In early May 2024, as part of my ongoing commitment to foster clear dialogue in the digital built environment – and indeed, as part of my initial work helping with the set-up of the newly formed Digital Buildings Council – the “What’s Smarter Now?” podcast series continued with its fourth episode. Co-hosted with Umesh Bhutoria from Xempla, this instalment welcomed Elizabeth Nelson and Nicholas White, Co-Founders of the Smart Building Collective.
Given Nicholas’s valuable participation in the pivotal roundtable I facilitated earlier this year (the catalyst for the DBC’s formation), it was an ideal opportunity to reconnect and delve into the critical role of smart building ratings and certification. This discussion was particularly pertinent for landowners seeking higher premiums from tenants and served as an excellent opportunity to sense-check some of the early aims and ambitions of the DBC regarding market clarity and best practice.
This episode explored the multifaceted journey of achieving smart and sustainable building certification, highlighting how the process differs across various building types and organisations. Elizabeth and Nicholas meticulously explained their unique certification approach, emphasising its focus on continuous improvement and the bespoke needs of each building, rather than merely adhering to a checklist.
Key themes and insights from our conversation included:
- The Need for Smart Building Certification: Certification is crucial for validating work, providing essential benchmarking, and effectively communicating value to the market.
- Defining “Smart”: A common definition for “smart” remains elusive due to diverse stakeholder needs and varied building applications. Ultimately, smartness is best defined by the specific problems it solves for particular stakeholders.
- Human-Centric Approach: The core message was clear: technology alone does not make a building smart. The emphasis must shift to how people utilise technology to enhance the built environment, focusing on human performance, health, and wellbeing. As Elizabeth Nelson aptly put it, “The best buildings we’ve seen have the most curious people that we’ve ever met. These are people who would never say they’re a smart building expert, they say I’m on a journey.”
- The Right Level of Smart: The optimal level of smartness is highly dependent on a building’s purpose, the organisation’s maturity, and its capacity to effectively manage new technology and the resulting data. Nicholas White advised, “The right level of smart is very much dependent on the need and the goal. We need to move away from from just putting in tech for the sake of tech.”
- Cost and Value: Demonstrating a clear return on investment (ROI) is paramount. Value accrues to various stakeholders, and the models for cost allocation are still evolving within the industry.
- Change Management: Successful smart building implementation necessitates a robust change management process to ensure all stakeholders are engaged and that new technologies are effectively adopted.
- The Role of Regulation: Legislation is increasingly becoming a significant driver for smart building adoption, particularly in areas concerning sustainability and energy management.
- Open Dialogue and Collaboration: A consistent call from the Smart Building Collective was for greater transparency, vulnerability, and a willingness to share lessons learned—both successes and failures—to accelerate industry-wide progress. Elizabeth Nelson underscored this, stating, “What I don’t think we’re talking about is most of it. I think we need to have real conversations. I think we need to get to the crux of the problems that we’re solving together.”
This episode offered a profound exploration into the certification landscape, highlighting the critical role it plays in validating progress and driving the industry forward through a focus on human outcomes, strategic implementation, and collaborative learning.
You can listen to the full episode here:
