Majid Al Futtaim Ventures and Dalkia today announced an extension to their joint venture, enabling them to expand the MAF Dalkia brand of facilities and energy management services into the Gulf, Levant and Egypt markets. 

As part of the expansion, MAF Dalkia will extend its focus to specific facilities and energy management opportunities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and other key geographies, while leveraging regional and international expertise in healthcare, telecommunications and other key industry verticals across the region. 

By 2011, MAF Dalkia will be providing facilities and energy management services for an estimated 3.3 million sq m of commercial and residential space in the Middle East, in addition to managing at least 125,000TR cooling capacity and 2,550 Mwh power managed through various client initiatives, said a statement.

“As an increasing number of commercial projects and towers in the region are completed, owners are looking for facilities management partners that have proven leadership in energy efficiency, operational cost reduction, and maximization of resources – MAF Dalkia has this firsthand experience, and the expansion of our joint venture is in large part a response to customer demand around the region,” said Ahmed Galal Ismail, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Ventures and xhairman of MAF Dalkia.

To expedite the regional roll-out of the expanded joint venture, MAF Dalkia and Dalkia International will merge their current facilities management operations in Bahrain, where the companies count banks, shopping malls and mixed use destinations among their current clients.  New offices in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria are planned in the near future in order to strengthen the joint venture between Majid Al Futtaim Ventures and Dalkia.

“The wider Middle East market is one of the world’s fastest-growing geographies for facilities management due to the need for competitive differentiation and cost management among building owners.  No longer an afterthought and in fact set to eventually outpace the region’s construction sector, facilities and energy management is a strategic consideration for governments and private enterprises across the region, and MAF Dalkia is poised to advance its growth as an industry,” added Mohamed Lasri, CEO Dalkia Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey.

With its focus on energy optimization, MAF Dalkia has reduced CO2 emissions by more than 36,000 tons in 2009 by introducing more sustainable facilities and energy management solutions for its clients.  MAF Dalkia commits to optimising energy usage, with a corresponding energy savings of between 10-15 percent.

In addition to energy, telecom and healthcare, MAF Dalkia has highlighted sectors such as hospitality, education, commercial real estate, industry, public sector and cooling plants as the major drivers for growth in the Middle East’s facilities management landscape in 2011. - TradeArabia News Service