PUBLIC SECTOR SUSTAINABILITY INTEGRATED BUILDING ARCH
Over the past decade, the adoption of technology and facility services standards has enabled the creation of ‘intelligent buildings,’ that are both productive for users and operationally efficient for owners and developers. Furthermore, by integrating building systems onto a converged network, and using intelligent, integrated management systems, the industry has been able to embrace a raft of innovative solutions.
The cost of deploying these technologies however, remains almost prohibitive. Indeed, only the largest, market-leading property companies are typically able to exploit these solutions to future proof buildings, offer commercialisation opportunities and transform security and energy consumption management.
As the construction industry looks for a way forward to meet the demands of both public and private sector companies, Kari Baden, Managing Director, Dimension Data Advanced Infrastructure, explains the vital importance of an Integrated Building Architecture. Such an architecture would provide an agreed, open standards blueprint to enable the rapid and cost-effective deployment of innovative technologies, which could transform the whole life cost of any building.
NEW MODEL
It is time for radical change in the construction industry. Developers, operators and users – from shoppers to office tenants and residents – are demanding more from their buildings. Indeed, there is a demand for buildings that are more intelligent, easier to maintain, more enjoyable to use, offering innovative services that improve quality of life and, where possible, offer commercialisation opportunities. Yet at the same time, there is massive pressure to minimise capital expenditure. There is a constant call to deliver buildings that cost less to operate and maintain, to achieve whole life cost reduction.
The old models of building design are no longer good enough. Construction companies need to be able to demonstrate an ability to deploy new technologies into buildings, whilst also controlling costs at every phase of design, build and operation. The challenge therefore, is in delivering these two, often, contradictory demands, all at a time when technology is rapidly changing. For instance, how can a building owner or developer future proof the building when any analogue devices being implemented today, such as analogue CCTV, will be obsolete within five years? This will make the devices expensive to maintain, difficult to repair, and perhaps even requiring a complete refit – for a technology that should be viable for 20 years. In short, not only does the building lack the intelligence required in today’s market, but the whole life cost has increased, rather than decreased. Today’s model is rife with duplication and complexity. How therefore, will the industry move forward to increase automation and enable the cost effective exploitation of solutions that will ultimately transform building value?
Kari Baden
FLEXIBLE APPROACH Arguably, attempts to integrate the IT architecture into the buildings control framework have so far failed. Such failure comes through a combination of a lack of IT understanding and the need to use multiple, expensive suppliers to deliver each component of the solution. The resulting cost model has been unsustainable, resulting in many of the critical technology solutions, which are key
10 PUBLIC SECTOR SUSTAINABILITY • VOLUME 2 ISSUE 4
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