INDUSTRY COMMENT: BCIA COLUMN


n the past I’ve touched on the need to overcome the ‘teething troubles’ that can accompany new technology. Innovations are, 99 per cent of the time, introduced with the very best of intentions, to make things simpler, more efficient and produce better results.


Technological innovaons


Jon Belfield, President of the Building Controls Industry Associaon (BCIA), explains why a good idea should not be scrapped at the first sign of trouble, but adapted and adopted to achieve the ideal outcome


There have been some high-profile technological innovations in the world of sport that still divide opinions, such as the Television Match Official (TMO) in rugby, Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in football, Drag Reduction System (DRS) in Formula 1, and Hawk-Eye in tennis. This technology has been introduced to ‘improve’ the game and seek to eliminate the potential for human error by introducing innovative technology to create a change in behaviour – in this instance, it changes the behaviour of the players, the officials and the spectators. In no way has this been an easy journey, and while it continues to adapt, it is definitely being adopted.


There is always a risk with change, especially with technology. Fundamentally, it must be reliable to build user confidence and managing behavioural change is vital in order to encourage people to adopt and embrace the technology so it becomes the new ‘normal’. I’m not going to quote the luddites in any great detail but that particularly extreme reaction to technological change in the early 19th century was borne out of people feeling threatened.


Given the era we have all lived through and are living in, with the continuous changes in


Adapt and adopt I


technology, you might argue that we are living in the opposite extreme of the luddites in as much as we no longer question or challenge new technology, but now have such high expectations that we genuinely believe anything is possible – and in many ways, it is!


This in itself is a double edged sword as it might lead to new technology being introduced and going completely unchallenged until it becomes blatantly obvious the idea is bonkers. There is an interesting parallel just now when you compare Sir Clive Sinclair’s C5 electric ‘bike’ from the mid- 1980s with the current surge in sales of e-Bikes. The debate on why the C5 was considered a technological failure will continue to be analysed in marketing lectures and tutorials, but I suspect it was a combination of the performance of the technology and the willingness of people to make significant changes in their behaviour to adopt the technology.


Building on what’s gone before


So, what are the similarities to our industry and what are the challenges and opportunities? With the recent announcement from government that the UK will become the first major nation to commit to reaching a net-zero carbon emissions target by 2050, we now have a goal that must be achieved.


This goal presents a significant opportunity to get smart innovative technology fully adopted and embraced so it delivers on its promise. One challenge to achieve this opportunity is creating behavioural change – I have previously mentioned the example of a highly efficient car


BSEE


that when driven the same journey by two different drivers, the fuel efficiency for the two drivers is different due to the driving speeds and styles. It isn’t enough to have a high-tech ‘smart’ car, there is a user element that plays a big factor and this is the same in buildings. In my last column, I discussed some of the winners from this year’s BCIA Awards and their ability to work with clients to find the right solution that works for them. It is close to impossible that a system will work perfectly right from the off, but going back to my point at the start, the technology has been designed with the best intentions in mind. Thus, with the right tweaks to a system’s set-up here and there the end goal will be achieved to everyone’s satisfaction and the client, and our future environment will reap the rewards.


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BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER AUGUST 2019 21


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