Facilities management (FM) plays a crucial role in ensuring the maintenance, repair, and ongoing supervision of a building’s physical assets, preserving the property’s value over time.
In the UAE, there is a narrative promoting alignment with global industry best practices, emphasizing sustainability, smart technology adoption, and asset performance analysis over the whole life cycle. Whilst greater levels of technology are beginning to be designed into new projects, there very often remains a clear disconnect between design and construction and asset operation.
Challenges in technology adoption for FM service delivery
Regionally, many multi-occupancy assets fall short in their adoption of advanced technologies for the FM service delivery. The prevalent approach often focuses on short-term expenditure, neglecting comprehensive life cycle planning, which leads to deferred maintenance, inefficient systems, and poor levels of documentation.
Bridging the gap between design, construction, and asset operation
In building projects, FM involvement has historically commenced at the point of handing over the completed project, with very little input, if any, prior to this. Considerable value can however be added to a project when FM professionals are integrated into the project team at the very beginning of a project’s life cycle. Engaging with FM professionals at an early stage ensures that the operational phase is given due consideration, and a clearly defined FM strategy can be developed, helping to bridge the current disconnect.
Developing a well-defined FM strategy for long-term success
Whether new or existing, every building project should have a well-defined FM strategy. This should be symbiotic with the objectives of the owners and stakeholders and becomes the reference point from which the long-term management aims, and property life-cycle plans are delivered. The utilisation of technology during the operational phase also forms part of the strategy for things like change management, performance management, document management, life cycle management etc.
Overcoming siloed operations in building development and FM
What we typically find on the other hand is organisational division and the siloing of the project development teams and operational teams. The result is a heavy emphasis on construction efficiency and satisfying regulatory requirements to obtain Building Completion Certification.
The role of BIM in optimising FM
An example of this that we see is with Building Information Modelling (BIM). BIM has become normal practice now for large projects in the UAE and in Dubai is mandated to 3D for a range of new build developments. BIM can present huge benefits in the design and construction, but also during the operational phase. However, due to division which is maintained between the project development teams and operational teams, the BIM handed over to the FM team is often fraught with inaccuracies and does not integrate with the Computer Aided Facilities Management (CAFM) system, resulting in an ineffective solution that fulfils little of the potential that could be obtained if set up correctly.
Digital Twins: a new frontier for real-time asset management
With an integrated BIM and CAFM system, a project is well on its way to developing a digital twin. A digital twin provides a virtual model of a physical asset which can be monitored and controlled in real-time. Having a digital twin allows for improved decision making, maintenance planning and overall efficiency.
Leveraging IoT and AI for smarter FM
To provide such information, the digital twin relies on a number of technologies, including Internet of Things (IoT) devices and Artificial Intelligence (AI). IoT is a collection of devices which form part of a collective network that facilitate real-time communication between the devices and the cloud. This information is then visually represented and communicated to the FM teams. Information such as energy consumption and other operation parameters are collected and monitored with the FM team alerted when faults occur and can affect a repair before they cause any disruption to occupants.
Predictive maintenance and proactive asset management with AI
It may also be possible to predict such events with AI machine learning. Using machine learning algorithms to process the large volume of data being collected by the IoT devices, patterns in the data are established and anomalies can be detected. Such anomalies may not be preventing the equipment from operating but are reducing its operational performance or suggest that failure is imminent and therefore parts can be procured, and proactive repairs or replacement undertaken ahead of failure.
Building automation for efficiency and resource optimisation
With the implementation of such technology, it also provides the opportunity to introduce greater levels of building automation. Such features as autonomous control of building systems, to adjust installations such as air conditioning and internal lighting in response to occupancy levels or even external weather conditions. Other examples of potential automation include automated garbage collection, parts procurement and task order creation for maintenance activities. These are just a handful of the potential processes which could be made more efficient and save valuable resources that could be then utilised elsewhere.
To get the best outcomes for your project, it is important to have early engagement of FM professionals and to gain their input when selecting the technology to be incorporated into the design. By doing so you provide the basis to unlock significant opportunities to enhance your building.
If developers and owners invest in a comprehensive FM strategy and leverage technology to deliver that strategy, building projects can achieve long-term cost efficiency, improved asset performance, ensure sustainability and protect the value of their buildings.
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