Digital Technology at the Heart of Buildings
Benoît Grigaut – Director of Development, Equans Digital France
Digital Technology at the Heart of Buildings: An Inevitable Reality?
Digital technology is now at the heart of buildings, addressing the four main challenges faced by property owners and real estate management teams: energy efficiency, building performance, sustainable development, and the transformation of existing buildings to make them more flexible. This process involves several stages: first, an assessment of the current state; then, the ability to remotely manage their property portfolio; and finally, access to a decision-support tool. The common thread? Data and digital technology.
What does the as-built photo mean?
Photos of the existing conditions vary by client. In the service sector, this includes up-to-date and accurate utility meter plans, a functional building management system (BMS), plans derived from reliable BIM models, and building usage surveys to understand how spaces are utilized.
How can you optimize management with remote control?
Remote control can take several forms: building management systems (BMS) for controlling a commercial building, hypervision for managing multiple buildings simultaneously, and a shared network that allows for the standardization of infrastructure and thus greater consistency in control across a portfolio of properties.
For example, a ten-person meeting room, if deemed too large for users’ needs, can be divided into two separate spaces, managed independently with just a few clicks. A physical partition can be installed. Six months later, when booking via Outlook, it will appear as two separate rooms. The lighting and HVAC will be controlled independently.
What are some decision-making tools?
Building owners are turning to solutions such as the Building Operating System, which uses artificial intelligence to analyze all types of data—whether static building data or dynamic usage consumption data—to create scenarios. This makes it possible to predict future trends, control costs, and optimize the sale and rental of buildings.
