Must-have smart tech for your next commercial construction project
Smart tech can elevate your project, command attention
Smart building tech is changing the playing field in commercial real estate, so it’s increasingly important to think about incorporating smart tech into commercial projects to remain competitive and profitable. Smart buildings can include a wide variety of tech solutions, though, so which should you consider first, and what’s on the leading edge of smart building tech? Here are some of the must-have smart tech innovations making industry waves today.
Smart tech geared toward sustainability and performance
Consumers today are looking for options that are sustainable and environmentally friendly. For commercial buildings, that means smart building technologies aimed at intelligence and energy efficiency. Advanced functioning buildings will over time maximize performance and control energy consumption. A building management system can be an effective tool to achieve this.
For example, sensing technology can ensure that unoccupied portions of large buildings experience a change in lighting and temperature and adjust with the seasons. Smart buildings are also being used to capitalize on dynamic electric rates—meaning a building connected to the smart grid could reduce its demand for energy in exchange for a rate break during peak use times. While that may seem like something from the future, electricity markets are evolving in this direction.
Other hot options for sustainably smart tech also include highly efficient HVAC and lighting, thermal sensors and controls, improved indoor air quality (IAQ) control and smart appliances.
In the long run, smart building reduces overhead and can improve ROI, but it can also get quality tenants in the door who care about their environmental impact.
Smart tech for user wellbeing and customization
While some smart tech is focused specifically on sustainability, many of the solutions available also cater to the comfort and well-being of the user. Smart buildings with ambient lighting or circadian lighting design and lighting sensors, thermal comfort, ventilation and HVAC solutions in place are giving a lot of bang for their buck. In addition, systems can even be programmed to adjust according to specific user needs with personalization tools. So that staff member who is always cold or likes more light can enjoy automation technology that knows them and their needs.
Smart tech for proactive equipment maintenance
Imagine if your buildings could tell you when something is going wrong, maybe even before it happens. Intelligent buildings leverage algorithms to detect performance problems with real-time monitoring of critical building assets (chillers, cooling towers and RTU’s) and flag them before they become expensive outages. As an owner, you can enjoy a higher level of confidence that your building essentially has your back.
Smart building tech: a possible competitive edge in CRE
Commercial real estate is a competitive industry, and smart building tech may position you and your next project well to not only improve customer service and valuate your properties more accurately, but also differentiate your properties in the marketplace. In the rapidly changing world of tech, options abound for taking your commercial construction project in a smart direction—a direction that can offer improved user comfort, greater energy efficiency and improved maintenance, with the potential for lower operating costs.