Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa March 2014 | Page 35

BY SEAN LIEBENBERG

Hard and soft services

STRATEGIES

Facilities Management: An investment you should consider

F

acilities management in South Africa
is best described as the practice of
co-ordinating the working environment
w it h t he p eople a nd proce s se s of t he
organisation. It’s a combined approach at all
levels in the organisation to plan and implement
support facilities in line with prime business
objectives. Globally, it is therefore regarded
as an integral part of the strategic thrust of an
organisation. However, the fact is that generally
organisations prefer to focus their expertise on
their core business, with non-core activities
such as facilities management managed by
entities more suitably structured and resourced
and it is true that this is increasingly the case.
Here in South Africa an integrated approach
is adopted to manage facilities in line with
prime property management objectives such
as leasing, rental collection, tenant liaison and
general administration. These are described as
‘hard and soft services’. Hard services are those
elements that form physical parts of the building
such as the structure itself, exterior and interior
finishes, plumbing, mechanical and electrical
installations, office installations, maintenance
and refurbishments, while the soft services focus
on issues such as security, cleaning, pest control,
hygiene and landscaping services. In some
instances, facilities management services can be
extended to incorporate additional servic