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Mustafa Herzallah and Mohammad Hammoud.

FM market 'on cusp of technological transformation'

MANAMA, January 24, 2019

Emerging technologies are set to transform the facilities management (FM) market in the Middle East region, thus helping customers save costs and drive up sustainability standards across the buildings sector, said leading design and engineering group Khatib & Alami (K&A).

An international multidisciplinary consultancy, K&A comprises architects, engineers, planners and other project specialists. It has vast experience in FM consultancy management, sustainability projects and Building Information Modelling (BIM) throughout the Mena region.

In Lebanon, for instance, the ABC Verdun Mall project, for which K&A was the local design consultant, became the first project in the country for which the BIM model is being used not only for the construction phase, but also to support mall operations.

"Buildings are almost 40 per cent of the energy consumption in almost any economy, and the best energy and water efficiency measures typically reduce energy and water bills by 10 to 30 per cent," remarked senior project engineer Mustafa Herzallah.

He is one of the key speakers at FM Expo Saudi, a major industry event which kicks off on Monday (January 28) and runs till January 30 in Riyadh.

"In Saudi Arabia, where Vision 2030 is helping to drive improvements in energy and water efficiency, the potential for innovating through the FM market is huge," stated Herzallah.

The integration of technologies such as smart meters and energy monitoring and control systems, BIM and geographic information systems (GIS) is equipping facilities management teams with real-time data to optimise levels of performance, he added.

K&A has been at the forefront of GIS in the region for more than 30 years through its partnership with international GIS supplier ESRI, while its own smart solutions platform – Kapcite – is gaining traction in the market through products such as Way+, which incorporates ‘wayfinding’ technology through the Internet of Things (IoT) to connect people, physical assets and data intelligently.

Such technologies, which are fundamental to the creation of smart cities, will play a key role in the growth of the FM market in the GCC over the coming decade.

The largest country market for FM services, Saudi Arabia, is alone expected to more than double in size to $50 billion by 2030, compared to $23 billion last year.

“Conventional FM practice is more reactive, so problems are fixed as they arise. As a pioneer in sustainability and energy management, we challenge the current performance of an asset and aim to improve and optimize that performance, reducing their operational costs and enhancing the overall end-user experience,” remarked Herzallah.

“Through BIM models and FM integrated data, problems can be diagnosed quickly and performance predicted, resulting in fewer equipment and asset failures,” he added.

K&A’s Product and Account Manager, Mohammad Hammoud, said: "Creating geographically aware buildings can significantly improve decision-making by generating real-time data which can be analysed quickly and efficiently."

"This can help facilities managers to accurately predict behavioural patterns so that, for instance, air conditioning can be managed at the most appropriate levels in specific zones," noted Hammoud, who will be one of the key speakers at the upcoming FM Expo Saudi expo.

"It can also support health and safety by informing space and crowd management or emergency response planning," he stated.

According to Hammoud, these geospatial solutions offer significant benefits to the FM sector.

Anwar Qureshi, a senior consultant in K&A’s FM department, said greater appreciation of the positive impact that high quality FM can have on businesses will help the market to grow and innovate.

"One of the things organizations often get wrong about facilities management is focusing on being reactive, instead of strategic. We recommend that clients implement a robust facilities management program that gives credence to the efficient operation and maintenance of the asset over its entire lifecycle," he added.-TradeArabia News Service




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