Twenty-five professionals involved in facilities management are winding up special three-day training to hone their skills as part of the Facility Management Professional designation.

Facility managers are responsible for large properties and plants that include office buildings, hotels, hospitals and airports.

Strategic Procurement Solutions Bermuda partner, Sonia Pearman conceded that the number of Bermuda professionals who could benefit from this programme is large.

She said: “These seminars came about because we were offering our services in terms of purchasing and supply management. We held a project management seminar in November and a number of people who attended that indicated they were interested in doing a facility management course.”

Her firm brought in Mary Speed-Perri from the New York based The Perri Group, which specialised in training development and organisational consulting.

Ms Speed-Perri told us: “This week we are doing the Operations and Maintenance segment, the first part of a four segment series. The other three are Leadership and Strategy, Project Management and Finance and Business.”

She has a history working for Swiss Re as manager of their US facilities, including a 350,000-square foot facility in Manhattan and ten branch offices throughout the United States.

She said: “That’s how I became an expert in this particular area. But then I moved on from there and got my MBA in Organisational Psychology at the City University of New York, Baruch College, which allowed me to segway into training.

“In this course, we learn about real estate facilities, together with operations and maintenance which is what we are teaching this week. There are 11 competencies involved in facility management. It has really evolved over the past 30 years into quite a profession.

“I represent the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) and I am a certified trainer for them.

“So, in addition to doing regular training and development for leadership or team building, I also do teaching for the FMP (Facility Management Professional) certification and the higher level, the Certified Facility Manager.”

There are 24,000 IFMA members in 94 countries and Ms Speed thinks there is a need for one here.

She said: “There is no chapter in Bermuda, but there should be, because of the strong turnout for the class. There are 25 people registered. I was looking at the roster. Represented are the Government, the hospitals, a petroleum group and insurance companies — a fairly broad cross-section of industry.

“There have been no arrangements made yet, but it would be great for Sonia’s firm to present the next three segments of the course, so that people who come to all four will get the Facility Management Professional designation.

“With a certain amount of expertise in the real estate and facilities industry and a certain amount of education, they can sit for the CFM, which is much more rigorous, but at the highest level.”