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 Managing Director of FM Intelligence and MEFMA stalwart, 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. 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 still enjoys helping people understand the discipline that has defined his career. After 39 years, he says, the work continues to matter because facilities management, when done correctly, genuinely improves the lived experience of people and the performance of buildings. His belief in the profession has been reinforced by an enduring relationship with the Middle East, a region that he has seen transform at astonishing speed.
When he first arrived in 1998, Dubai Marina did not exist; it was still a vast excavation site. The Hard Rock Café was a landmark on a quiet road. Training and FM education were minimal; the sector was fragmented and dominated by siloed responsibilities rather than integrated thinking. It was, as he recalls, a very different world. Over the years, his involvement with IIR training programmes and the Middle East Council of Shopping Centres helped lay the groundwork for more structured FM capability in the region. The eventual rise of MEFMA signalled a crucial shift towards formal professionalisation. For Waddell, the growth of MEFMA mirrors the broader maturation of the market itself; it reflects a recognition that FM is no longer an afterthought but a strategic discipline.
This maturity is particularly important at a time when Saudi Arabia is attempting the most ambitious development programme in the world. Waddell acknowledges the country’s desire to establish itself as a global showcase; however, he cautions that ambition alone is not enough. If Saudi Arabia wants its emerging cities and tourism destinations to endure, it must avoid the mistakes of previous boom cycles. That means insisting on skilled labour or, where necessary, engaging the best consultants in the world; it means ensuring that the purpose of a building justifies its lifecycle; it means planning for 40 or 60 years of value rather than the first five years of impact.
He notes that large investments only make sense when the long-term use case is clear. A development without clarity of purpose risks becoming a stranded asset; a project built too quickly or without adequate oversight risks becoming a long-term liability. In his view, Saudi Arabia must look at Dubai, Qatar and other regional examples not to imitate them but to understand where shortcuts were taken and where higher standards are now necessary.
One of the most significant shifts Waddell identifies is the merging of facility management and asset management. Historically, FM has focused on operations and people, while asset management has concentrated on the building itself. These distinctions are dissolving. Increasingly, the most successful organisations approach FM and asset management as a single, integrated discipline that considers people, performance and lifecycle value together. This shift is reflected in the ISO standards that Waddell oversees and in the global acknowledgement that 80 percent of a building’s total cost of ownership occurs after construction. Once the opening ceremony is over, the facility and asset managers determine whether the building’s value is protected or eroded.
Waddell believes the Middle East still carries the legacy of its rapid growth phase. Many buildings were constructed with speed rather than longevity in mind; many relied on unskilled labour; many were not built to the international standards that today’s residents expect. He is careful in his wording, but the message is unmistakable: quality varies widely, and poor construction has created challenges for FM companies that inherit buildings not designed with operations in mind. The region is now moving beyond this phase. As expatriates and young families settle in the UAE for longer periods, expectations of quality are increasing. Apartments and villas are being scrutinised through a new lens; buyers want the same quality they experienced in their home countries; developers cannot rely on the brand halo of a city alone.
Waddell has long been involved in training workforces whose skill levels were limited not by ability but by opportunity. He recalls early efforts to train cleaning teams in Dubai using simple, visual methods because many workers had never been exposed to a structured cleaning standard before. For him, FM success lies not in criticising the labour force but in equipping it. A facility manager must ask why something is happening, whether it can be done better, and what training is required to achieve it.
The future, he believes, will be defined by the quality of information that FM teams use. Data has the potential to transform operations, but only if it is captured, structured and analysed correctly. He is unequivocal that spreadsheets are no longer sufficient. Digital twins, real-time building analytics, sensor-driven maintenance and automated cleaning solutions are not distant concepts; they are already shaping best practice internationally. However, many FM providers in the region have not invested in these capabilities. Some expect clients to pay for digital upgrades; others hesitate because contract durations are short. Waddell warns that this lack of investment creates a strategic risk. If technology simplifies operations, building owners may eventually decide they can manage assets internally, reducing their reliance on FM providers. The only way for providers to secure their future is to differentiate themselves through capability, expertise and proactive innovation.
He acknowledges the commercial realities; long-term FM contracts are not always guaranteed. Yet he believes that partnerships can be structured in ways that reward investment and performance. Longer-term agreements, incentives for technology adoption and collaborative planning can give FM providers the security they need to invest. Without this shift in mindset, the industry will struggle to reach its full potential.
Above all, Waddell argues that organisations must prepare for what comes next. The FM jobs of today will not be the FM jobs of tomorrow. Reception roles, security positions and routine manual tasks will evolve; automation will take on certain responsibilities; human roles will shift toward analysis, oversight and customer experience. To plan for that future, organisations need management structures that encourage predictability; they need clarity on which data matters; they need strategies for capturing that data; and they need an understanding of how buildings will be used and repurposed as communities grow and change.
For Waddell, the Middle East has already proven that it can build extraordinary structures. The next chapter depends on whether it can maintain those structures, adapt them and run them to world-class standards. The region’s future will not be defined by how quickly it constructs new assets but by how intelligently it manages them and how well it prepares for the decades ahead.
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Source: MEConstructionNews
