one if someone has been made redundant. The workforce needs to be fluid, and it’s in the UAEs’ best interests to keep expatriate talent here on a number of socioeconomic levels.   

We are finding businesses are still hiring though, contrary to media reports and uninformed gossip. But for us the business model has shifted to one of strategic alliances with companies and personnel. Employers are more focused on what they are looking for from a candidate on specific projects, usually a broad FM skill set at middle management level, so we have to match scrupulously.

Story continues below

Advertisement

FEATURED COMMENT Please click here to comment on this article

Energy consumption is a major issue. What are you finding on the ground?

Terry John-Baptiste (TB), FM director Omniyat

As well as the pricing issues raised earlier, we have problems with the accuracy of the utilities figures from Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA). District cooling plants are inefficient – consumption is huge meaning the end-user pays 30 – 40 percent of the total operating costs. Each residence should have a meter.

SW: Some developers are taking advantage of the absence of metering and deliberately manipulating the market. Have you ever heard of a ‘chilled water connection charge’? No, well it exists on certain developments and basically it’s an additional, hidden, utilities charge. In Bahrain and Oman the service charges are factored in as a percentage of the rent.

Stephen Marney (SM), managing director PSDI

Buildings are the single highest contributor to greenhouse gases, so it’s not only residential units and metering in question when we’re looking at the issue of the UAE’s massive carbon footprint, it’s the control systems too.

Building management control systems (BMS) should play a critical role in cutting energy and water consumption and general operating efficiencies. Unfortunately, about 90 percent of BMS don’t work in the region because they’re not matched or integrated.

On the legislative front, we have found the lack of industry software standards means we physically have to demonstrate control system capability. 

Has development quality on handover improved?

SW: No. the quality of some developments on handover is disgraceful; they are simply not fit for purpose.

Ali Hassan Al Suwaidi (AS), executive director operations Imdaad

The FM inherits an unfinished building, be that a hotel, shopping mall or residential complex because some developers need to claw their investment back as quickly as possible because they are spreading themselves too thinly.

As to the health, safety and security issues that arise when a building is handed over and occupied before it is finished? Well, we have seen that a lot with soft openings of shopping malls and hotels that, in some cases, are little more than construction sites in places. How can an FM draw up health, safety and security procedures for such a hazardous environment?

There needs to be a graded, single plan for risk assessments and legislation in place stipulating that a development cannot be handed over until it meets the requirements and has been signed off as fit for purpose. The FM can then get on with the job of managing and maintaining the asset, rather than finishing it.     

What actions can the industry take?

LT: Education and communication. It seems to me the various elements of the construction industry, energy suppliers and legislative bodies are either not talking, or listening, to each other.

These elements need to meet regularly to discuss and implement legislation. If service charge costings, energy consumption metering and billing were calculated on agreed measurables everyone would know where they stood and what costs what.

---