Marwan Raad, Operations Manager – Property & Development, ENGIE Solutions, explores why the way a property performs after handover is becoming as important as how it was originally designed; with smarter facilities management helping owners control costs, improve sustainability and protect long-term asset value.
September 24, 2026 | Marwan Raad | UAE | Facilities Management | 4 Min Read
For a long time, facilities management was seen as a support function that building owners rarely discussed unless something went wrong. As long as HVAC were repaired, floors were cleaned, contracts were renewed and buildings operated as expected, few people paid much attention to what happened behind the scenes.
Today, owners, developers and asset managers expect facilities teams to do more than maintain buildings and meet compliance requirements. They increasingly expect them to improve asset performance, support sustainability objectives, enhance occupier satisfaction, manage long-term operating costs and help properties remain competitive.
As a result, how well a building is managed has become a key factor not only in day-to-day operations, but also in long-term asset value and investment performance.
Several factors are changing what owners expect from their buildings. Rising energy costs are having a greater impact on operating budgets, while regulators and green building standards require stronger sustainability performance. At the same time, tenants and residents expect comfortable, reliable spaces and faster responses when issues arise.
These priorities apply to shopping malls, office towers and residential communities alike, but they are particularly important in the Middle East. Cooling is one of the highest contributing sources of building energy use, and equipment must perform reliably through long periods of extreme environmental conditions. Rapid urban development is also bringing newer, more efficient properties into the market, raising expectations for existing buildings.
For owners, poorly managed buildings can lead to higher utility bills, unreliable equipment, dissatisfied occupants and declining competitiveness. In residential communities, these costs are even more visible because higher energy use and maintenance costs can ultimately affect the service charges residents pay. In commercial properties, they can directly influence tenant retention, operating margins and overall asset attractiveness.
Most buildings are designed to perform efficiently, but keeping them that way once they are occupied is more difficult.
Digital monitoring and building management systems are helping by showing how equipment is performing and identifying early signs of deterioration. But data alone is only useful when experienced teams can interpret it, understand the cause of a problem and decide what action to take.
Industry experience shows that predictive maintenance and data-driven operational management can typically reduce energy use by between 5% and 15%, while also reducing emergency callouts and unplanned maintenance interventions.
At Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, for example, better operational management contributed to a 32% reduction in electricity and chilled water consumption over five years.
The value of continuous management can also be seen at Standard Chartered Tower in Dubai. The 18-storey Grade A office building is continuously monitored and has maintained a low delta-T cooling profile for six years while achieving year-on-year energy savings since 2015. Around 10,000 light fittings have also been retrofitted, while approximately 2,000 assets are monitored against service and performance targets.
These results demonstrate an important point: better building performance rarely comes from one major intervention. It is usually the result of continuous monitoring, informed decisions and regular improvements.
The same thinking applies to sustainability.
A building may be designed to high environmental standards, but maintaining that performance after people move in depends largely on how it is operated.
Energy audits, better HVAC scheduling, equipment maintenance and digital monitoring can help identify where energy is being wasted and where improvements can be made. At DMCC Uptown Tower, for example, ENGIE Solutions committed to reducing energy consumption by 10% while supporting LEED Gold Operations certification through measures including energy audits, occupancy-based HVAC optimisation and automated controls.
Commercial and residential properties may serve different occupants, but they increasingly face similar operating challenges: reliable maintenance, efficient energy consumption, comfortable spaces and clear responsibility for performance.
This is where integrated facilities management becomes increasingly relevant.
Ultimately, real estate performance does not stop when construction finishes.
In an increasingly competitive Middle East property market, how efficiently a building operates, how well it manages costs and what kind of experience it provides its occupants can influence its long-term competitiveness just as meaningfully as location, design and tenant mix.
