The Ghana Chapter of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) is pushing for organisations to employ professional facility managers to improve professionalism and sanity in the industry.

The President of IFMA-Ghana, Sampson Opare, at the launch of the celebration of World Facility Managers Day on Wednesday, April 27, said the challenge in the built environment has not been just the lack of maintenance culture but also the lack of understanding on the value of facility managers by businesses and institutions.

“Outsourcing facility management to professional organisations is the best practice. The Ghana chapter of IFMA wants to focus on the health safety and well-being in Ghana's post-Covid-19 working environment.

“The challenges are the lack of skilled manpower and lack of understanding of the value of welfare by government, business owners and financial institutions,” he said.

The World Facility Managers Day will be marked on May 11 in Accra on the theme: “Leading a Sustainable Future”.

Guest speakers on the day of the celebration will speak on the topics; the strategic role of facility management in the sustainability of the built environment and the health and well-being in a post-Covid hybrid working environment.

Mr. Sampson Opare also explained that it is important to move along with the government’s and stakeholders’ intention of training professional facility managers to add value to their core businesses.

He said, “they can not achieve their goals without partnering with government and on their own, they have started a project that ensures the running of facility management courses in all ten technical universities in Ghana".

The Association also urged the government to establish appropriate legislation that ensures compliance with the design of public buildings through the use of environmentally compliant materials and professionalism.

“We encourage government to adopt the public and private partnership model in facility management that guarantees long-term maintenance and sustainability of the built environment,” he noted.

The Association would embark on the following activities during the celebration of the World Facilities Management Day; a facility tour management at the Bulk Oil and Storage Transportation (BOST) and a roundtable discussion.