Local firms increase stake in facilities mg’t

Multinational companies in the country are signing up indigenous companies to provide facilities management services, as local firms stake a claim in an industry dominated by foreign companies.

The need for facilities management services has become even greater as the number of commercial office buildings and high-end residential facilities increase in Accra and other major regional capitals across the country.

“We are ensuring that an indigenous company made up of and created by Ghanaians is offering international standards in facilities management to clients, both local companies and international. We provide facilities management services to international companies like General Electric (GE) Africa, Ghana Office; L’Oréal; and technology giant Huawei International’s Ghana office.

“We believe local facilities management companies have the capacity to face all the international companies that are here,” Kojo Kwakye Owusu, Managing Director-UT Properties, told the B&FT.

There is a growing number of indigenous local companies in the facilities management space, competing with the likes of Broll Ghana and JHI.

The economic advancement of the country over the past decade, bar recent economic challenges, has led to increased investment in high rise commercial office complexes, shopping malls, residential apartments and other social infrastructure.

The Airport City enclave in Accra is now home to many high-rise building that are real architectural beauties. These new building in the Airport City enclave, as well as many other high-rise commercial buildings and residential properties in the country, require competent facilities management companies to handle them and ensure their longevity.

“I think that we are accused of not having a maintenance culture. UT Properties is well-placed to debunk that perception. All we see are opportunities, because on the private level companies are well-tuned to try and find solutions for the maintenance of their employees and facilities.

“We are hoping that as time goes on, state institutions also have that ideology in offering maintenance solutions to their establishments so that we avoid some of the problems brought on by bad maintenance culture,” Mr. Owusu said.

Ghana is presently faced with a huge infrastructure gap, and needs an average US$1.5billion per annum for the next decade to address it. This is required to bring the nation’s infrastructure to the recommended status for a middle-income country.

On the housing deficit, it is estimated that a minimum of 170,000 housing units will have to be built annually, spread over the next 10-year period, to reduce and curtail the current housing deficit.

Studies on the country’s infrastructure requirements indicate that for the next decade government requirements for the transport sector alone average US$307million annually to provide the needed infrastructure -- airport facilities, train stations and harbours among others.

“In an interview with UT Properties, the Head of Facilities Management Mrs. Aba Asante Koranchie said: “Facility Management is a Key Service industry that encompasses multiple disciplines to ensure functionality of the built environment by integrating people, place, process and technology.

“You need to know the investment that has gone into the building. You need to also know the cost per square metre. You are looking at the building’s life-cycle, and facilities management (FM) is looking at being able to hold the growth or maturity period for a long period to ensure that return on investment is stable or improves over time,” she said.