The building IQ test

A look into the future of buildings makes for some interesting speculation. A security system registers your car's arrival at work in the morning, raising security barriers automatically. At the same time the lights in your office come on, and your computer boots up. You've set your ideal office temperature for your personal working space and the hvac system sets to work so that as you sit down at your desk the office is just warm enough for you.

All the time, the building is monitoring its own energy use so that both the facilities manager and finance director can check on maintenance programmes, plant efficiency and energy bills – the board of directors takes energy use very seriously since introduction of the more stringent carbon emission legislation.

The increasing sophistication of building controls means that this sort of intelligent building isn't as far away as you might think. In fact, there are trends which are moving us rapidly to a time when UK buildings are certainly more Albert Einstein (or at least Carol Vorderman) than Forest Gump – the kind of dumb, passive workspaces many of us occupy now. However, what's most telling is that the methods used to create buildings; the way the construction industry actually works, is the main hurdle on the path towards more efficient and user-friendly buildings.

Shafique Shah, marketing manager of intelligent buildings specialist Invensys Building Systems (Europe) says that there are a number of market forces leading to greater client demand for better building control. These are business demands, technological changes, as well as social trends. "People expect to be able to control their working environment in the same way that they can at home. We're a 24/7 society, working long hours and offices are expected to be used 24 hours a day, but only to run services when they really need to. Energy managers have a real dilemma: how to meet the requirements of occupants for good comfort levels, within the boundaries of Part L2 and of course cost."

From the business point of view, Shah points out that there is a greater need than ever for heightened security and resilience of communications. "Building managers need a single view of all building applications. Proprietary solutions are not the way to go. Also, construction times are getting shorter, and there is a de-skilling factor in the industry. Prefabrication is necessary, along with easy to achieve installation."

People first
Buro Happold launched its Information Technology and Communications (ITAC) group back in 2000. Group leader Bo Ascott says that the drivers from clients are getting stronger. "Staff costs are very high. If a company can keep them happier with a better working environment then that can relate to a large money saving. If you can save just 1% of staff costs by cutting absenteeism or churn, that is good for business." Ascott points out that the people related costs of business are always going to be higher than energy costs, which have remained low for many years.

Technology is of course the main driver towards smarter building controls. This is still not entirely simple, given the continued existence of jealously guarded protocols which manufacturers have invested in in the past. However, open protocols do exist, including BACnet, created by AHSRAE and which is rapidly winning approval around the world. Chris Monson of controls expert Trend says: "The liberator is standardised protocols. These do exist already in the form of html currently used on the internet. In very basic terms these protocols allow computers to communicate without knowing much about each other."

A recent report from I&I, Intelligent and integrated infrastructures in buildings 1 echoes this when it states: 'Web technology has revolutionised the concept of open systems and offers a practical and cost-effective solution for integration. But below this, a whole variety of field bus communications, including proprietary, working within discrete packages and islands of control will be brought together into groups that frequently have the need to exchange information.'

Building controls are now expected to be connected to the IT infrastructure of a building. "IT and hvac are converging into a one-stop-shop requirement," says Shah. "They are frequently dealt with at the client side by the same department – estates management also implements the IT systems in the building. The same person is also becoming an expert in both areas."

Controls manufacturers have had to take this development into account. The latest product from Invensys, Sigma, can sit on the client IT infrastructure, but is designed to have a fall-back position. "If the client is making heavy use of the IT system, say for end of month accounts, the last thing they want is to have to fight against the management of hvac systems. So Sigma can automatically reroute on a local area network, for example at busy times," explains Shafique Shah. But all devices on the Sigma system have internet protocol addresses so they can sit on the same network as a printer. The ability to use wireless devices such as hand held personal digital assistants is also a feature of the system.

The internet revolution is here
Trend is also prepared for the great leap to web-based controls. Its latest piece of kit is the Trend IQ3xcite. This has a web server built into the product, designed to communicate via Ethernet which is a low cost, fast and reliable data network. "Currently, the controller serves up web pages of information using html, however it won't be long before it can create files in xml," explains Chris Monson. "This data format can then be read by any IT application. This would allow controller-logged data such as utility meter readings to be transferred across to a company's intranet into a spreadsheet or billing package – and it could also potentially combine with xml data from other systems."

It's easy to get carried away with all the great new technology that's available. But Monson advises a more cautious approach. "We have to ask what we really mean by 'intelligent buildings', and also what is useful integration – and what's just integration for its own sake. For example, take hvac, elevators, lighting and security. You can see coherent reasons for them being managed through a single user interface so it is easier for end users – a consistent look and feel for controls is very good. But when it comes to system-to-system integration, for example, the lights in my office coming on as I arrive in the car park, that may well be taking integration a step too far. And achieving that right now is still an expensive solution for a client."

Monson believes that there are many levels of integration, some of which are useful and sensible for clients to adopt, but that there's no point simply creating links between systems which don't really give any value-added to the end product.

One of the main problems with creating an integrated building control system is that buildings aren’t procured in an integrated way. Until that can happen, intelligent buildings will be difficult to achieve

Peter McDermott, building integration consultant with Buro Happold's ITAC team agrees. "There has to be a justification for integrated building controls. It's about creating the quality of the space, and how that's maintained. For example the quality of the lighting and acoustics. It's not just a chance to have a whizzy front end to turn lights on from your pc. How does that make occupants feel better?"

An integrated approach
One important factor that the leading experts in the field of intelligent buildings seem to agree on is that the way buildings are currently procured is what's really holding back progress. The I&I report says: 'The market (for intelligent buildings) is being driven by leading edge building owners and end users. They have been prepared to change the way they buy, organise and manage their buildings. For this to extend to all building operators it requires the supply chain not only to come up with holistic solutions but to raise awareness of the benefits and overcome commercial barriers.'

Monson agrees: "In the Far East and Middle East, there are more pressures on suppliers to deliver integrated solutions. In the UK, I would see a risk-averse construction industry where there is a reluctance to try something new. We're also still very much a litigious industry. Procurement isn't integrated. Where is the driver to make that change? It is going to have to come from a user wanting to procure things differently. And he will have to be able to see a benefit in that."

The I&I report adds: 'The traditional contractual procedures seek to separate contracts under different disciplines and this drives a wedge between them that makes it more difficult to provide common control.' Again, leading edge clients, demanding an integrated solution to building requirements is seen as the way forward for the intelligent buildings market.

However, in spite of what look like high barriers to a greater use of intelligent controls, there is certainly a commercial driver towards developing the market. According to I&I, in the UK in 2001 some £2.4 billion was spent on intelligent infrastructures in buildings, which accounted for around 5% of the non-domestic construction industry.

Other European controls companies are also eyeing the UK as a great potential market. Holland-based Priva is moving into this country, having made inroads into Germany, Austria and Portugal.

UK managing director, Anders Noren sees the potential. "There is a niche possibility in refurbishment work. There are a large number of analogue controls which need to be replaced, as well as the first generation of bems which also need to be replaced. We have developed a system which can reuse cabling and sensors if necessary. Rewiring in an existing building can add considerably to the cost.