Plugging the project-operations gap?
Summary of my series of LinkedIn posts based on my outreach this year that was prompted by my keynote at BSRIA Briefing this year. Many of these themes were presented in my keynote at BSRIA's retrofit-themed summit and you can see the overview and summary of the presentation here:
I will be following up with a 2-Part AI-generated podcast but, in the meantime, the following is an AI summary of my recent posts exploring the challenges of bridging the "project-operations gap" in the digital transformation of the built environment that basically highlight the disconnect between design and construction phases and subsequent building operation, hence advocating for "smart from the start" approaches and performance-based metrics to improve outcomes.
That's also why I emphasise the need to consider both building efficiency and effectiveness, and propose that frameworks like a digital overlay for soft landings could help address this gap.
Finally, as part of examining the operational gap I stress the importance of data ownership, cross-departmental collaboration, and user-centric design in successful smart building implementation.
Main Themes:
- The Project-Operations Gap: A significant disconnect exists between the design and construction phase of smart buildings and their operational phase. This results in buildings failing to achieve their full potential in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, and user experience.
- Blurring Industry Silos: Digital transformation in the built environment is cutting across traditional silos like construction, operations, and workplace. This necessitates a more holistic approach to smart building design and implementation.
- Performance-Based Metrics: Metrics like NABERS can help drive better building performance and potentially bridge the project-operations gap by incentivizing collaboration between design and operational stakeholders.
- Efficient vs. Effective Buildings: A distinction needs to be made between buildings that are simply energy efficient and those that effectively meet user needs and deliver positive outcomes. Smart buildings should strive for both.
- Soft Landings and Digital Twins: Soft landings frameworks and digital twins, particularly active or performance twins, could play a key role in bridging the gap by facilitating data sharing and collaboration throughout the building lifecycle.
- Who Owns Smart Buildings? The lack of clear ownership of smart building data and responsibility for its application is a major obstacle. A human-centred approach that considers the needs of all stakeholders, including HR, is crucial.
Key Ideas & Facts:
- Digital cuts horizontally: "The short version is that digital cuts horizontally across the built environment, so the lines are blurring between what were once silos, i.e. construction, operations and workplace." (Post 1)
- Frustration with lack of input: "Building users and facilities staff remain frustrated by the lack of influence and input they have over smart specifications defined during the design and planning phases, by stakeholders that will walk away at practical completion, even though they ultimately run the building!" (Post 2)
- Performance driving improvements: "Perhaps, plugging this gap will be how the next iteration of the smart buildings overlay will be framed and perhaps in partnership with BSRIA as part of developing a 'Smart Overlay' to their soft landings framework." (Post 2)
- Efficient vs. effective: "Her point being that technology and materials can be specified and deployed to make buildings more efficient (e.g. for energy consumption), but if they are not occupied they are not effective and therefore not sustainable." (Post 4)
- Bridging BIM and smart enablement: "Perhaps a starting place would be to think more holistically and try a join a number of dots (as part of breaking down silos), starting with the ACTUAL problem the Smart Building Overlay of the RIBA Plan of Works helps solve, i.e. the project-operations gap?" (Post 5)
- Digital soft landings as a catalyst: "This dot joining may sound like a scratched record now given my banging on about it since PropTech Connect, but perhaps the #SoftLandings framework also needs a smart or digital overlay." (Post 6)
- Shifting focus to user experience: "That's because the emphasis of 'smart' is moving from purely energy efficiency towards enhancing user experience, well-being, and productivity (the 3:30:300 rule indicates why)." (Post 8)
Recommendations:
- Develop a Digital Soft Landings Framework: Create a framework that integrates smart building considerations into the existing soft landings process, promoting collaboration and data sharing between design and operational teams.
- Embrace Performance-Based Design: Incentivize the achievement of performance targets through contracts and building standards, ensuring that smart building features deliver tangible benefits in operation.
- Focus on User Needs: Adopt a human-centered design approach that prioritizes the needs of building occupants and operators. Engage HR and other relevant stakeholders in the design and implementation process.
- Promote Data Ownership and Actionability: Establish clear ownership of smart building data and develop processes for translating data into actionable insights. Train facilities management teams to effectively utilize data for decision-making.
Overall:
My series of posts highlights the urgent need to address the project-operations gap in smart buildings. By focusing on collaboration, data-driven decision-making, and user-centric design, the industry can unlock the full potential of smart buildings and create truly efficient, effective, and sustainable built environments.
Slides and links to all the posts in this series are included below. You can see a round up of my engagement in my 2024 Photostory and some of the summaries from public facing engagement can be found on the News & Views section of the Digital Buildings Council (DBC) site.
Huge thanks to all who engaged with me this year and look forward to discussing the above and more with you next. And special thanks the DBC founders for the continued support.
Post 1: Lines Blurring between Construction, Operations and Workplace as digital transformation cuts across them horizontally:
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Post 2: Prioritising early engagement ‘smart from the start’ is a good start… but the overarching challenge is still the project-operations gap:
Post 3: Can the power of performance-based metrics help plug the gap:
Post 4: the need to distinguish between Efficient and Effective Buildings:
Post 5: Plugging the Project-Operations Gap… (by) Linking BIM to Smart Enablement:
Post 6: Could a Digital Soft Landings Framework by a catalyst for change (and plug the gap):
Post 7: And what about Retrofitting and the Smart Buildings Overlay?
Post 8: Who owns smart buildings?