As the Middle East moves through one of the most transformational periods in its built-environment history, few voices carry the weight and perspective of Duncan Waddell. A frequent visitor to the region since the late 1990s, and one of Australia’s most respected authorities on facilities, asset and property management, Waddell has spent four decades shaping global best practice. Today, as Chairman of ISO/TC 267 Facilities Management and Managing Director of FM Intelligence, he is uniquely positioned to assess how the GCC’s FM and asset management sectors are changing; more importantly, he is clear about what still needs to change.
At the recent MEFMA Confex in Dubai, Waddell reflected on the evolution of the market, the growing professionalism of the sector, and the need for long-term thinking as the region enters an era defined by mega-projects, rising expectations and rapid technological disruption. As well as an ageing inventory of buildings. His reflections are grounded not only in global experience but also in the nearly three decades he has spent observing the Gulf’s development first-hand.
He describes himself as someone who is still energised by helping people understand what FM really is and why it matters. “I enjoy helping people understand more about what I’m passionate about,” he says, noting that “I’ve been doing it for 39 years as of this year, so 40 years next year.” That longevity fuels his desire to continue influencing the next generation of FM professionals. “If people get a little infected by that, well, I don’t mind.”
We are talking within the marbled halls of the JW Marriot in Dubai Marina. The host venue for this year’s MEFMA Confex used to be called the Address: things move on quickly in the city.
His memories of arriving in Dubai in the late 1990s paint a picture of a market that was still in its infancy. “When I came here, the marina didn’t exist. It was being dug out,” he recalls. “The only thing that was down here at the time was the three buildings up the top end… and the Hard Rock Cafe.” The FM sector was fragmented, with training delivered through private institutions rather than industry bodies. He began running courses through IIR, which at the time represented one of the few structured FM learning channels available. “I started doing it on a frequent basis,” he says, and before long he found himself helping to grow FM capability across the region.
The founding and subsequent importance of MEFMA, he believes, was a turning point, says the ISO’s FM advocate. “It’s incredible to me to see how that association has changed over that time,” he says. “It tells me the market has changed a hell of a lot.” But MEFMA’s most important achievement, he argues, has been its ability to unify a region that often prefers to work independently. “It’s great to see the way MEFMA has been embraced,” he says. “Quite often there can be: we’re not going to deal with them from Dubai; we do it the Saudi way; we’re from Bahrain or Kuwait. But these guys have broken down those barriers.”
Much of his attention today is focused on Saudi Arabia, where the scale and ambition of development is unprecedented. Waddell recognises the optimism behind the Kingdom’s rapid expansion, but he also offers a measured reality check. “They want to be a gem in a crown country,” he says. “If they want it to last, they’re going to have to do it right.” That means raising expectations around construction quality, skills and planning. “They’ve got unskilled labour doing pretty skilled stuff,” he warns. “If they want it to last, they’re going to have to demand the performance… employ skilled labour, or make sure they’re employing the best consultants in the world.”
Above all, he stresses that every project must have purpose. “There has to be a purpose behind the investment,” he says, “and the purpose has got to be that the life cycle of the building is supported by its use. It’s got to have a use… 40, 60 years.” Without this thinking, even the most iconic projects risk becoming stranded assets.
Waddell is equally clear about the future of FM itself. One of the most significant global shifts, he says, is the blurring of boundaries between facilities management and asset management. “It’s becoming more cloudy,” he says. “Facilities management has always been place and process, but with people. Asset management tended to be more about the built form.” That distinction, he explains, has faded as organisations begin to understand the value of lifecycle thinking and user experience. “You can see by the development of the 55,000 series (ISO 55000 is a set of international standards that provide requirements and specifications for an integrated, effective system for managing assets) that there is now much greater consideration of the people engagement with the assets.”
He also points out a truth that many developers overlook. “Eighty percent of a building’s life cycle is in the maintenance and operations,” he says. “Once the party’s over at the opening day, the facility manager is then responsible.” Asset managers, meanwhile, take on the responsibility of driving value out of the property. Both functions depend heavily on the quality of design and construction; poor decisions at the development stage create decades of operational challenges.
This is where he sees lingering issues in the region. “Otherwise you end up in a society which is very much a veneer,” he says. “Many of the buildings here have been built with unskilled labour… you’re going to get what you pay for.” The UAE’s growth has been remarkable, but it has also brought inconsistencies in build quality. Some buildings constructed just 10 or 20 years ago are already struggling with maintenance issues because the standards of the time were not aligned with international expectations.
Yet Waddell has also witnessed the market maturing. “There’s now a realisation: we’re not going to get away with that for much longer,” he says. As Dubai’s demographic has shifted and more people settle long-term, expectations have risen sharply. Families demand higher standards; residents compare apartments with those in their home countries; and operators must now maintain buildings to levels befitting a global city.
Training remains a critical component of this evolution. Waddell recalls early experiences training cleaning teams in Dubai. “The way to train them was from people who’d never done it, and probably the first pair of shoes they’d ever worn,” he says. To bridge the gap, he created visual benchmarks. “I made up three rooms. This is a five; that’s a three; that’s a one.” Education, he says, is essential in emerging markets. “It wasn’t their fault they didn’t know. You have to take the time to train people.”
Looking ahead, he believes the FM sector will be transformed by data and digital capability.
He is unequivocal: “The Spreadsheet’s dead.”
To achieve predictive, efficient and intelligent FM, organisations must embrace digital twins, integrated data systems and sensor-driven insights. “They’re not going to put it in an Excel spreadsheet; it just won’t work,” he says. “What will make a difference is the day when someone has a digital twin… and they can interrogate, analyse and come to grips with what they need to do.”
However, he warns that many service providers are unprepared. “The industry is incredibly poor when it comes to self-investment,” he says. “They rely on the client to do it for them.” Without investment in training, technology and capability, he believes some FM providers risk being bypassed entirely. “Service providers need to lift their game,” he says. “Otherwise owners will bring it in-house.”
For Waddell, the ultimate question is how organisations are preparing for the future. “How can you have a management structure that encourages predictability into the future?” he asks. “What jobs are going to exist in five or ten years’ time that exist today but are going to be replaced?” Preparing for that future requires clear thinking about data, roles, operations and user expectations.
The Middle East has already proven that it can create extraordinary places. Waddell’s message is that the next chapter will be defined not by how quickly it builds, but by how intelligently it manages and sustains what it has built. The region’s future depends on its willingness to embrace lifecycle thinking, invest in capability and adopt the technologies that will define the buildings of tomorrow.
