ARTICLES
Building Infrastructure and IAQ are Crucial Foundations of Digital Transformations By Tony Abate, CTO, AtmosAir
As property and portfolio owners look to the next age of modern commercial real estate, namely digital transformations, the need for robust building infrastructure systems and indoor air quality (IAQ) will be vital in bringing tenants, occupiers and customers back to all asset types. This push for digital transformations also comes as owners are working to develop comprehensive environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies that provide confidence for tenants and offer transparency on emissions, energy consumption and important metrics. Digital Transformations: A Necessity for the Built World Though owners are aware that it has become necessary to adopt digital technologies and prop tech innovations to remain competitive, 87% of projects ultimately fail to meet objectives. This highlights the need for a tangible and robust transformation plan that can effectively be put into practice, followed through and consistently maintained and updated as needed. Part of any comprehensive transformation plan will include IAQ, which continues to be a crucial factor in bringing workers back to the office and instilling confidence in the public. Moreover, studies show IAQ is the most important factor for workers when returning to office. With this necessity of IAQ and digital transformations comes two primary methods of alleviating concerns from workers, tenants and customers. The first strategy is through diluting pollutants with ventilation from outdoor air. While this can be effective, it is a limited solution due to the potentiality of low-quality
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outdoor air or adverse weather conditions.
of their building spaces.
A Wider Option of Technologies Though the construction industry has begun to adopt new technologies as digital transformations become crucial to overall owner strategy, the use of IAQ systems has lagged other tech sectors that have experienced significant growth in the built world in recent years. This adoption of other technologies has been driven by the need for increased ESG and energy efficiency-focused strategies. These strategies in effect are built to create transparency for stakeholders and promote sustainability in the built world, which can be seen in LEED and healthy-building certifications. However, as owners look to create a plan that incentivizes buy-in from stakeholders and tenants, IAQ will be important in convincing the public that a property is now safe and ready for use, especially in light of the pandemic and increased concerns about air quality and health.
However, in order to provide confidence for workers to return to offices, and for customers and tenants to return to similar spaces, owners should ensure that along with an updated HVAC system strategy, a robust IAQ strategy is also vital.
Another vital strategy for owners and operators is to optimize the usage of building systems such as HVAC in spaces to reduce costs and energy consumption. Systems such as air conditioning, heating, water and waste management can put a large strain on the energy used by a building, and lead to massive amounts of emissions. This in part has led to the built world contributing approximately 40% of the world’s carbon emissions. However, if optimized correctly, and certain aspects of the systems are prioritized, such as indoor air quality, costs can be saved and owners can be more strategic with the cooling and heating
Current & Upcoming Regulations With the digital transformation trend sweeping the industry, owners, operators and tenants should remain aware of in-place regulations as well as potential regulations in the future. Cities like New York City have implemented regulations and restrictions for buildings over a certain square footage and have developed and implemented rules around emissions, sustainability and energy consumption for buildings. Companies that can meet these in-place and new regulations will be able to attract occupants, drive cost savings in a number of different building aspects and address health, safety, sustainability, ESG and transparency with stakeholders all at once, while creating an improved tenant experience, reduce overall spending for owners and optimize building systems for years to come. Tony Abate AtmosAir 418 Meadow Street, Suite 204 Fairfield, CT 06824 tabate@atmosair.com (203)335-3700
