How Smart Buildings are creating the workplace of the future

Business leaders today face a myriad of challenges. Driven by evolving attitudes towards the traditional ways of working, businesses are now starting to place greater importance on the welfare of staff, ensuring they are providing an environment that is motivational and engaging. On another level, the rising costs of real estate are cause for concern as businesses look to maintain healthy profit margins.

At first glance, it would seem the answer to these challenges will have to be found in different places. However, one of the most promising solutions to providing an engaging environment for employees, while also keeping real estate costs down, is the Smart Building. A true Smart Building is one where the people who use it are connected with information about the space in an engaging and helpful way. Ultimately Smart Buildings work for both those who operate them and use them.

The majority of buildings have a ‘smart’ element - for example, buildings fitted with intelligent systems are capable of automatically controlling a number of the building’s functions in siloes, such as: heating, security and lighting. However, a building can only be classified as smart when these separate intelligent systems are integrated so that their useful data can be harnessed and analysed in detail together.

Through analysing the data from across the entire building as one, and not in silo, the building can become more engaging for its users and more efficient for those who own and pay for them. A two-way dialogue is created between the building and its users, ultimately creating the workplace of the future – one that answers the demands of all who use it. A true Smart Building is one that grows and learns over time to adapt to its users’ needs.

Promoting wellbeing from the foundations up

The last few years have seen a step-change in attitudes towards working structures, with flexible and personalised working being favoured over that of traditional hierarchical-based office structures. Employees today want an environment that supports creativity, is agile and wellness-orientated. As a result, employee welfare and productivity has been pushed to the top of business leaders’ agendas. Technology has been a key enabler of this significant shift in working culture, and it will also contribute heavily to how the future workplace is created and run.

Smart Buildings help the people who use them to work smart. By moulding around the people who use them, Smart Buildings enable users to explore new ways of working and create environments that help them achieve their goals. From helping find colleagues when visiting large campuses, to finding a large meeting room to collaborate on projects with team mates without disturbing other teams. Through integrating intelligent systems, and harnessing the overall data, buildings can be made more engaging for their users.

Cutting real estate costs

A rise in workplace mobility has come hand in hand with changing attitudes towards wellness, with few people now working from the same desk or even the same building every day. As such, the workplace of the future needs to be flexible enough to accommodate this new way of working.

As a consequence of increased mobility, the number of unused desks and meeting rooms is rising significantly. However, empty desks are simply not economically viable considering that real estate costs in London are around ?20,000 per 100 square foot of space.

The ability of Smart Buildings to analyse huge amounts of historical data means business leaders can establish a real-world picture of how a building is actually used. Using the right applications, Smart Buildings are capable of dramatically improving the utilisation of space, in some instances upwards of 85%. Harnessing a building’s data in this way results in tangible financial benefits and significantly reduces the amount needed to be spent on real estate.

A case in point example is UBM (United Business Media), the international media and events company. Using our software technology OneSpace, UBM has painted a real-world image of how its London offices are being used. This insight has enabled them to reduce their costly real estate from seven floors to six. Creating a retro-fitted Smart Building initially enabled UBM to achieve a 1:1.4 desk to colleague ratio, improving their work space utilisation significantly. They have since further improved on this, while also expanding their operation and ensuring the environment is one that both improves productivity and employee engagement.

We have seen a twin drive for putting welfare and engagement first as well as driving down real estate costs over the last few years. Technology has been a major disrupter for this paradigm shift, and Smart Buildings that harness the latest technology will create the workplace of the future. Through harnessing smart technology, a two-way dialogue will be established, creating an environment that supports its users and provides financial sense for those who pay for them.