The way we use indoor public and commercial spaces is profoundly changed, highlighting the need to optimize the health, safety and energy efficiency of buildings.
Public finances will be strained by the economic consequences of the pandemic. Governments, emergency services, social services, leisure infrastructure and the entertainment industry are all hard at work to identify new ways of operating, safe, efficient and sustainable, to address the “new normal”. Public sector buildings have been adapted in recent times to better support communities and help cope with the crisis. This adaptability will always be necessary to improve citizens' access and increase efficiency in the long term.
In the case of education, school infrastructure has long played a central role in supporting studies and research, but recently a combined approach of online and face-to-face lessons has been adopted as a way to cope. to the challenges of the crisis. Education providers around the world are realizing that e-learning cannot replace classroom teaching.XNUMX Nevertheless, the field of education is not adapted to the new restrictions imposed by the pandemic, and in many ways. ³ Intelligent capabilities will be needed to ensure the safety of teachers and students while delivering effective and efficient educational programs.
Making buildings smart allows for flexibility, whether in terms of changes in use, safety and security, or the increased ability to transform into exceptional circumstances, such as those brought about by the health crisis.
Indeed, there is a "perfect storm" of factors that combine to simultaneously drive change and make buildings smart. First, economic pressures resulting from the pandemic are focusing minds on ways to save money in building management (especially through energy efficiency) .4 At the same time, COVID-19 has introduced new rules and working methods to ensure hygiene, infection control and safety in buildings.5 Along with these current pressures, we observe existing and emerging regulatory requirements that make fire and fire upgrades mandatory. 6 Additionally, various policies around the world set targets for achieving higher environmental standards in buildings.
Smart buildings deploy automated and digitized technology to enable more efficient and effective building management and capabilities. Data generated by IoT (Internet of Things) sensors provides real-time information for rapid reaction. Smart technology helps shift the building from a financial burden to an active partner - a new team member - to run a facility and face the “new normal”.
This whole new perspective leads building owners and managers to take a fresh look at the underlying operational costs of their assets. The added value offered by smart buildings has already been widely recognized by expert analysts. According to the European Commission Report on the Macroeconomic and Other Benefits of Energy Efficiency, 7 a smart, better-performing building can conservatively add up to 11,8% to rental value and may ultimately add up to 5% to rental value. account, generate 35-XNUMX% higher sales values.
Dealing with the repercussions of the pandemic will put a strain on public finances. Smart buildings help deliver better and more efficient public services, using digital data streams to reduce administrative costs and introduce better use of public funds. Energy efficiency building initiatives, supported by smart financing from private capital, create additional fiscal capacity to ensure smart conversion in cities, regions and national infrastructure.
In schools around the world, smart buildings have already improved understanding and the ability to concentrate. They now manage the occupation of spaces and the safety of the students. By improving various factors such as temperature, air quality, and lighting, smart buildings will not only know what the ideal learning conditions are, but they will automatically adapt the classroom environment to create the perfect learning place. They will also contribute to remote and automated student management to ensure infection rates are minimized and children return to school.
While there is broad consensus on the need to make buildings smart, all countries and sectors must find a way to make this conversion financially viable. How do you get there?
The starting point is to use smart technology to reduce energy consumption in buildings. This provides substantial savings which, through smart financing arrangements, can be used to subsidize, or even pay for, the overall conversion of smart buildings. This can be done at the enterprise level or in small steps, each of which proves its return on investment.
Smart financing techniques to enable energy efficiency conversion and smart implementation fall into two main camps. First, there are whole building arrangements, where energy savings are harnessed to finance the cost of a complete renovation. In many cases, however, building owners and managers want to transform energy efficiency and smart technologies in smaller, incremental steps. Equally important are financing techniques that facilitate cash flow and spread the capital burden of the conversion - financing that is available to owners / managers of buildings, large to small.
The latest white paper from Siemens Financial Services (SFS) establishes the urgency and value of converting smart buildings, as well as the mandatory factors that call attention to converting existing buildings to greater energy efficiency.
At a time when building owners and managers must invest in measures to make their buildings safe and occupable, being limited in occupancy density, smart buildings present an attractive proposition. In a context of tight budgets, energy efficiency savings are increasingly seen as the ideal starting point for the transformation of smart buildings (either as a one-time investment or as a series progressive projects), with smart financing techniques playing a major role in allowing these future savings to fund the cost of the conversion.
Op-ed by Thierry Fautré, President of Siemens Financial Services France (LinkedIn).
1 World Economic Forum, This is how public buildings can serve this crisis and be ready for the next one (13 Oct 2020) https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/this-is-how-public- buildings-can-serve-this-crisis-and-get-ready-for-the-next-one /
2 See, for example: The Hindu, Coronavirus lockdown, COVID-19 widened educational divide: UNESCO,
June 24, 2020; Daily Telegraph, Two thirds of children have not taken part in online lessons, April 20, 2020; Pew Research, Some US students lack home internet or computer for homework, March 16, 2020
3 Smart Buildings Magazine, What role can smart buildings pay when we come out of lockdown, May 5, 2020
4 Bloomberg NEF, Liebreich: Energy Efficiency Key to COVID Recovery, 26 Jun 2020
5 Architectural Digest, How the COVID-19 Pandemic Will Change the Built Environment, March 18, 2020
6 Modern Building Alliance, EU Pilot project on fire safety, May 27, 2020
7 https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/documents/final_report_v4_final.pdf, p. 63-66