Using existing data makes buildings future-proof

By making smart use of data that is already present in buildings, you can make a building considerably more sustainable and pleasant. Sharing data is also essential for this. This is argued by Leonie Meuwszen, director Customer & Market at BINX. 

By: Dimitri Reijerman 

BINX is more than a traditional construction and installation company: it works extensively with software to give buildings an optimal user experience in the long term. “With our Smartility platform, we have developed Intelligent utility solutions,” says Meuwszen. “We use the existing information from buildings for this. We incorporate this data into a technical dashboard and a dashboard specifically aimed at the customer.” 

“In addition, this data can help to make smarter choices, to design differently, but also with the costs for maintenance and energy. We are still at the beginning, because we launched this service last year. We now have about four projects where we execute Smartility.” 

Five pillars 
The Smartility platform has five pillars, including energy. “The most accessible application is the energy performance guarantee. This allows you to draw conclusions about energy consumption based on use and consumption. And because BINX focuses primarily on utility construction, we mainly receive orders from government and semi-government agencies. After all, they have a task ahead of them to significantly reduce CO2 emissions by 2030.” 

“Health is also an important pillar. Things like occupancy and ppm values can help customers with the question: 'what is actually happening in my building?' We are now also making connections with existing system integrations of the building owners themselves. In education, for example, think of student tracking systems, such as combining timetables with data on the occupancy of classrooms.” 

"You can do even more in this way. We now also manage the cleaning at two schools instead of the owner. This is done purposefully, because we can prevent spaces from being cleaned unnecessarily," says Meuwszen. 

“I believe mainly in data that a building itself provides. We get 80 percent of the information from the building management system. I have less confidence in sensors, because these are usually non-circular components and there is a chip shortage. By linking existing technology, you can achieve more.” 

During her keynote at the Digital Building of the Future 2022 conference, Meuwszen hopes to inspire colleagues with the Smartility concept: “Our slogan is 'smart building for life'. We build within a specific contract form in which we do not think so much about the product of today, but mainly about the function in the future. So as a building owner, do not only think about your wallet, but also seek the connection with each other. By sharing data together, you can achieve that. Because data ultimately belongs to everyone.”