While attending a Demonstration at Zutec’s Head Office based in Dublin, I was privileged to see the cutting-edge technology applied to the built space domain. The first one was a 3D model of the Warsaw Town hall building in Poland and the latter, Alice Perry Engineering Building at the National University of Ireland. The 3D visualisation of a building has been in play for over a decade now, but what enticed me is that the model was reading live data from the IoT sensors and highlighting key building performance indicators like temperature, humidity CO2, Air Flow etc. associated with assets and rooms in those buildings.
The live statistics were also showing me fault patterns and asset attributes that required maintenance. Now all of this is happening in real time and reading information from projects that are technically hundreds of miles apart.
With the evolution of such technology and its application in real-life scenarios, we believe we have the solutions to manage the complex requirements to todays-built space and can make it truly smart.
Watch the video below to see the IOT sensors in action. https://youtu.be/pitnxdaUfhI
Adoption of the smart technology
In this resource constrained world, Information Management is the key to designing, building and operating buildings sustainably. Zutec’s flexible and interoperable platform enables stakeholders and systems to collaborate, enrich the data and provide meaningful insights to their data.
As a natural extension to the Zutec’s Core platform, its Field tool, Resolution can harvest real-time information from the project sites and synchronise with the Core Cloud Database seamlessly. Also, the digital mark-up tool, Elevation efficiently consolidates stakeholder comments as action items to promote accountability.
With all this enriched information generated through the lifecycle of a project, the platform can seamlessly connect and integrate with the Building Management Systems and Sensor Networks which adds an extra Dimension to the product offering.
IoT has brought a new paradigm in which a global network of machines and devices can interact with each other and is driving the digital transformation path in today’s enterprises. A recent study has suggested IoT and analytics revenue will become a $520 billion industry by 2021.
IoT initiatives using Zutec tools are essential to an enterprise’s strategic road map and vision such as to improve visibility into operations and creating new service offering to its clients. While large enterprises have started embracing this technology, an increasing number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) are also leveraging the applications of IoT Services to enhance customer satisfaction.
With the current demand for effective development and deployment of IoT applications in real life scenarios, Zutec’s Interoperable platform and its service offerings are crucial to enterprises which do not have in-house technical expertise to enable such a transformation. Zutec IoT ecosystem (Data Lake) is capable of effectively integrating the hardware vendors to the application and solution developers.
Smart buildings feature an incredible ability to connect people with technology
Smart building technology “connect humans; they provide better control of facilities and operations; they support ways to collaborate digitally; and they enable owners to conserve resources that include space, energy, water, and employees” – Deloitte Insights.
Buildings today use an array of smart technology to monitor and control services like lighting, heating and ventilation, to enhance the occupants comfort levels. This encourages collaboration and promotes sustainability. A well-connected smart building can connect with the occupants in real time and automatically adjust the built environment parameters customised to personal preference, while keeping the performance of mechanical and electrical plant operations optimised.
This balancing act was previously performed by building energy managers however it lacked the customisation aspect. With the advent of smart devices and machine learning algorithms, buildings can learn occupancy patterns and optimise service automatically while ensuring occupants information is secure and compliant to data protection protocols. With live and connected data, building owners/facility managers can effectively manage their assets / buildings and reduce operating costs.
The construction industry is slowly embracing digital transformation, we have the tools to harvest and enrich data through the project lifecycle. The concept of a digital twin is gaining more traction in the global construction market. We have an interesting and exciting few years ahead of us in the construction industry. If things go the way I imagine, we’re going to see a real advance in the industry from a technology adoption perspective which will change the way we build forever.
About the authors:
Tom Herbert is Vice President of Sales UK at Zutec. He is an experienced technology strategist and motivator, and helps prospects and customers make strategic decisions; having meaningful impact on the entire business. He practices traditional and non-traditional sales methodologies in this digital world.
Jeslin Joy is Head of Product Delivery & Customer Satisfaction at Zutec. He share his expertise at DCW in his presentation “Bridging The Information Gap” at Enterprise Ireland’s ‘Pecha Kucha’ Digital Innovation Lunch.
See Tom & Jeslin at Digital Construction Week 2019
Future Trends; Marketplace and the Smartest Buildings at the Tech Stage at 10.30am on Wednesday 16 October
Enterprise Ireland ‘Pecha Kucha’ Digital Innovation Lunch at the Main Stage at 1.30pm on Thursday 17 October