November 24th, 2022, marked a pivotal moment in my journey into the digital built environment. At the cutting-edge XCHG venue within 22 Bishopsgate – then heralded as Europe’s smartest building – I conceived, curated, and MC’d a landmark event titled “What’s Smarter Now?”. This symposium, co-supported by Converged Network Specialists Ideal and Cisco, was designed to spark crucial conversations about the rapidly evolving smart building ecosystem.
This event was the culmination of a six-month market engagement consultancy project. My objective was to help understand and strategically position Ideal within this complex domain, identifying how their offerings could evolve based on emerging insights and the high-level connections fostered through my engagement. It served as a practical demonstration of my “Market Engagement” approach, showing its immediate impact in raising Ideal’s profile and opening doors to a new calibre of industry dialogue. For many, this event was their first introduction to my work as an industry commentator in the smart buildings sector.
The agenda for the day was structured to unpick the layers of smart building ambition, from foundational concepts to practical implementation:
SESSION 1: SMARTER AMBITION AND SCOPE
The opening session explored the broader vision and purpose of smart buildings. We heard opening remarks from Sam Wood at Cisco, setting the scene with insights on hybrid work, smart buildings, and sustainability as converging trends.
Philip Schallis from AXA Investment Managers shared invaluable perspectives from an owner/operator standpoint, detailing 22 Bishopsgate’s journey to becoming a community-focused campus with Smart Score Platinum and Wired Score Platinum certifications. He highlighted the building’s real-time data capabilities from 3,000 smart meters and its operation on 100% renewable electricity. The success of its app-based entry, facilitating seamless access for 12,000 daily users, underscored its people-centric design, leading to 80% occupancy two years post-completion, even amidst a global pandemic.
Jules Barker from WiredScore then articulated the evolution of smart building standards over the past decade, emphasising how the Smart Score framework defines smart buildings by their ability to deliver outcomes for users through a combination of user functionality and robust technological foundations.
The first panel, moderated by Justine Bornstein from Verdantix, joined Philip Schallis, Jules Barker, Stephen Wreford from Elementa Consulting, and Sophie Bray from Cisco. Their discussion honed in on the concept of ‘appropriately smart’ buildings, underscoring the critical shift towards aligning building design with specific business drivers and enhancing user experience, rather than merely adopting technology for its own sake.
SESSION 2: SMARTER CONSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT
The second session delved into the practicalities of bridging the gap between smart construction and intelligent management operations.
Alan Williamson from Multiplex detailed the challenges principal contractors face in delivering truly smart buildings. He underscored the necessity of Level of Detail 5 modeling for effective asset control and ensuring buildings are “digital twin ready,” lamenting common industry issues like unclear deliverables and supply chain integration problems with BMS providers. Alan also revealed Multiplex’s strategic response, including the establishment of an internal Smart Buildings Council to ensure supply chain partners are accredited in Smart Score and Wired Score.
Sally Scott from Metrikus presented insights from their data aggregation platform, revealing a striking statistic: only 13% of people are satisfied with their workspaces. Her presentation highlighted the significant potential for energy waste reduction in buildings and the value of aggregating various data sources into a single cloud platform to demonstrate substantial cost savings.
The second panel, again moderated by Justine Bornstein, included Alan Williamson, Sally Scott, Jim Read (Smart Buildings Technology consultant), and Katie Murphy from Smart Spaces. This discussion reinforced the importance of early stakeholder engagement and proposed a phased implementation approach for smart technology projects. Key challenges included proving the benefits of smart technology and coordinating diverse stakeholders, particularly regarding liability for smart building systems within principal contractor frameworks.
The day concluded with remarks from Mo Shakoori, founder of Ideal, who reflected on his company’s journey in smart building solutions and the continuous learning and collaboration that defines this sector.
This “What’s Smarter Now?” event was a significant achievement, not just for the depth of conversation it generated, but as a testament to the power of a focused “Market Engagement” approach. It proved that even with limited time and an evolving network, it’s possible to convene leading minds and significantly impact industry understanding and relationships. This truly marked my formal launch as a dedicated voice in the digital built environment.November 24th, 2022, marked a pivotal moment in my journey into the digital built environment.
