Modern Building Services

16 MODERN BUILDING SERVICES FEBRUARY 2022 SMART BUILDINGS B elow is a summary of some of the core points hindering and accelerating the Smart Building industry today. Each of these have varying degrees of influence however it is evident that the pandemic has boosted adoption. There is a renewed focus on occupant wellbeing, contactless technology, occupant analytics and remote management tools and solutions. CHALLENGES Cybersecurity Cybersecurity has typically been the number one barrier to smart buildings. Security, privacy, integrity, and availability of data are top concerns.We have seen some solutions beginning to address this issue, but the concern is high on the agenda ofmost customers. Asmore andmore components connect to the internet, naturally the risk increases and as a result, it will always present a challenge for the industry. Personal Data Building occupants willingness to provide or share personal information and sign up to IoT services will increasingly depend on whether they trust the entity responsible for storing and analysing the data to protect their privacy and to use the data in a fair, legal and accountable manner- something which is increasingly hard to obtain given the publics wariness of data storage and usage. There is a balance to be stricken between exceptional experience and data privacy. People will be more willing to comply with data capture if they understand the ways in which it will be used and stored. Legacy Construction and Retrofit Process It is hard for new entrants to break through the complex supply chain and get their solutions specified, as the traditional construction and procurement process is very Within the new build process, smart systems aren’t considered until the later stages, which stifles innovation and causes issues with interoperability. A retrofit process often offers more opportunities for smart system specialists, but stakeholders typically only gain visibility of specifications after they have been filtered through multiple contract layers. The project manager will tend to go for “tried and tested” approaches that carry minimal risk. There is an absence of key skills that are needed to create smart buildings further up the chain. Smart building Consultants and System Integrators aren’t standard on every project, there is a need for people who possess knowledge of networking, systems integration, data management and data security. ➜ FEATURE SMART BUILDINGS Phil Cross , CEO of amBX, states: No one company can achieve truly smart buildings that address all of the internal and external requirements alone. We need to be aware of all of the challenges and opportunities within the market both to be able to smart enable other solutions and continue to improve the industry. To succeed, all parts of the industry must work together. Smart Building Challenges and Opportunities