Next on the agenda...

To make MEFMA successful, FMBC, companies and professionals need to contribute to it.
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First order of business: Create an official government sanctioned facilities management association. Check. What’s next?

After a two-month hiatus, the Facilities Management Breakfast Club (FMBC) was back in action in October and, as per usual, Dubai’s Mövenpick Hotel in Deira played host to the industry’s movers and shakers for the morning.

Fresh off the momentum of the official launch of the Middle East Facilities Management Association (MEFMA) at Cityscape Dubai, an encouraged and reinvigorated FMBC found itself facing two very important questions at the October meeting: Now that MEFMA exists, do we still have a mandate? If it does have a mandate, what is it?

As these crucial questions were put to the October visitors, the resounding answer—at least to the first question—was yes. “Whilst MEFMA and the eventual board of MEFMA will have its own agenda and objectives, now FMBC needs to move on with a new phase,” said FMBC chairman, Stephen Barker, as he opened the meeting.

Barker continued: “The Breakfast Club, since its formation, has been a gathering of industry-passionate people. It was there to serve as a platform for discussion and knowledge sharing. The fact that the formation of MEFMA was a particular subject that the Breakfast Club took to heart and drove through, that’s now been accomplished. Now, we’ve got to revisit what we want to do and how we want to position ourselves.”

As October’s FM experts sat around the table contemplating a new direction for what has been a surprisingly effective lobbyist and working group, it became clear that the FMBC wanted to continue being a voice on behalf of the industry. Its ability to gain the proverbial ear of the government (e.g. RERA) is the precise reason for its success in such a short time and continues to be the main justification for its existence.

“The FMBC can continue to lobby what will now be a clear route to the local government,” explained Barker. “The FMBC now, in many ways, has an even more important role to play in the UAE because we can actually lobby an entity.”

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A clear definition

As a collective, the group moved quite quickly past the first question. The second question, however, opened a discussion laced with complexities and intricacies understood by only the most seasoned of those around the table. It was decided that to best address the new mandate of FMBC, a menu or agenda of issues would be the necessary first step in tackling the industry’s myriad issues.

In legal circles, it well understood that to regulate something, one must first define that which it intends to regulate. Perhaps the best and simplest example comes from the world of soft drinks. Coca Cola has become a monolithic global brand that has garnered endless profits because of its ability to protect and patent its formula. Essentially, the ingredients—or definition—of Coca Cola cannot legally be sold or duplicated by anyone other than the parent corporation. The punishment for doing so is easily spelled out in intellectual property legislation. At October’s FMBC, the issue of definition was recognised to be equally paramount.

“We should have a list of objectives or a mandate but I think the next step, before we engage in any specific subjects or topics, is to define ‘facilities management’ for Dubai and for the UAE and for the greater Middle East,” said Juma Bin Darwish Al Muhairy, vice president of engineering, DWTC. “If we can define it, an agenda can be easily driven from there.”

“I believe the best way to address it is to itemize a list of issues that concern FMs in the Middle East and then break off into workshops to start the discussion of how to deal with them as FMBC and as an industry,” said Terry John-Baptiste, FM director at Omniyat Properties.

Middle East and FM veteran Nigel Hambly, general manager of Modus Middle East, explains the importance of defining FM: “When I first came to the Middle East in 1980, we made a mistake, we didn’t define FM. But if you go through the process, which could be done in [FMBC] for approval by MEFMA, you then look at the various categories and levels within FM and come up with a composite definition which we can put to RERA. RERA can then approve that and work in conjunction with the licensing authorities.” he explained.

As Hambly continued, he addressed one of the most dangerous trends in the industry—unqualified companies posing as facilities managers—and brought the discussion back to the paramount issue of client satisfaction: “Then companies will have an FM license that allows them to perform a specific set of tasks because they’re licensed to do them. It also allows for upgrading that license based on the company’s ability to prove their qualifications in performing a certain service. That would stop the cowboys in the industry and allow clients to make their own informed choices.”

John-Baptiste quickly agreed with what he sees as one of the major issues facing the Middle East’s FM industry: “There are so many different companies that claim to be FM companies and when you look at what they’re doing, it’s shocking. Essentially, those companies are putting people’s assets—and people’s lives—in jeopardy. I’ve seen some work in this region that scared the life out of me.”

The point is this: By defining the phrase ‘facilities management’, the government can begin the long and intricate process of legislating the industry in the form of certifying, licensing and—where laws are breached—punishing companies in the industry.