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Strategies for smart building realisation
Abstract
Smart buildings, as a concept, is now becoming prominent in the vocabulary of Architects,
Engineers, Construction contractors, Technology companies, Property developers and the
Estate or facility management function within organizations. Public or private sector, smart
building goals are now prevalent in corporate strategies whenever new build or retrofit /
refurbishment is planned.
But there seems no common consensus on what this really means. The 1990's and 2000's
witnessed much hype around intelligent buildings concepts. However, in many instances the
hype never produced tangible results. Now the scene has changed. Sustainability and carbon
management is increasingly on the agenda of boardroom decision making and smart in
smart buildings seems to have a purpose, almost as a mission statement.
The lack of clear definitions on what encompasses a smart building and what is to be
expected when utilising a smart building whether as a solitary or group experience is causing
the supply side industry to throttle back the adoption rate. Value structures justifying
adoption are not clear in this early adaptor stage. Thus costs associated with the realisation of
a smart building are quite hard to justify. This is compounded by the rapid pace of technology
advancement and the continual refresh of new products and solutions that purport to provide
an improved functionality or better price to performance advantage.
Thus strategies for smart building realisation need to be formalised into industry accepted
frameworks which can be applied in many market sectors - or verticals, and which can be
applied in the context of small, medium and large buildings or campus premises. This paper
presents some thought leadership in this emerging area of expertise and provides concepts
that may form the fundamentals for a future framework.
The author provides a perspective as a professional in Consulting for the Engineering and
Construction industry with regards to integrating ICT systems into the built environment. ICT
infrastructure comprises much of the building blocks for smart building enablement alongside
automation and controls, electronic security and facility management applications.
Converged IP networks, integrated command and control rooms, utility smart metering and
integrated BMS (iBMS) enables smart building functionalities to be implemented. This paper
presents viewpoints across all of these subject areas in the context of policies, technologies
and obstacles.
Citation
Manivannan, M. (2012). Strategies for smart building realisation. Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu); Texas A&M University (http://www.tamu.edu). Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /148927.