Editorial

Citation

Serpell, A. (1998), "Editorial", Facilities, Vol. 16 No. 5/6. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.1998.06916eaa.001

Editorial

Since I was nominated to the Editorial Advisory Board of Facilities, my interest with regard to the current situation of facilities management in this part of the world has become more focused. Having been asked to write this editorial I now have the opportunity to present my perceptions about how this profession and related research is currently being addressed in the South American countries: albeit with a slight bias towards the situation in my own country, Chile.

Facilities management is currently experiencing marked activity in our region, but this fact is still not recognised as such, either in the academic or the professional community. This is not to say that the technology and expertise are unavailable here; but to pinpoint the fact that activity in this discipline is carried out by specialised companies and professionals that conduct most of the work demanded by the market, without an integrated and institutionalised approach.

The accelerated development of most of the South American economies during the last decade has brought many advances in several technical fields to our region. Very modern buildings and infrastructure that have incorporated the newest facilities advances can be seen all around. These advances are incorporated mostly at the design, construction, installation and start-up stages of new facilities and systems. However, the situation changes radically when we come to the operation, maintenance and retrofit of facilities. Only during the last years has concern about these last stages been highlighted.

Several problems that affect the development of FM in our countries can be identified as follows:

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  Lack of a complete and effective standard to regulate the design, construction and retrofit of new facilities and systems.

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  Inadequate quality control during the design and construction of facilities allowing facilities that do not comply with standards to be handed over.

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  Lack of an integrated and multidisciplinary vision of FM among owners and specialists.

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  Lack of concern about environmental and economic problems produced by poor FM practices. For example, issues like energy consumption; materials waste and disposal; excessive maintenance and operation costs; and environmental impacts, are still not thoughtfully considered in many projects.

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  Absence of a formal educational programme in FM and limited research efforts in universities and other related institutions: a fact that restricts the diffusion of FM knowledge.

As a consequence of these problems, several FM-related issues need to be addressed in the short term in South American countries. Safety and health problems are very common and have resulted in accidents and loss of lives recently. A study performed on several apartment buildings, built during the last five years in the most expensive suburbs of Santiago, found that a large proportion of them have carbon monoxide levels that exceed local and international standards.

High running costs and poor financial performance of facilities and systems is another issue. The short-term and piecemeal approach of most owners makes them focus their attention only on the first stages. This produces decisions which do not address the important cost consequences associated with the operation and maintenance of poorly designed and constructed facilities and infrastructure.

Systems operation and maintenance are probably the weakest elements of facilities management in South American countries. Together with design and construction quality failures, they are creating problems with economic as well as environmental consequences that will last for years. This is especially critical for public and privatised infrastructure, especially now that the build-own-operate-transfer procurement approach is becoming highly favoured in this part of the world.

Fortunately things are changing very fast. During the last three years, many countries have developed and implemented modern environmental laws, owners are integrating the operation and maintenance stages in the evaluation of their projects, governments are passing new legislation about energy savings and users are more conscious of these issues. For countries that are still in the development stage and where resources are scarce it is critical that these resources are applied effectively. I believe that the protection of the environment and the more efficient use of resources are some of the most important challenges of facilities management in this region.

Alfredo SerpellDepartment of Construction Engineering and Management, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile