Blog Martin Staal: Smart Building? Put the right stakeholders at the table!

A fine-meshed, wireless network with 350 sensors that detect presence, measure temperature and know exactly what the humidity and CO2 levels are in a building. A smart building in which the installations automatically do their work based on that data. Does that still sound like a pipe dream to you? It certainly isn't. This is exactly what we delivered in 2018 in the Stadhuistoren in Eindhoven. Sustainable, energy-efficient, comfortable and easy. It is therefore not surprising that terms such as smart building technology and internet of things increasingly appear in our trade journals and that it is discussed a lot at symposia. It is alive ... almost literally and figuratively. As a result, more and more building owners are wondering what this smart technology can mean for them. Great, because the opportunities are endless. However, I do worry about the moment when we as a sector put these smart functionalities into practice, because building automation is still too late in the design and realization of new construction or renovation.

Simply make it work
Clients think together with architects and consultants about the size of a building, about what it will look like and what its role should be … But smart technology that logically connects things and contributes to the user experience is almost never discussed in that phase. In the best case, an installer may already think about the installations for air treatment, heating and cooling, lighting and security. The specialists in the field of building automation are usually only brought in at a late stage of the project. Not to think about the total functionality for the user, but simply to automate the W and E installations: to make sure it works. What a missed opportunity!

Attention to experience
These current times require us to work together integrally from day one, with an emphasis on functionalities and experience. That we pay attention to the fact that all the different components in a building enrich each other, provided that we immediately build a good bridge with building automation. In my view, this approach starts with an important question that we must ask ourselves in every design phase: which smart functionalities do we use to optimise the productivity, vitality and satisfaction of people in this building and to increase the efficiency and sustainability of the building? Because that is precisely what is possible with smart technology! Something that every building owner, consultant, client and project developer – when I speak to them one-on-one – is interested in. But that practice, hey ... we never did it that way. Time to shake ourselves awake.

New insight

It can not only be better ... it must be better. How? To start, I would like to refer to two previous blogs about the role of the system architect and the position of building automation in the specifications. They were received enthusiastically, but unfortunately not yet lived by everyone.

And then a new insight: over the past year I have had several conversations about the added value of Smart Building Solutions. And what stands out? The value of smart building automation is mainly in the area of user satisfaction and effectiveness and optimization of the facility process. Book a meeting room yourself? See who works where? Reserve a parking space? Influence the temperature or light in the room where you work? Organize cleaning smartly? With good, innovative and integral technical solutions, everything is possible. That is why it would be good to involving stakeholders from HR and facility affairs from the start, so that we do not only approach smart technology in buildings as a cost item, but also as a business asset to improve productivity, employee satisfaction and vitality and also to attract new talent. In addition to HR and facility matters, it is also important to involve the ICT department at an early stage to think along about the infrastructure for all those smart facilities. In short: Put the right stakeholders at the table... that's what it's all about.

Now I hear you thinking: what if a project developer does not yet know who his tenant will be? Then he cannot interact with these stakeholders in the design phase. That is correct, but then my advice is: think like HR! Be a facility manager! Act like an IT professional! And above all: Empathize with the user! That is exactly what our work should be about: not about the number of installations we place, but about the experience of the user. If we understand that – at the right time – we have something to be really proud of.

March 4, 2020 – Martin Staal, Technical Director Building Automation