Though a number of facilities managers have lost their jobs and some operations have been scaled back over the past 12 months due to the economic correction, the sector is reporting ‘quiet confidence’ heading into Q4.
“From business development managers to HVAC service managers, we’re out to market recruiting with all the new stock being handed over,” reported David Carey, director, Al Shirawi FM.
“A shortage of qualified professionals is validating market upturn, but that also means we have to pay higher salaries. I have to say though, I’m quietly confident. It will be interesting to review the landscape in the new year.”
Peter Crogan, CEO, BCS Strata Management Services, noted that although the real-estate industry had been hit hard, with reported mortgage defaults hitting 30 percent, the service provision arm of the real-estate sector had remained largely unaffected, “because of the need to maintain existing properties, and the fact there is a legal responsibility to do so through owner association law”.
fmME Breakfast Club chairman Stephen Barker said the end of last year was a bad climate and certainly damaging. “It was a bit like being slapped on both sides of the face. That said, we’re now operating in a focused industry that recognises the need for policing.
“This wouldn’t have happened if the exponential growth had continued. It was a wake-up call and one that, in my eyes, was well overdue - the region had to recognise the notion of competition at some point.”
Barker points to the slowdown as a critical element in the formation of the Middle East Facilities Management Association (MEFMA). “I honestly don’t think it would have happened so quickly if the good times were still rolling.”
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