Smart Buildings & Smart Technology: L&P London Offices - 2023
Whenever the word “smart building” is mentioned, eyes roll, and expressions glaze over!
We see it all the time and accept that as ICT & MSI Consultants we – and our colleagues in this field – are partly to blame.
It is consultants who shroud this concept in mystery and refuse to share their knowledge to protect their own standing and reputation. This perpetuates the mystery and complexity surrounding smart buildings.
At L&P Technology, we have long held the belief that a customer enlightened is a customer able to disseminate what they want. All of which means that the employers requirements reflect what the client actually wants delivered, rather than a high-level brief that fills pages but says nothing. The result of which is a tidal wave of RFIs from 3rd party contractors seeking clarification.
Collectively we as consultants have been guilty in the past of creating a barrier to learning whether it be by the use of acronyms (SPOG, MQTT etc.) or simply a desire to ensure our relativity in this market. These are barriers to knowledge that we seek to break and dispel the myths surrounding smart technology and smart buildings.
Smart buildings are NOT about mobile phone apps, digital twins, and the like – they are all about the components. The components are the building management systems that talk to each other and provide integrated services and are delivered as part of the Cat A fit out.
These are the elements that provide the client with the integrated services, data analysis and consolidated management reporting – all displayed on custom designed dashboards.
In simple terms, if you chose the right systems (ones with specific capabilities) and employ an MSI to manage and coordinate the design, testing, installation and commissioning plus of course the 3rd party contactors, you can deliver a smart building as currently defined.
Adding on the plethora of available mobile phone apps from the likes of Smartspaces, Comfy, Spike, Sharry, Prolojik, IWC, OpenBlue, Facilio, and others will be simple with all the required hooks readily available through the choice of building management systems and the integration managed and coordinated by the MSI.
The mobile app agenda has been driven primarily by the letting agents who see this as a facility to enhance the tenant experience, especially when enhanced with social media app integration. As can be seen above there is a wealth of mobile app choice, all of whom are gaining traction in the commercial market sector as a Cat B option for tenants.
As previously mentioned L&P Technology are keen to share our knowledge, expertise and experience in the smart building sector with clients, project managers, developers and the like to educate and inform and by default ensure that the employers requirements actually reflect what the client (now informed) require, and NOT what the consultants THINK they need.
L&P Technology will be hosting Smart Building Workshops during the months of April, May and June 2023 at our London offices.
Please contact info@lpgroup.co.uk to attend.