Scottish Smart Buildings event – a roadmap for the future

Last week saw over 60 experts from the built environment, public sector and academia come together to celebrate Smart Building innovation in Scotland and our growing reach into international markets. The buzz within the walls of the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC) was palpable as leading industry players exchanged ideas on their shared vision of improving our work spaces through cutting–edge innovation.  

Stan Mitchell, Key FM CEO and Chairman of ISO TC 267 Facilities Management commented that the success of the event in highlighting today’s technologies showed “the need for FM to translate into “added value””. 

Scottish companies leading the way in Smart Building technology

After a fast-paced seminar session during which innovators and thought leaders gave their elevator pitch on the future of Smart Buildings, there was a unique chance for peers to browse and network in the spirit of collaboration. Thanks go to representatives from:  

• Insta Energy
• The Data Lab
• Beringar
• arbnco
• Boston Networks
• Drone Scotland
• University of the West of Scotland (UWS)
• Key FM
• Keystone 

for dedicating their day to sharing insight on their contribution to the Smart Buildings space.

Eye-opening stats and predictions

With each presentation came new insights designed to ensure even this experienced audience sat up and took notice, some highlights: 

• The first fully connected autonomous office building will be a reality by August 29th, 2035… watch this space! (Beringar, From data to connected autonomous real estate)
• We spend 90% of our time indoors… time to take a lunch time walk everybody! (arbnco, Data, Data everywhere, nor any action to take) 
• Greater data sharing could release an additional £7bn per year of benefits across the UK infrastructure sectors, equivalent to 25% of total spend   
• The Riverside Museum in Glasgow saved £52.3k in energy costs last year thanks to data driven improvements, (IES, Digital Twins for the Built Environment) 

Innovation meets academia

In her highly insightful session, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships: Defining a new role for Academic Research, Dr Ashwini Konanahalli revealed details of the broad spectrum covered by the UWS KTP portfolio and specifically how it is driving innovation in the FM sector.  

Stewart McKay, KTP manager from the University of the West of Scotland commented: “The KTP programme is a strategic priority at the University of the West of Scotland. Delighted so many of our current and former KTP partners were in attendance today.” 

Evidence of the exceptional quality of the KTPs at UWS are visible in KPIs recently published by the university:  

• 95% of KTP projects completed by UWS achieve or over-achieve their objectives
• 20% of completed UWS KTPs are graded as outstanding by Innovate UK (double the UK average)
• KTPs at UWS are in the Top 10 in the UK, working across 16 different business sectors  

Key FM is proud to be working with the only Scottish University to have a dedicated KTP centre and representing the fastest growing KTP in the country. 

Industry underpinned by international standards and benchmarking

 “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it” (William Thomson, Baron Kelvin) 

is Stan Mitchell’s favoured dinner party quote and its enduring relevance was not lost on the audience. And so, the event closed with Stan’s experienced insight into values which underpin Facilities Management – standards, compliance and value add – a fitting reminder that though the new smart technologies that were on display at the event have a powerful story to tell, they need the stability of frameworks provided by ISO 41001 in order to maximise the potential of their positive impact on the workplace of today. 

Gordon Mitchell, Key FM CIO, Keystone Chief Evangelist and Chair of ISO TC 267 Facility Management Advisory Group 1 – Facilities Management Technology Task Group, commented: “We can all share in the benefits of this progress, whatever your level of adoption might be.” 

If you missed the day, you can catch up here thanks to our live stream recording from the event. 

Follow us on Linked In for insight into how we can help you ensure your business delivers on these standards and watch this space for more events with Key FM, Keystone and partners.  

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