Get the most out of your intelligent building — this CABA report shows how to optimize design and deployment of automated building management and operations

by Brianna Crandall — March 14, 2018 — The Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA), through its Intelligent Buildings Council, has completed its $150,000 collaborative research study on Intelligent Buildings: Design and Implementation. The research addresses the approach and application of technical design in intelligent high-performance buildings from the perspective of architects, building engineers, designers, OEM hardware/software providers, service providers and facilities managers (FMs).

The key focus areas of the study included:

  • Evaluating the benefits of adopting proper design and implementation practices;
  • Understanding various design processes currently in use and the ways to improve their adoption;
  • Addressing issues and challenges propagated by value chain participants and determining ways to mitigate them; and
  • Determining opportunities for collaborations and partnerships to address common challenges.

The research found that there are no clear-cut methods or implementation processes that specifically exist for intelligent building projects. Therefore, various permutations of widely used and traditional design and procurement methods, such as bid-and-spec and construction management, currently serve as “go-to methods.” Due to a lack of focus in implementation, intelligent building design implementation projects often fail their strategic objectives because of a lack of partner alignment, unclear vision and strategy, disjointed planning and the inability to effective monitor, test and adapt building performance.

The report notes that remediation of such challenges calls for consensus-building among intelligent building value chain partners, including owners and occupants, in order to deploy corrective techniques and comply with them in an objective manner. Best practices are identified in the report that can optimize design and implementation processes and strengthen the intelligent building value proposition.

Ronald J. Zimmer, CABA president and CEO, stated:

CABA believes that high-quality research focused on the proper design and implementation of building systems is crucial to staying competitive in this dynamic connected marketplace. We believe that this study helps quantify current and near-term opportunities that proper design and deployment provides to automated building management and operations.

CABA members sponsored the study. Frost & Sullivan, a CABA member and a consulting firm which provides market research and analysis, growth strategy consulting, and corporate training services across multiple industries, was contracted to undertake the research.

The Intelligent Buildings: Design and Implementation (2018) report will be released for sale at the CABA member price on June 6, 2018, after an embargo period ends.