DAMMAM: Leading the GCC facility management towards a productivity-driven business approach following international standards, the Middle East Facility Management Association (MEFMA) held recently its latest workshop and networking event, themed ‘Value Added of Professional, Comprehensive Facility Management’, at Prince Mohammad bin Fahd Program for Youth Development in Al Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
The event discussed the growing importance of FM sector in enhancing public facilities especially in the healthcare sector, aimed at raising the profile of the FM profession which has huge impact on the health, safety, productivity and wellbeing of people who use the built environment.
The workshop and networking activities are part of MEFMA’s continuing efforts to drive innovation by promoting awareness about leading international trends that could help further empower the regional FM industry. MEFMA is a non-profit association that provides a dedicated platform for FM professionals, wider construction industry stakeholders and owner associations. Through workshops and forums, the Association seeks to further strengthen the culture of knowledge sharing and exchange of experiences to provide solutions and advance research, education and creation of sustainable strategies for the sector.
Eng. Aiyd Al-Qahtani, Board Member, MEFMA, said: “MEFMA remains committed in strengthening the regional facilities management sector by enhancing its global competitiveness through local management in line with global standards. We continuously find ways to meet the growing needs of asset managers and property owners towards meeting their goals of providing sustainable facilities management services, which is essential in maintaining and improving the lifespan of buildings. We focused on the healthcare sector given the
increasing interest to ensure high-levels of maintenance for health and medical facilities to improve services. FM plays a major role in ensuring quality services and provide added value to improving the level of health services that benefit patients as well as the staff in those establishments.”
The workshop presented by Peter Prischl, Managing Director of Drees & Sommer International. Prischl also moderated the panel discussion with the participation of FM leaders in Saudi Arabia, including Eng. Sultan Alkhuraissi, General Manager for Operations & Maintenance, Royal Commission in Jubail; Eng. Naif Al-Trad, Executive Director Hospital Operations, King Fahad Specialist Hospital; Ali Manajem, Performance Improvement Consultant, Saudi Aramco; Eng. Mohammed Salim Patel, Facility Management Director, Tadbeir Real Estate Company; and Dr. Abdulaziz Saud Almohassen, Assistant Professor (Building Engineering Dept.), Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University.
The talk explored in-depth the value added of professional and comprehensive facility management in practical terms such as budgets and costs. It also cited practical examples of value-added FM in accordance with the type of organization – whether they are for profit or non-profit or government. The session also widely discussed the valued added of professional FM to some of the most challenging built environment properties such as hospitals and other healthcare facilities. The talk also offered five methods which anyone can apply in achieving added value in public facilities in the sector.
Sponsors of the event include Tadbeir Real Estate Company, King Fahad Specialist Hospital – Dammam, and Drees & Sommer, while the supporting partners are the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu and The National Training Center for Facilities and Hospitality Management. News Desk
