Facilitating growth in MEP

Keith Hill
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“You have to manage, operate and maintain stalled projects in exactly the same way as completed projects, whether they are built and unoccupied or half-built and at risk. All the elements of FM that occur in normal, finished projects have to be applied to unfinished projects. There is the same scope of work: things need to be looked after and systems maintained. Buildings will deteriorate very rapidly if not finished off and closed up properly. For example, all the distribution boards will rust and have to be replaced. Pumps will rust and fan coil units fill up with pigeon nests.

“Most stalled buildings in the UAE are in the hands of contractors who have not been paid. They say that they are maintaining these assets, of course, but that translates to leaving a watchman on-site. The risk of having a building sitting like that could mean technical and functional obsolescence in up to five years. We are talking about a dynamic property cycle in an economic environment with broad fluctuations. If you leave a building for up to three years and do not maintain it, then that is up to five years of pure rental income gone,” warns Langmead.

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A strong move towards promoting the lifecycle efficiency of the region’s building stock was the official inauguration of the Middle East Facility Management Association (MEFMA) at the recent FM Expo 2010.

Chairman Mick Dalton says it is critical for the FM industry to encompass the construction cycle in its entirety. “MEFMA aims to promulgate regional standards, and it will do this by seeking input from all sectors, including design and MEP.

“The critical question is: how can all the sectors contribute to optimal maintenance and extending the lifecycle of a building? The average life expectancy of a building in the Gulf is around 30 years. We need to push it to 40 to 50 years.”

INITIATIVES

An initiative in this regard is a mooted push from federal government to regulate the MEP industry, says Dalton. “There is talk at federal level of regulating MEP, cleaners and other trades. This is a good thing, but it is going to take a long time. It is in our best interests not to employ the cleaner to do the BMS, or have the security guard as the MEP guy. We have to start doing things properly, which is where the challenge lies in regulating the FM industry.” Marwan bin Ghalita, the CEO of RERA, under whose auspices MEFMA resides, was also present at the association’s launch.

He admits that RERA came to the FM party quite late, when everyone was cash-flush and taking quick decisions and actions based on a buoyant market, often resulting in a total disconnect between service pricing and quality. “There are three issues in this regard that are raised repeatedly: transparency, sustainability and cost. Dubai is lucky to have experienced FM players that will allow it to leapfrog ahead of other countries.”

However, this means that FM’s importance in the entire design-and-build process will have to be ratcheted up a few notches. “This is what we are doing as a regulator. We are enforcing laws and regulations for any developer who will come to Dubai today, or some even with a project that did not start, to consider the FM homework before they even start marketing or selling the project. So things will be happening gradually as we introduce these laws. We do not want to stop development; we want to correct any deficiencies there may be in sustainability.”

Jamal Lootah, president of MEFMA and CEO of Imdaad, says simply: “We have the highest tower in Dubai, the Burj Khalifa, which means we have to have the best FM, in line with Sheikh Mohammed’s injunction for Dubai to be number one.

“MEFMA is the outcome of two years of hard work, encompassing not only the FM industry but government and ancillary sectors like MEP as well. We now have a big responsibility not only towards Dubai, but the entire Middle East, to introduce uniform standards. This will be a long journey, and will need support from all the stakeholders in order to make it succeed.”