Facility Management

Background of the Study

In countries of the Commonwealth, the profession of the chartered or registered management surveyor is one of the vocational legacies of colonial British rule. In the more than forty years since most African nations achieved independence, the members of this profession - known by such names such as estate surveyors or chartered management surveyors – have been increasingly recognized as the expert agents for management of land, buildings, plant and machinery and even in a limited sense facilities. However, since the 1980s, a new and more encompassing management vocational specialty has emerged from the US and Europe, focusing on facilities, as large corporations across the world came to realize the importance of the management of businesses as more integrated facilities (US Library of Congress, 1983; Odiete, 1998; Featherstone, 2000).

Corporations increasingly recognized the importance of managing not only buildings, but such buildings in juxtaposition with people and processes, integrating the principles of administration and architecture, into the behavioural and engineering sciences. Big multinational corporations operating in European and African countries such as Chevron, Mobil have more and more aligned with this relatively new notion, attempting to integrate space, costs and people management with the management of their buildings. The recognition and spread of new facilities management vocation from the US and Europe across Africa has been encouraged by a trend of globalization of professional practices.

Current developments in information technology, rising expectations of employees, advancements in telecommunications and the removal of trade barriers, are gradually transforming the world into a global village, and one of the fallouts has been the spread and acceptance of the concept/vocation of integrated management of facilities to every country’s doorstep. Nigeria has not been excluded. The country’s...