With countries and emirates in the region opening up their property sector to foreign ownership – both freehold and leasing – a new property owner profile is emerging in the Middle East demanding higher standards in building services and security as well as energy usage and environmental impact, according to a leading industry expert.

Dubai-based total facilities management company Farnek says it is observing the beginning of a new trend.
“With commercial property in particular, we are seeing an increasing number of properties being occupied by their owners,” says David Graham, general manager of Farnek. “They have greater expectations in terms of standards and service,” he added.
“There is a big difference between owning and renting a property. When a company rents it may be prepared to put up with a few things but you are not going to do that if you own the property – particularly if it affects the value or running costs of the building.”
The financial sector is one of the leaders in the new trend, says Graham. “A European or Asian bank, for example, may have their own facilities manager at headquarters,” he added. “They are now looking for better and more efficient services from their providers in this region as well. More and more financial institutions, both international and regional, are now employing staff who know about effective facility management.”
Facilities management is a vital discipline because it translates the strategic change required by senior decision makers into reality for people in their work or living space. Farnek, for example, maintains over 500 buildings with total floorspace of more than one million square metres. It also provides security protection for over 100 properties keeps 100 installations fully operational and claims to be able to reduce a building’s energy costs by up to 25 per cent.
Estimates vary; but according to a recent Frost & Sullivan Middle East survey suggests that the facilities management market in this region will grow from $200 million in 2006 to $576 million by 2012 with the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait leading the way, in that order.
Facilities management in the Middle East, though still in relative infancy, is developing fast with some suggesting it could one day outstrip the region’s booming construction industry, says a spokesman for the company.
“At a corporate level, total facilities management ensures you deliver strategic and operational objectives, including control of costs and realisation of savings. On a day-to-day level, we are talking about providing safe and efficient working environments,” says Graham.
With more buildings coming up for freehold or leasehold, more property owners and their managers are looking at the life-cycle cost of their buildings. “Increasingly, owners and managers realise that not carrying out full maintenance on a building is short sighted,” he added.