Your net zero roadmap isn’t smart enough

It is imperative landlords unlock the potential of proptech if they are to reduce carbon emissions and cut costs

AS attention turns from landlords and investors’ net zero targets toward the progress made against their carbon reduction roadmaps, focus will sharpen on each and every small detail contributing to individual assets’ ESG credentials. This has been accelerated by recent changes to the MEES regulations, which set short deadlines for landlords to upgrade the EPC ratings of their assets.

Despite the most sustainable assets unlocking rental uplifts, which can offset the cost of ESG upgrades, it is not always financially viable for investors to complete a comprehensive sustainable refurbishment on standing assets. They must prioritise the most costeffective installations.

Fortunately, a high-impact solution is already widely in use, although many landlords are overlooking its potential to deliver meaningful progress toward sustainability targets.

The adoption of smart building technology is increasingly commonplace among sophisticated office landlords who recognise its value in creating a frictionless occupier experience. The unification of desk and meeting room booking, amenity access and visitor management in one platform, and often one app, is expected as standard by many modern occupiers. Too few, however, are leveraging the power of smart building technology digital twin streamlines building maintenance and provides a minuteby-minute readout of a building’s operational performance. to reduce occupational emissions and drive efficiencies, which can meaningfully accelerate net zero roadmaps.

However, the true value of the digital twin is in the data points it exposes. A good example of this is a London client that has implemented a Smart Spaces solution aggregating more than 134,000 individual data points into the building’s operation. This has enabled an incredibly detailed analysis and management of the asset, which not only streamlines facilities management functions but also unlocks opportunities to detect and mitigate energy overconsumption.

The digital twin exemplifies this. This is a detailed virtual representation of an asset that allows landlords to monitor the health of every building system in operation in real time. The

Reducing wasted energy

The Smart Spaces digital twin adjusts indoor airflows to prioritise densely populated portions of the building, reducing wasted energy spent diverting clean air to less populated areas. It also provides live occupancy readouts, allowing an adjustment of future airflow, lighting and climate controls based on weekly occupancy patterns, all of which can significantly reduce wasted energy when taken together.

The digital twin can also link indoor and outdoor air temperatures and set automated thresholds at which air conditioning units can be switched off in favour of less energyintensive alternatives, such as bringing in the cool air from outside. Perhaps most importantly, the Smart Spaces digital twin can issue automated alerts if the building’s energy performance drops below the BREEAM or NABERS threshold, prompting corrective action.

All of these measures, triggered by automated programmes rather than manual monitoring, reduce the cost of keeping Smart Spaces clients on track for best-in-class sustainability performance.

More nuanced rules can also be established through the digital twin to respond to less common events, ensuring the building is ‘alive’ to changing circumstances and continues to perform at its best without routine human intervention.

This is the new frontier of sustainable building management: frictionless, cost effective and tech driven. These technologies have already been rolled out across a large proportion of the UK’s office stock, although often more in response to occupiers’ post-pandemic workplace demands than as a measure designed to lower energy use.

Wider implementation of proptech solutions is the natural corollary of an increasingly sophisticated built environment sector, but awareness of their carbon reduction potential lags behind adoption. Wider education of the sustainable applications of new building technologies is vital if landlords are to unlock the ESG gains that already lie at many of their fingertips.