FM Expo likely to highlight projected sector boom

As momentum gathers for the fifth annual FM Expo later this month in Dubai, guest speakers and exhibitors discuss what their expectations are for the big event.

Opportunity isn’t a word many people would associate with the economic downturn. However, it seems that professionals in the facilities management industry have a promising future ahead of them, as the FM Expo 2010 is about to highlight.

The event, to be held from May 18-20, will give exhibitors a chance to showcase their services to delegates, but also to discuss ideas and the current trends in the market place with other businesses.

One view that appears to be shared by expected attendees is that the roles of FM suppliers and providers are becoming increasingly important.

The financial crisis has certainly stopped many construction heavyweights in their tracks and, while the development of new projects has been slow over the last year or two, these industry players have had time to redress the way their existing buildings are maintained by outsourcing facilities management services to specialised companies.

In fact, the market earned revenues of over US $3.5 billion in 2008 and the overall facilities management sector in the GCC is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 18% by 2013, according to a white paper prepared by Frost and Sullivan exclusively for this year’s FM Expo.

The report states that the "demand for facilities management services is growing strongly and moving in the right direction with the need for professional maintenance evidently increasing. Builders and facility owners in the region are becoming aware of the commercial and environmental advantages of involving a facilities management firm to address their maintenance needs".

“It’s an amazing market really,” adds David Wilson, product development director for DMG World Media, the organiser of the FM Expo.

“If you look at it from a GCC perspective, it gets an enormous amount of turnover and the industry is predicting that FM will overtake construction in terms of billions of dirham that will be spent.”

Wilson also predicts that facilities management companies will become more involved in a project, which is in the early stages of development.

“FM needs to be integrated right at the beginning of the development – even at the architectural stage – rather than coming in as a secondary service,” he says.

Another exciting addition to the exhibition and supporting conference will be the official launch of the Middle East Facilities Management Association (MEFMA) and its new agreement with RERA, which will ratify the industry body as an association recognised by the government.

MEFMA was set to implement regulation, legislation, benchmarking, transparency, accredited training courses, networking opportunities to support professionals, product and service suppliers and end-users in the real estate sector.

And, as the FM industry becomes more mature and complex, clients and developers are seeing that they don’t necessarily have the expertise and technological resources to meet current end-user requirements, which leaves a gap for FM experts to step in.

Techem Energy Services is one company that is hoping to get noticed by these clients at this year’s expo.

“We want to promote Techem to existing and potential customers. We want to create awareness of the presence of the company in the Middle East and increase our clientele,” says Techem Energy Services regional manager Hans Altmann.

Techem is an international service provider which helps the property industry and private landlords to save on water and power consumption.

This year, the company will be showcasing cold meters with Radio Frequency technology to visitors and delegates.

“The cold meter is specially designed for installation in cooling circuits. Recording the flow according to the multiple jet principle guarantees high measurement accuracy and the measurement stability. The impeller wheel rotation is recorded with a contact free and magnet free sensory mechanism which enables recognition of the flow direction,” explains Altmann.

“The counter has 18 display functions including cold energy status on reference day, current flow, flow temperature and return temperature, temperature difference, performance, etc.”

Altmann will also be speaking at the FM Expo conference on how to cope up with the present market challenges by capitalising on Techem’s global experience and reducing energy cost of the property by up to 25%.

Saving energy is set to be a central theme at this year’s expo as the need to efficiently manage lifecycle costs increases.

“Cost saving solutions is a wide issue; most of the cost is incurred due to the high usage of energy which is getting scarcer. The solutions on how to minimise the energy costs must be implemented,” adds Altmann.

Honeywell, well regarded for its aerospace technology, construction safety equipment and transportation systems in this region, wants to use the Expo to highlight its energy saving automation and control systems that have proved popular internationally.

Honeywell business development director Kyle Bashy said that, “Nearly 50% of Honeywell’s company-wide product portfolio is linked to energy efficiency and renewable energy. Simply by using the Honeywell technologies available in the marketplace today, the energy consumption could be reduced by 15 to 20% and play a key role in curbing and reducing global greenhouse gas emissions”.

Bashy added, “The key to driving energy cost down is awareness and individual willingness to adapt to slightly different life style. Honeywell recognise that the Middle East is committed to change and it is committed to help.”

Farnek Avireal, a facilities management consultancy, which offers maintenance, security and general cleaning to developments, also wishes to showcase its energy management services at the event.

“We have been introducing sustainable products for some time now, but we have new products now like water saving devices and energy saving modules, which we introduced just six months ago and our carbon footprint consultancy was launched three months ago,” says Farnek Avireal general manager Markus Oberlin.

“We are experiencing increasing levels of interest for energy management services and carbon footprint services.”

But, the FM Expo 2010 won’t be entirely focused on energy management. Other FM technologies services that add years to a building’s lifespan will also be presented.

The UAE’s Kendah Pest Control, for example, will be exhibiting its latest solutions such as rodent, fly and bird control.

Kendah branch manager Warren Gabule said,“One of the new systems that we are introducing is the Three Zone Protection Plan. Zone 1: locate and eliminate pest nesting and harborage sites on the property grounds; Zone 2: stops pests from entering the home by sealing the building; and Zone 3: eliminates any interior pest nesting sites with minimal use of pest control products and is usually accomplished by using mere grams of pest baiting material."

So, the FM event will highlight the growing need for good facilities management services, the need to cut lifecycle costs and implement energy saving solutions to extend and the importance of adopting new technologies.

But, will the show make a difference to exhibitors’ FM providers’ businesses? And, will the demand for FM services increase after the expo?

“We foresee an increase in demand of our services considering that all participants and visitors will gain the full knowledge of our products and services being offered and how important our pest management solutions are in attaining a better standard of living,” Gabule responds.

And, Altmann agrees: “The demand for FM services is huge, and is surely growing. In the former times the facilities management industry was the weakest link in the industry cycle, but with the current market conditions FM would surely be in the driver’s seat.”

Speaker’s corner: Kumar Ramesh
Frost and Sullivan programme manager for Environment and Building Technologies Practice in South Asia and the MENA region Kumar Ramesh discusses the topics he will be touching upon at this year’s FM Expo conference.

What issues will you raise during your presentation at the conference?
During the presentation I will talk about the current trends in the market and throw light on the opportunities in the market and touch upon the factors for success and how FM companies can expand.

Frost and Sullivan will present a new white paper at the expo, what will this reveal?
We want to give an outlook about the market for Facilities Management in the Middle East. I will talk about managing buildings in the future, the needs of the end users and the challenges faced by facility managers.

What are the current trends in the FM market?
Over the last two years the concentration on the construction sector, especially on the commercial segment, has been spreading across the GCC - countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have gained a lot of importance.

It’s all about being adaptable. There are some smart marketing efforts being taken by companies established in markets like the UAE and seeing huge potential for growth.

But, we can’t throw away the opportunities in the UAE because an FM market is constant and never ending, so it shouldn’t be just about growth or a market that provides revenue for one year and another the next year – its about providing a service to a building, it is a continuous market.

What does it take for an FM company to be successful in this market?
Success has got to revolve around how market moves forward and looking at how end users can benefit from building management. Also, before the downturn, a lot of companies were focusing on the UAE market, but services need to be spread across the region and not concentrated in one area.

How will the 2010 expo compare to previous years?
Last year people were worried last year about where revenues are going to come from, but this year companies have witnessed activity in many of the GCC countries so the comfort levels of participants will be higher and they will be keen to know which markets are going to open up opportunities for them and what partners will be going to expo.