Comparison of the Nature and Strategic features of Facilities Management and Other Building Support Practices in Lagos

This study examined the features of the Lagos-Nigerian Facilities Management (FM) practice andhow strategic and value adding it is. This was achieved by comparing its principles, work focus andobject amongst others, with that of four other traditional Building Support Service (BSS) practices.The research design was survey, carried out through self-administered questionnaires directed to asample of 123 BSS providers that work with office buildings in Lagos metropolis. The data wereanalyzed using frequency counts, means, Chi square test and Wilcoxon sign rank test. The studyrevealed that the FM title is largely used only as a “catch phrase” by BSS providers, to enhancepatronage. It further reveals that BSS providers that are addressed as facilities managers do notadopt FM principles in their practices. Also that the principles of property management was usedpredominantly amongst the respondents, while the main work focus of the maintenance managerwas rated “most important”. These findings imply that there is insufficient knowledge of thestrategic roles of FM among BSS practitioners and that they are still largely confused about itsdistinctive features and value adding benefit. This highlights the need for further education on thepractice of FM and greater commitment to ensuring that it plays its distinctive strategic roles.Therefore, this paper recommends that relevant professional bodies and FM training institutionsmust provide training and re-training opportunities nationally and internationally, in order toenhance the knowledge base of the practice, particularly its strategic content. Furthermore, the FMtraining curriculum should incorporate more contextual issues. This will demonstrate that thedifference between FM and other BSS practices is beyond nomenclature.