May 28, 2015 by CallisonRTKL

It’s Time to Upgrade Your Building OS

In today’s 24/7 tech world, software updates have become the norm. We have become so accustomed to frequent smartphone operating system (OS) upgrades to fix software bugs. Sometimes we love these upgrades, sometimes we hate them and sometimes new OS updates give our phones new bugs that seem to prevent it from working at top performance.

While the outcome may vary in some degree, it’s easy to agree that every time smartphone software is upgraded, the user experience is changed. The hardware stays the same – we don’t have to buy a new phone. However, the functional performance of the device improves, from time to time dramatically, with each software update.

Recently, media outlets reported a ground-breaking development from Tesla. The tech-savvy car company released an over-the-air software update, which adds new features for drivers and improves the performance of their electric cars.

Previously, the baseline functional performance of a car would start its rapid decline as soon as you drove it off the dealer’s lot. This decent would only increase as you put more and more miles on the car and the mechanical systems start to wear. Never before has the performance of a car been substantially improved with a simple software upgrade.

But isn’t it special that in our age of great technological transformation, a software upgrade can change the performance of an electro-mechanical system?

And if it can work with cars, why are we not able to upgrade our buildings the same way? Can we start to expect that the performance of existing structures can be improved with no capital cost investment?

In the future, we should expect to see this trend migrate to the built environment.

It is conceivable that performance will be improved through regular software upgrades of the building management system.

Responsible building owners are always looking for ways to better operate real estate assets. Commissioning, big data analysis of HVAC systems and building management system (BMS) optimization, along with other strategies, have been considered good practice for some time and offer good solutions for improving building efficiency. There are plenty of commercially available advanced building systems which could be integrated with BMS to allow smart integration that is open to further improvement. In fact, leading BMS providers are actively working on developing this solution.

Custom OS updates for specific buildings could potentially resolve many challenges including:

Change of use or occupancy
Evolving urban, environmental or infrastructure conditions
Change of local codes and regulations
Improved performance based on a better understanding of system integration.

In the future, our obsolete buildings will be regenerated and transformed into flexible, high-performance, sustainable and connected structures.

One day, it will be possible to imagine that the performance of every building in an entire city could be improved overnight with a global BMS software update. As our built environment gets more connected, the optimization of building performance will be based on accurate measurements and prompt response will play a more important role. The idea of improving existing building performance with zero capital investment is a very powerful value proposition.

Cover image via Flickr (Microsiervos Geek Crew)

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CallisonRTKL

For more than five decades, Callison and RTKL have created some of the world’s most memorable and successful environments for developers, retailers, investors, institutions and public entities. In 2015, our two practices came together under the Arcadis umbrella, expanding our sphere of influence and the depth and breadth of our resources. Our team is comprised of nearly 2,000 creative, innovative professionals throughout the world who are committed to advancing our client’s businesses and enhancing quality of life.