The FM domain includes operating and technical maintenance of equipment and infrastructure of constructions (hard FM), as well as non-technical services (soft FM): cleaning, security / guarding, landscaping, reception, and other support services. Also, depending on the activity profile and the diversity of the offer at the firms level, these range from single services (monoservices) to integrat-ed services, which can include all FM services within a single economic entity.
The current facility management market in Romania
In essence, in order to outline the primary characteristics of the Romanian facility management market, we are considering three parameters that are aimed at: a) the number of companies active in the field, b) the turnover of the firms, and c) the volume of labor force, parameters for 2016, as well as their evolution as compared to the previous year, according to data provided by the Trade Register.
In terms of the first parameter - the number of companies active in FM - a little over 6,800 compa-nies were active in the end of last year, with 5.3% more than in 2015, accounting for about 1.2% of all companies in the national economy. The most significant increases were recorded for compa-nies active in technical maintenance and support (+ 7%) and cleaning (+ 4%).
The territorial distribution of the companies, considering the registered offices, indicates the prepon-derance of these activities in the capital, which, together with the Ilfov County, group about 35% of the companies registered in the FM sector, followed by Cluj (6%), Timis (4.5%) and Constanta (4%).
Another important parameter is the turnover of FM firms, which highlights the economic value of this sector in the national economy. At the end of 2016, the total volume of business in the entire facility management industry was almost 6.5 billion lei, up by 3.8% over the previous year, account-ing for around 0.85% of the total GDP of Romania. Compared to the EU as a whole, the share of the FM services sector is between 4-5% of GDP, which clearly highlights the great potential for the development of this market in Romania.
As dynamics, the highest increases in business volumes were registered in the security services (+ 11%) and landscape (+ 7%).
In terms of the volume of workforce in the FM field, this amounts to a total of 136,000 people in 2016, which represents around 2.5% of the number of employees in the national economy. The highest share is the employees in the security services (about 92,000), followed by those in the cleaning services (23,000). A particular aspect of the dynamics of the workforce in these two sec-tors is its very high fluctuation.
Overall, the Romanian FM is in the process of maturing, focusing more and more on quality, effi-ciency and added value, demanding a skilled workforce. ROFMA - The Romanian Facility Man-agement Association - is an important part of this trend by its influence on the local market, being the fourth FM association in Europe that has been awarded the official recognition of the occupa-tion of the facility manager after those in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands.
The above figures outline a growing industry, with the potential to offer significant business, local and international opportunities. There are sufficient reasons for the emergence and development of professional national events including exhibitions, conferences and educational processes centered on the latest developments in facility management.
Identifying this opportunity, ROFMA - the Romanian Facility Management Association - with a wealth of experience in organizing educational, information and networking projects, launches ROFMEX, a business-to-business FM event that is announced to be the most important in Central and Eastern Europe.
More details on www.rofma.ro and www.rofmex.ro. (source: ROFMA)
