Science fiction or science fact
Buildings of the Future will know how many of the workforce are in the building at any one time, and adjust services accordingly. Advancements in monitoring and security, building management system apps, information screens, WiFi, automated elevators, lighting and air conditioning will mean that services are adjusted before the worker even steps out of the Building of the Future elevator. Buildings will ‘self-tune’ on a continual basis.
Yet with the digital age upon us, it’s important to remember that technology is not only about hardware or software, but about people. Among the bits and bytes, let’s not forget the flesh and bones.
Critically, it is not technology that is driving change: it is how people are using Buildings of the Future, supported by technology, robotics, automation, new materials and new approaches to energy creation, use and storage.
Technology must have a purpose and remaining focused on the needs and expectations of your tenants and their workforce is key.
Buildings of the Future would also do well to recognise that tomorrow’s employee (particularly millennials) will be mobile. Increasingly, employees will value mobility, flexibility and remote connectivity to work. To support this, we’ll see the continuing rise of collaborative technologies (including virtual and augmented reality), a shift to ‘the cloud’ and changing behaviours shaped by social media and mobile smart devices.
In addition, we will also have to consider changes in transportation such as the advent of the autonomous vehicle or even car drones and how building design will accommodate these technologies.
Buildings of the Future, in particular offices, will be characterised by:
The challenge for those in the building industry will be to respond to the changing requirements of tenants faster than ever before and to ensure our design of Buildings of the Future keep pace.
Increasing mobility leads to the question: do tenants really need a large amount of space all of the time? The rapid rise of the shared economy through companies like Airbnb and Uber are set to become mainstream in the property industry too.
It’s already common for small businesses to share office spaces, seating arrangements, leases, building layout and buildings maintenance, but there is potential to further expand the concept. In future, we might see smaller tenancies, but larger facilities; or end-to-end solutions where services and staff could be shared between environments and companies.
Buildings of the Future will support shared infrastructure and services, and result in better utilisation between companies, tenants and individual users. This approach could work for educational facilities too. For example, new chemistry labs and biology labs could be set up to allow shared workspaces for biologists and chemists.
If end-user behaviour has changed, so has end-user expectation. A future in which a facilities manager is required to provide live feeds about the performance of a tenant’s building isn’t far off. Coupled to this, their environmental expectations have also increased. Today’s tenant is environmentally savvy.
Tenants are increasingly interested in the details of shadow plans and their effect on solar energy capture, buildings that can exist off the grid, the provision of energy battery storage technology, developing self-sustaining ecosystems within their Building of the Future and opportunities to share power between buildings.
Importantly, our environmental focus shouldn’t be limited to our single buildings. No building operates in isolation and Buildings of the Future will need to integrate with the broader community. Smart buildings within a smart precinct will be the focus.
In future, innovative city management will form an alliance with major developers to drive smart precincts, and will require the right data, people movement monitoring and legislative frameworks.
Aurecon sees this as a key opportunity for the built environment to develop shared services in facilities management. The first movers will be those who create building maintenance hubs. These hubs will be designed to provide facilities for all local buildings to centrally monitor electricity, water, energy storage common areas and integrate other aspects of maintenance and management of operational efficiencies.
Taken a step further, facilities managers could use lessons learnt from these hubs to more effectively manage groups of buildings and enhance used experience.
The use of robotics for security checks and providing controls such as air-conditioning according to a user voting matrix will ensure a greater return on investment for an enhanced focus on people.
Copyright 2021 Aurecon Group Pty. Ltd.