Venue variety

Managing an 55,000m² exhibition centre is not an easy job for a facilities manager and the task becomes considerably harder when you are faced with balancing a fine arts exhibition one week and a sporting exhibition the next.

But for William Thomson, operations manager of all Emcor Facilities Services' Abu Dhabi projects, including the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), it's part of every day working life.

Thomson and his 15-strong team are responsible for all mechanical and electrical (M&E) work, planned preventative maintenance (PPM) and reactive maintenance for Abu Dhabi's new exhibition centre, ADNEC. He will also manage specialist subcontractors for works like lifts and BMS maintenance.

With phase one of ADNEC complete, the contractor and builder, ETA, is currently assessing when the defect liability period (DLP) will finish. Thomson says he expects it to end in around six to 12 months. In the mean time, him and his team are auditing and supervising ETA while devising their own PPM programme.

Technology

Helping Emcor devise its PPM plan is a computer-aided facilities management (CAFM) system, developed by FSI FM Solutions.

"We utilise a CAFM system, FSI's Concept. We've got the assets on board and we're now starting to devise a PPM program based on what's being carried out now. The system allows us to make the necessary changes and prioritise maintenance tasks.

"It also allows us to make a document history of faults and how much they cost so that we can tell the client that in X number of years, a piece of equipment will be costing them more than what it would to replace it. This is just one of the benefits of a CAFM system."

Other benefits include space planning, employee data, safety information, architectural and engineering planning and design, general administration services and telecommunications integration.

Another system to help maintain an efficient operation is the building management system (BMS), installed by Johnson Controls.

"The BMS monitors and controls various critical components. For example, you can alter the air conditioning and change the temperatures in the halls as required.

"We have many different exhibitions going on that require different temperatures, so the BMS is crucial.

"For example, there is a fine art exhibition and there's some very expensive art being exhibited so we have to be really careful with the temperature," explains Thomson.

Other systems, like the fire system, will be linked to the BMS to form a single integrated package. The CAFM system will stay as a standalone.

At the time of writing, Johnson Controls was busy integrating all the systems to create the one platform. It was also in the process of training the Emcor staff on how to use the BMS, so they can operate it once integration is fully complete.

Over the summer period, the BMS has been storing information on energy consumption and costs. Thomson expects the information gathering to continue for a further six to nine months before collating the data to produce trend reports.

"We need to make sure we collect data over both the summer and winter period as they require different needs due to the outside temperature change. It's a balance because the peak loads are during summer with the weather, but the exhibitions are during the winter.

"Six to nine months of data collecting will give us both types of operations," Thomson says.

Once collated, Emcor will report back to ADNEC on where energy savings can be made and costs can be cut. The summer months will allow the FM team to carry out modifications and maintenance to make sure ADNEC is ready for when the exhibitions start again in September.

Another area of technology Thomson hopes to implement is personal digital assistants (PDAs). By implementing PDAs, the FM team will be able to remotely receive jobs and update the job status. The helpdesk or person issuing the job can track the work status and manage the work order to ensure it is done within the given timescale.