Data sharing is caring

Joseph Michael

ALAS, here we are, with more than two million houses underbuilt in the last decade, staring down the barrel of new legislation, such as the new EPC requirements, due to come into force in 2025 and 2028, and the Future Homes Standard, which becomes mandatory in 2025.

The new rules are going down badly with the Federation of Master Builders and the Construction Leadership Council, which are screaming that the blanket changes in standards will kill the SME market. And you know what? I agree.

I have said it many times before and I will say it again: we keep throwing shit at a wall and hoping it sticks. Let’s go back to the root problems instead. For me, there are three key issues: a. We have this insane idea that insulating something excessively will solve our problems; b. We reject on-land wind and nuclear and then cry when bills are high; and c. It is clear that tech works, but only if operated correctly. It doesn’t work if it’s not the right fit. Too often, it’s not the right fit.

The upshot is that we don’t know what works and what doesn’t. Yet we keep trying to get a room to 25°C by throwing 70°C hot water round the place. So, why haven’t we moved on to data? Why haven’t we gone ahead and driven outcomes?

I’ll tell you why – the lack of SDG 17 partnerships. The decisionmakers and powers that be still want to monopolise the market, and the old boys’ club is still alive and well. Only now, a decade after I built my first net zero school and stated at the RESI Convention that “the world is on fire” are people starting to have an “oh shit” moment.

– yet our measures are based on theoretic equations from a 2D plan and our data is input by humans. When we apply it to a 3D world, we wonder why things don’t work correctly.

Let’s talk about 4D, the things we can’t see and the things we simply can’t understand. Why can’t data and AI provide us with that? The simple answer is that they could – if we band together and give them the right data. Did you even know that our shores are now home to a Construction Data Trust? On its website, it describes itself as “an independently stewarded data trust” that “provides an opportunity to securely pool data for the benefit of the collective and broader society”.

It adds: “We drive up delivery productivity, delivering more for less with greater confidence. We make projects more investable.”

While the energy companies make a profit and the powers that be build standards based on theory rather than practice, we won’t get anywhere. Why drive innovation when taking risks affects the bottom line? Political fear of doing something different is stifling progress. For all the desire in some parts of the industry to do something, there is commercial fear, too, and that leads to stagnation.

Could artificial intelligence (AI) help get things moving? I think it could. But while it is the tool of the future, it is only as smart as the information it receives. It can’t solve issues without proper data, and that data needs to be captured correctly. We live in a 3D world – electricity and thermal matter

Ultimately, it may sound twee, but sharing really is caring. It doesn’t mean you need to give away your IP. But anonymously, who really cares who exactly does what, as long as there is enough data to provide a solution and reduce corrupt processes? What we care about is enabling government and regulators to make the right decisions to mitigate climate risk and enable social value and economic support.

By pooling this data anonymously, we can extract incredible information pooled across time and location to support decision-making. No more political ‘guestimates’; it won’t matter which regulator or politician is in power as the data will remain true.

I recently founded the Live Data Trust, currently in development, to help pool and support decision-making through data for our future. With live data now becoming ‘a thing’, this can really happen. People such as myself and Tom Fenton of Veritherm don’t want to see academic or private competition disable communities from growing. Ultimately, community growth is critical, and it has to be sustainable so that we also achieve economic, environmental and social growth.

So, what could we do with that data, I hear you ask? Well, this is the real kicker: instead of setting unrealistic targets based on guesstimates of space and heating, we should introduce a roadmap to net zero, clean energy and social comfort and use data to inform us on how to get there gradually, rather than all of a sudden.

I take my hat off to industry leaders such as Grant Findlay, executive managing director for buildings at Sir Robert McAlpine, for driving digital data, and the likes of Oliver Novakovic, technical and innovation director at Barratt, who is taking steps to understand data both at big corporation and big player level.

As Findlay notes: “There is significant untapped value in the data we generate on projects. By aggregating data from across the industry, we can generate new insights that will benefit society as a whole.”

We need these insights, and we need them now. Those who are not yet thinking in this vein need to start doing so as a matter of urgency. It’s not good enough when people’s lives are at risk, and they are overheating or freezing because no one knows how things truly work. Is living in monthly fear of bills acceptable as long as you have money? The simple answer is ‘no’. And if it isn’t, ask yourself why is humanity less important than your capital.

Eco-entrepreneur Joseph Michael Daniels founded sustainable affordable housing business Etopia, which he stepped down from recently. This July, he founded ELIXR, a purpose-driven venture builder focused on supporting ESG entrepreneurs, and appointed Catalina Valentino as chief executive.