Smart Buildings Briefing Review

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04 October 2019 | Updated 25 October 2019

On September 18 Property Affiliates organised a briefing hosted by Avison Young at their offices in Central London. The subject - Smart Buildings – influencing strategies, procurement, sustainability, design, operations & maintenance.

Speakers were drawn from across the industry to provide an in depth view of Smart Buildings and all the necessary components to procure, design, install and manage.

 

The Speakers:

Mike Green, MD – Property Affiliates

Mark Lenton, Associate – SRO Solutions

Derrick Tate, Facilities Management Strategy &Transformation Lead – PwC

Rupert Parker, Head of Futureproofing – Avison Young

Rupert Lane, Director – Infogrid

Karl Redmond – NHSE / I

 

Overview:

“Building Automation has now progressed to Cognition with some buildings now capable of autonomously learning user behaviour to reduce energy, optimise space, lower operating costs, improve  and promote a healthier work space, optimise workforce productivity and ultimately improve the bottom line for all”

That said there is still a lot of confusion about Why? How? What? And the age old question ROI?

This industry is projected to be as big as 30 Billion USD by 2030 so it is hardly something to be ignored, what’s more the exponential growth required to get there will be simply stellar.

The Global Tech Co’s are aware of the amount of capital locked up in the data in our buildings and are hungry to unlock it and monetarise this in their own businesses. In order to achieve that we are now seeing Technology being made available to us to reap this data for both our own benefits and theirs.

 

Briefing Summary:

The benefits of Smart Building technology start with giving us a clear and defined real time picture of what we have, how it is performing, what it is costing us, total interoperability and fiscal control.

In addition, we can reap the benefits of Climate Control, Occupant health (welfare), Resource Productivity, Energy Management, Immediate and Forecasted floor space requirements, Plant and Eqpt performance operation and prolonged Plant and Eqpt lifecycle expectancy.

ROI (Return on Investment) will not just be demonstrated in a reduced utility bill, it will come in other forms. These could be higher employee productivity, healthier staff, reduced Estate size, reduced energy consumption, reduced carbon emissions (reduction in tax liability and improved CSR rating).

Technology today is aided by our industry now manufacturing fewer Closed Protocol assets meaning that there is very little equipment that cannot form part of an IOT that can be further enhanced by other technology such as BIM, Blockchain, VR, AI, CAFM, BMS, IWMS etc etc.

Whether a new build or existing building the planning must be well thought out with a clear plan and strategy of what it is you want to achieve, appointment of a strong team with top level support and a “Champion” to help steer the team.

Procurement of Smart Technology doesn’t finish with Installation handover – Blockchain now fits the bill with Smart Buildings. Blockchain as described by Derrick Tate of PwC is a “Shared Trusted Ledger” that will provide a unique, secure platform for all future purchases and transactions through Construction and forward lifecycle. It will manage the various Procurement models you may choose to use and will sit within the Smart Infrastructure you build. Your Supply Chain will be built into this empowering Smart Asset Management and decision making to take place autonomously.

All the components of Smart Asset Management should ideally be managed in accordance with PAS 1192-4 the system for Collaborative Production and Sharing of Information.

BIM plays a huge part in the whole Smart Asset Management process. For once we surpass the misconception that BIM just gets used during the construction phase. It is an intrinsic link to all systems and an essential part of the PAS 1192-4 lifecycle of your asset (the building, the estate or the portfolio). BIM when in the MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Operation) phase of a buildings lifecycle is the element that manages the record and movement of all assets within your building/s and enables the Intelligent systems to draw on operations and performance data with which it will analyse and report.

Finally, Digital Twinning provides the user with a tool never before available. So what is a Digital Twin?

A digital twin is a digital replica of your physical asset, it’s processes, people, places, infrastructure, systems and devices that can be used for various purposes. The digital representation provides both the elements and the dynamics of how the Internet of things devices operate and live throughout its life cycle. With this tool you can then model the affects of changing systems or equipment on the operation of the building in a safe environment. It draws on real historic usage data to provide its results and outcomes.

 

Summary:

All the components that go to make up a Smart Building still operate individually as before but now can be seen as a “team” and manipulated as one to provide beneficial outcomes.

They report individually but with the help of AI analytical software can determine why actions happen, run non-functional tests to suggest new operating regimes, forecast maintenance or replacement activities and even carry out the procurement process for such an exercise.

The data we draw down provides us with invaluable asset management information, it also has a value to the wider industry for benchmarking building operation and occupation.

 

Future Events:

It is clear that this Subject Matter will evolve so we are planning to hold another such event next year to look at developments that have occurred since this event took place.

Picture: From the Property Affiliates briefing hosted by Avison Young on September 18.

 

Article written by Mike Green | Published 04 October 2019

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