Facilities management to become $580m industry

Dubai: The Middle East's construction boom is fuel-ling the growth of the facilities management industry, which is estimated to reach $580 million in the next five years, industry experts said on Sunday.

Agata Pawlik, project manager, Facilities Management Expo, said the UAE has the biggest market, followed by Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.

"The $580 million does not include Saudi Arabia. About 60 per cent of that is captured by the UAE. And about 17 per cent goes to Qatar, the second biggest market," Pawlik said on the sidelines of the third annual Facilities Management Expo, being held at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

In the next 25 years, the industry is expected to expand to $704 billion in the UAE alone and $892 billion in the Arabian Gulf.

Facilities management lets developers maximise profits over a building's life cycle. FM experts provide advice in the planning stages, as well as as services like building maintenance, space management, administration and contract management.

Nick Webb, director of Streamline Marketing Group, the event organiser, said the Gulf's booming construction industry has created a huge market for facilities management. Dubai hosts 30 "high-level" facilities management companies.

Pawlik said the number of such firms will double in 2015, she said, with Dubai's requirement for the services growing 80 per cent.

Pawlik said if developers use facilities management at a late stage or during a project's completion, they could shoulder a cost inflation of 15 to 20 per cent.

"The cost rises if the services are not tapped early, so it's critical to involve them in a project's early stages."

The life expectancy of buildings managed by facilities management experts rises to 50 years from 25 years, Pawlik said.