Property owners expect management companies to come up with a plan that can support their business continuity and address environmental sustainability, besides basic repair and maintenance, security and cleaning of the properties.

As many property owners view their properties as part of a portfolio of their assets, facility management service operators need to devise strategic plans to demonstrate how their buildings will be managed on a longer-term basis.

'Building owners are not simply interested in how their buildings will be managed for the first few years, but expect a plan that can ensure stability of business operations of their tenants for years to come,' said So Kai-ming, executive director of Urban Property Management.

Co-ordination and people management skills are integral to facility management, with facility management companies sub-contracting to external parties in the areas of elevator maintenance and information technology. 'People working in the facility management profession are not expected to be experts in every aspect of the business as we can rely on sub-contracting companies for their expertise,' Mr So said.

Maintaining a long-term business partnership with the building owner by delivering top services and enhancing the value of their property is important. 'Nowadays building owners in Hong Kong expect the same standards you would find in cities such as New York and Tokyo from the facility management company,' Mr Probst-Wallace said. 'And we have to ensure our long-term plans can support the objective of the building owner and address the core business of the building users.'

The booming property market in the mainland has opened the door for Hong Kong facility management service providers to apply their knowledge and experience to manage projects there. Synergis has set up joint venture partnerships with real estate developers in facility management projects in Shanghai, Beijing and Wuhan to offer management services to shopping facilities, office buildings, hotels and residential property developments.

In running management projects in the mainland, facility managers need to adapt Hong Kong practices to the local market. Synergis has developed a knowledge management system in which the best practices of its facility management are available on the internet to the facility managers working away from Hong Kong.

Strong demand from the mainland and the Middle East has aggravated a shortage of talent in local facility management. Because of severe competition for talent, local facility management companies have had to become more proactive to first recruit and then retain experienced people. 'We will continue to benchmark the salary levels [against the industry and overseas markets] to ensure they are competitive and offer various training and development programmes to retain quality people,' Mr So said.

As management services companies continue to grow, there is plenty of room for career advancement. 'There is no reason for people working as facility management officers not to progress when given time and opportunities,' Mr Probst-Wallace said. 'Especially now that a vast number of buildings in the mainland are being developed, ample [more] opportunities are expected to come on stream.'