FM in the fast lane

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Savvas Karayiannis, facilities director, Bahrain International Circuit.

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As the build-up to the 2008 Formula 1 Grand Prix in Bahrain heightens, Becca Wilson catches up with the FM behind the operation.

Imagine this, it's Monday 11 February and you're the person in charge of facilities at Bahrain's International Circuit (BIC).

Ferrari and Toyota are half way through the last day of testing their F1 cars ready for the Formula 1 in April and the countdown to the largest event the BIC will play host to this year is closing in.

The ear-splitting hum from the cars driving past at up to 300 km an hour takes your breath away and for a split second, it's easy to forget about the logistics behind organising an event of this size.

But your mobile goes and suddenly, you're brought back to reality with a phone call about back-up generators.

Savvas Karayiannis has been the facilities director of BIC since its decision to form an in-house facilities management team in 2006. He was employed in the January and just after the 2006 F1 Grand Prix, the FM team was officially launched.

Today, the circuit has a core FM team of 10 people and additional staffs are employed before, during and after events.

This year will see the fifth Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix take place on 3-5 April. The three-day event ran at full capacity in 2007 with over 34,000 spectators and this year sets to attract the same number.

In addition to this, 8,000 corporate guests, teams, drivers and media representatives will attend the event.

But it's not an easy job keeping thousands of people safe and occupied. To start, the event attracts a wide variety of spectators.

From families enjoying a day out, to businesses' entertaining clients. Then there's catering to think about and alternative entertainment.

Preparation for the event starts directly after it has finished the previous year. A de-brief took place two days after the 2007 event and on 16 April, local ministries and businesses met to discuss how the event could be improved, with new initiatives being launched for 2008.

Karayiannis starts implementing the facilities management preparations at the beginning of the previous December, four months prior to the first day of the event.

"Our responsibility is not just about the maintenance of the existing and temporary facilities that are erected prior to the event, we are the support mechanism for the event."

"Our principle objective is to run the facility services under our umbrella and add support to all other departments," explains Karayiannis.

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