JEDDAH: The facilities management (FM) industry in Saudi Arabia will be worth between $1.5 and $2 billion by 2014 making the Kingdom the fastest growing FM market in the world, said the organizers of The Big 5 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who are launching the inaugural Saudi FM Summit in Jeddah on March 1-2, 2011. However, with only a handful of local companies currently in the market, a panel of consultants for the summit predicted a serious shortfall in suppliers that are able to service the 687 current developments, 22 percent of which are in the execution phase. Mick Dalton, Managing Director of Musanadah Facilities Management based in Saudi Arabia, said "development in Saudi Arabia continues to grow at an astonishing pace and research suggests that the Saudi Arabian FM market will be worth $100 billion over the next 25 years. But the market has just over ten local companies to date and no matter how big they can become, these companies will never be able to match the market demand without an increase in competition." Meanwhile, John Moore, division head of FM for the Jash Group, said that better technology is needed to drive the market forward. "Saudi Arabia is targeting between seven and ten per cent of its electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020 and this is putting pressure on developers to balance carbon emissions during the lifecycle of the building. In turn facility management companies are expected to provide this solution which means an increased use of integrated management systems and better implementation of technology." The inaugural Saudi FM Summit will address the key issues facing the facilities management industry in the Kingdom, provide an education platform and help promote the industry to developers, the real estate market and wider construction industry. The BIFM (British Institute for Facilities Management) and consultants such as Mick Dalton, who was also a past chairman of the BIFM, will be running accredited training courses. Speaking about the Saudi FM Summit, President of Khalid Ali Al Turki & Sons, Rami Alturki, said: "We are extremely excited to participate in the FM Summit and are proud to sponsor it through our recently established subsidiary, Musanadah FM. This event will be a great platform to highlight the importance of the emerging FM industry in Saudi Arabia and will be a showcase for leading service providers such as Musanadah to share knowledge and best practices."
