Smart Buildings: Getting the balance right

In the previous articles on smart buildings and their risks, we’ve explored what we mean by ‘smart buildings’ and outlined what they have to offer to the commercial built environment. We have also touched on why the issue of data in the context of the built environment and ‘smart buildings’ needs serious consideration as emerging technologies such as facial recognition converge with established legal principles for human rights and equalities.

Most property professionals are already familiar with the concept of buildings and their digital twins: the Centre for Digital Built Britain published the Gemini Principles on data management in December 2018.  We need to embed these principles in the built environment; a  ‘cradle to grave’ approach to the whole life of a building – which, as we all know, starts well before anything happens on the ground!

Our focus in this article is what this might mean in practice, so that we can make the most of the opportunities on offer while avoiding the risks including those of unintended consequences.   The process of managing the digital life of a building or development will demand new skills and collaboration: we recognise that we are at the beginning of this brave new future but we propose the following:

Data standards

No matter how modern or complex the computer programme, it will only ever be as good as the data that goes in at the start.  Interoperability is also a primary concern and should ideally be resolved before too much data is collected. RICS data standards are already available while the London Datastore has a whole page of different data quality standards.  What we don’t have at the moment is an industry-wide standard that is both widely known and used as a commonly accepted baseline.  This is surely the first priority as the built and digital worlds converge.

Data impacts

Planning applications are arguably the moment when the digital twin is conceived.  We are already familiar with the notion of impact assessments for the environmental, equalities or health impacts of proposals; Digital Impact Assessments should be added to the existing range of appraisal documents.  They could be based on established principles for protecting digital privacy, but would also be a great opportunity for up-front clarity about what data is being collected and why. They might also identify opportunities for using data to enhance engagement and identify potential opportunities for data sharing.

Data bias

The Bridges case recognised that there is a risk that the databases used as the informational foundations of autonomous data can include embedded biases in terms of race and gender.  We may be some way off adopting digital impact assessments as part of the planning process, but that is all the more reason to ensure that any equalities assessment of a development project includes these considerations.

Data management 

Depending on how it is used, stored, processed or shared data can be beneficial, neutral or harmful.  Its use should be managed in the same way as any building project deals with valuable but volatile substances through sound data management strategies, perhaps based on the digital impact assessment, that include digital health checks and robust cybersecurity measures through the whole of the life of the development.

Data sharing 

Data sharing agreements are increasingly seen as a way to ensure that everyone with a stake in a development has the opportunity to benefit from the data resources already in place and a safe and accessible home for some of the information accumulated as the development matures. The ICO has just finished a consultation on data sharing; and its conclusions may be just what we all need as a starting point for the future. 

We started this mini-series with a quote from John Browne’s ‘Make, Think, Imagine’; this is another one from the same book: “Increased connectivity is an aspect of progress that is replete with trade-offs and where the costs and benefits are often hard to separate…We should not be asking what these communications technologies will do to us – the right question is what we will do with them.”

We’re excited about the opportunities for using data to make buildings more efficient and responsive, and improving our working environments. We’re also mindful of the challenges this brings, not least in addressing concerns about the encroachment of data driven systems into our lives, potentially in ways that conflict with our privacy, and indeed, how we engage in public and private spaces. This is very much just the start of the conversation.