EMAAR Properties is the largest developer of living communities in the United Arab Emirates and has won several awards for being the best developer in the country. The company has an international reputation for developing luxury master-planned communities in several emerging markets.

The Facilities Management (FM) division of Emaar was originally established under the banner of Emrill but in the last couple of years, Emaar has progressively built its own FM team of intelligent service providers. The core team of FM professionals in maintenance, security, lighting, technical and others along with experts from outside to support it, takes care of the FM needs of Emaar’s various developments.

Emaar provides comprehensive FM services to clients in all its properties. These include street cleaning, refuse collection, general maintenance, security, landscaping, pest control, pool water heating management and maintenance, pool life-guards around pools, fire-fighting equipment maintenance, street lighting, major repairs to building or infrastructure, roads and signage upgrades, and all other service components that make living in an Emaar property worry-free and safe.

Most of the services are outsourced with Dulsco being the provider of waste management services (WMS) in most of the Emaar communities. Mick Dalton, Senior Director, Asset Management of EMAAR Properties, says, “Dulsco WMS delivers efficient services and we would like Dulsco to provide us a record of how much waste is collected every month. Being ISO 14001 certified I think Dulsco can share that information regularly with the Emaar FM division.”

Dalton is a renowned author, speaker and trainer in FM and has written several articles on the subject. He has a passion for customer service, technology, energy management and engaging FM in design, and is a regular speaker globally on these subjects. He is one of the speakers and facilitators of a post-conference workshop during the 13th Middle East Facilities and Asset Management Conference in November 2007.

According to Dalton, there will be more challenges for Dulsco WMS in future in terms of waste collection especially with Burj Dubai and the complex around it nearing completion. When completed, thousands of people will be using Downtown Burj Dubai that encompasses the tower, residences, hotels, restaurants and the Dubai Mall. Waste collection from the Burj Dubai will have to be planned and executed precisely since there will be several security checks including a first of its kind x-ray system to go through before the WMS vehicle reaches the tower and collects waste.