Today, every building or asset is capable of becoming an intelligent and responsive physical environment, one that owners, operators and tenants can control and manage in increasingly useful ways.

Arup is at the forefront of efforts to bring built assets into the digital age, unifying data standards, and plugging systems together in virtual models that can lower energy use, reduce costs, and offer previously impossible levels of user interaction and control.

Although the latest generation of commercial developments often feature digital building system integration, if the built environment is to become truly sustainable, existing buildings must also benefit from these features and services. Arup designs digital systems and processes that can unify the data that buildings generate, so that functionality is not lost between individual systems.

Our smart buildings teams combine deep buildings expertise with digital skills. Our service combines consulting, design and software creation, and we work with clients worldwide.

How we can help you

Smart features

Smart buildings provide new ways to understand and manage occupancy too – an agenda that has only grown in importance post-pandemic.

Smart features

The level of integrated insight produced means that building owners can boost productivity, improve user health and wellbeing, and establish a consistent user experience across multiple sites and locations.

Smart buildings video cover
Smart buildings and intelligent offices spaces will transform our work experience. In collaboration with the University of Southern California, Arup has developed the Internet of Things (IoT) desk as a platform for providing information and interaction. Using cost-effective sensors and machine learning, we can assess user position and make adjustments.

Smart buildings provide new ways to meet users’ increasing digital expectations, whether it’s personal control of the environment, acoustics, lighting, space booking or audio/visual features. Smart buildings provide new ways to understand and manage occupancy too – an agenda that has only grown in importance post-pandemic.

 

Efficiency, control and net zero

 

Our teams help clients to operate buildings or assets so that they provide real-time services tuned to occupancy, avoiding wasted energy on heating, lighting and air-conditioning. Investing in smart building technology also makes meeting regulatory and reporting requirements like NABERS and GRESB much easier. 

 

Meet investor goals

 

Investors are increasingly seeking assurance that buildings meet common data standards, with an expectation that asset and user data is interoperable and secure. It must also be auditable and compliant with evolving regulatory standards. Investors are conscious of energy and resource regulations, and effective data infrastructure is a vital part of meeting these requirements. Digital services are pivotal to a site or asset remaining attractive to future occupiers. 

 

Portfolio level insights

 

The smart buildings approach gains in value when applied to a whole portfolio, applying hardware and software uniformly across each site. It enables automation of reporting on energy use, health, occupancy, air quality, energy use, and other performance metrics. It offers operators a new level of commercial insight, improving decision making. It also means an organisation can promise (and deliver) the same experience to users and tenants across each site. Embracing common standards means that technology suppliers and partners can also easily scale and implement the services required, including digital wayfinding, user environmental controls, and more.

Digital strategy

We work with client teams to identify the data architecture needed by the building or asset they intend to produce, aligning the information from core systems to the desired visitor/user experience.

Digital strategy

At the start of a project we identify the improvements in productivity and space utilisation required.

Smart controller on a wall

Our property insights process unifies all the performance data produced by a building’s many systems, helping you to fully understand the building for the first time.

Health and wellbeing targets can be set too, before specifying the technology and data services necessary. This is also the moment to define the operational changes required to meet an organisation’s particular net zero goals.

 

We work with client teams to identify the data architecture needed by the building or asset they intend to produce, aligning the information from core systems to the desired visitor/user experience. This also includes specification and design of the software that end users and site managers will use to manage and control the building and its environment.

 

Read - Visible, connected, intelligent: how to solve the building data problem

Smart systems

Our smart building designs integrate sensor networks enabling monitoring, measurement, and management of a building in the most efficient way.

Smart systems

Our smart building designs integrate building and sensor network systems enabling advanced analytics that monitor, measure and manage the building in the most efficient way.

Stonecutters Bridge in Hong Kong makes extensive use of real time monitoring - we are able to implement similar approaches in a range of buildings.

We document our designs in detailed specifications to ensure future-proof and cost-effective solutions, in ways simple for the supply chain to work with.

 

Retrofit and upgrade

 

Existing buildings can be retrofitted with smart features. Our ‘property insight’ process identifies then enables connections between every building system, working to open data standards. The result is a building that has gained secure and highly functional intelligence, enabling portfolio level integration for those with multiple buildings or sites. We ensure technology procurement remains flexible and cost-effective for clients and tenants.

 

Learn more about our 'property insights' process

Dashboards and oversight

We believe that the promise of technology should be that buildings get more, not less efficient over time.

Dashboards and oversight

We believe that the promise of technology should be that buildings get more, not less efficient over time.

Neuron is an app that integrates our insights into the built environment with emerging digital technologies into a single platform. Find out more about Neuron.

Once the smart building development process is complete, our ‘property insight’ dashboards enable optimisation of ongoing operation and performance. 

 

We have also developed apps that use machine learning to turn patterns of user behaviour and preference into useful predictions and intelligence – on everything from cooling system operations to occupancy levels or sustainability performance.