368 Buildings across the UAE Opt for Sustainable Makeover under Etisalat Facilities Management's ‘Mabanina' Program

Program Offers 100% Project Outlay Upfront and Simple Payback Mechanism to Encourage More Buildings to Step into Sustainability Circle

Dubai-UAE: 04 February, 2014 – Three hundred and sixty-eight buildings across the UAE have signed up till date for the strategic energy management program - ‘Mabanina' - offered by Etisalat Facilities Management LLC in collaboration with Energy Management Services (EMS) International.

Launched in October 2013, Mabanina (‘our buildings' in Arabic) offers innovative solutions to efficiently manage buildings across the UAE with a view to maximising energy efficiency, reducing water consumption and bringing down expenses related to building maintenance.  Under the program, Etisalat Facilities Management shall provide building owners with the complete capital required for each approved project, followed by a simple payback mechanism.

The program is implemented within buildings across the U.A.E. in three distinct phases over a five-year contractual period. The opening phase involves a comprehensive audit of the building's water and energy consumption, as well as a review of its current facilities management status. This is followed by a retrofit of the building's utilities system in phase two, while phase three ensures the ongoing delivery of facilities management services.

Joelle Khoury, Project Manager of Mabanina, and Sales and Marketing Director at Etisalat Facilities Management, said: “Mabanina is a first-of-its-kind initiative in the UAE that merges two crucial functions to ensure the long-term sustainability of buildings - energy and water management, as well as facilities management. The provision of both solutions on a single platform through synchronising a host of procedures works to the advantage of end-users in saving time, eliminating redundancies, reducing wastage, and bringing down maintenance costs.

“Even more importantly, Mabanina eliminates capital roadblocks for building owners, since Etisalat Facilities Management undertakes to shoulder the entire capital outlay related to the audit and the retrofit of the facilities. This frees building owners to ensure the sustainability of their properties while reducing utility bills and without having to worry about capital expenditure. Mabanina's simple payback scheme is also convenient, as owners can compensate Etisalat Facilities Management from the savings they accrue on utility bills over a five-year period.”

As part of Mabanina's scope of operations, the program also seeks to help building owners achieve international green regulations such as the LEED certification, and conform to the Estidama standards set by Dubai Municipality.