Consider this scenario: over 1.6 million people visit your facility annually, with tens of thousands attending events at a single location; your building happens to be a premier venue that includes the region’s largest multi-functional platform for special events, and happens to be located in the heart of the city and numerous parties want to organise exhibitions, functions and weddings almost every single day; and you offer a range of onsite dining, retail and business facilities and services for both organisers and visitors including apartments, hotels and so on. Cleaning, maintaining and managing such a facility to the highest standards expected, and securing it 24/7 to the satisfaction of everyone concerned may seem like mission impossible. But the FM division at DWTC does just that.

Covering one million sq ft and hosting more than 500 world-class events annually, DWTC currently welcomes millions of visitors and thousands of exhibitors from all over the world. The state-of-the-art facilities, unparalleled customer service and a suite of value-added services enable DWTC to deliver world-class experiences to regional and international business travellers and visitors on every occasion. The Middle East’s

most prestigious events venue, the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC) is an outstanding facility which has, over the years, successfully organised an impressive range of mid to large scale top-notch events, managed premium venues, and developed dynamic commercial environments to become the region’s key business tourism hub. The events held cover a wide range of industries including technology, food, health, luxury goods, fashion and retail, construction, interior design, consumer electronics, travel and tourism, transport and education.

Managing and delivering an outstanding experience in this multi-functional facility is the expert FM team at DWTC, for whom it seems to be routine business. “At Dubai World Trade Centre, we host over 500 events annually ranging from our own mega shows like Gulfood and Gitex, to exhibitions like Big 5 and Cityscape. The last few years have seen an increase in other events such as concerts, annual general meetings, graduation ceremonies, corporate events and congresses. All these events are supported by DWTC’s Facilities Management team,” said Nadeem Zaman.

While majority of the events are held at their venue, DWTC also organises events off-site such as the Dubai International Boat Show which takes place in Dubai International Marine Club, and many corporate events and weddings at various locations across the UAE.

So what exactly does the management of the DWTC facilities involve? “DWTC has over one million square feet of venue space to maintain, clean and secure. This is in addition to providing services for our two office towers and our Trade Centre Hotel Apartments. The Facilities Management team consists of over 300 staff. We work closely with a number of external providers to support our Exhibitions business which is seasonal and very busy in some months and quieter in others,” Zaman explained. On their approach to flawless maintenance of the facility, he said, “Our strategy is to outsource event based housekeeping and security services to optimise efficiency. This also allows us to maintain our overall quality. We also outsource specialist tasks such as high rise glass cleaning, laundry services, waste management and pest control. In addition to this, some engineering services such as chiller, escalator and lift maintenance, landscaping, fire-fighting system maintenance and more specialist services such as water treatment are also outsourced.”

Safety and security are top priorities for DWTC and they have been given due consideration with proper measures being implemented – both in terms of physical security as well as the surveillance systems and technology used. Zaman stressed it was a highly secure facility. “We have permanent security teams with extensive experience and detailed knowledge of safety and security requirements involved in 24- hour patrolling. In addition to this, we have invested heavily in a state-of-the-art CCTV system, which has over 600 cameras that allow remote surveillance to be done from our Command Control Centre. For event based security, additional equipment such as X-ray machines and handheld scanners are used depending on the type and profile of the event.” “At DWTC, we deal with commercial tenants, hotel guests, and long-term residents in our apartments along with exhibitors, organisers and visitors – all at the same time. All teams come together effectively to provide the right level of support to ensure all events run smoothly and without any interruption,” Zaman stated, which undoubtedly proves the expertise of the experienced team that manages the complex facility. While on this topic, one has to mention ‘sustainability’, the key word in today’s world. And with facilities of the DWTC kind where everything is on 24/7 – particularly considering that most events are held on a grand scale and spread out over a number of days, it is not hard to imagine the amount of effort that goes into optimising the use of available resources to ensure the sustainability of the venue and the operations. “We rely on our well trained and experienced staff and utilise their skills effectively.

Where possible, we use environmentally friendly products and high-tech machinery and equipment to optimise efficiency. We also spend a lot of time planning and coordinating with other departments to ensure the events held at DWTC are well coordinated and successful,” said Zaman.Since there are a lot of materials and temporary construction involved in exhibitions, the team deals with all the post-event waste material in a wellplanned manner. He explained: “The exhibitors are required to clear the site after every event. Housekeeping staff are responsible for clearing loose waste using skips, compactors and hi-tech machinery. We work with several companies who take care of organic scrap material.”

DWTC also has in place proper waste management and recycling schemes to deal with the day-to-day requirements. “Waste management is handled by one of our key suppliers. DWTC’s recycling initiatives are segregated into three parts. The first recycles paper, cardboard and brochures. The second recycles wood, plastic and waste carpet. We also place recycling bins in foyers and inside the halls during events to ensure proper disposal of waste. Approximately 25% of all material is recycled,” Zaman concluded.