Ju ne 2018
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THE SHAPESHIFTER OF URBAN LANDSCAPES An exclusive interview with thyssenkrupp Elevator CEO Andreas Schierenbeck
JOHNSON CONTROLS Why BIM is at the heart of the building revolution
SIEMENS BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES In pursuit of innovation in the Middle East
TOP 10 CHARTER HALL
and the rise of proptech
Most expensive infrastructurfre projects
FOREWORD HELLO AND WELCOME to the June issue of Construction Global magazine. This month’s cover story focuses on urban landscapes and the increasing reliance on skycrapers to deal with growing populations. Our exclusive interview looks at how innovation elevator designs can transform the makeup of tall buildings. Andreas Schierenbeck, CEO of the $9bn elevator division of German industrial giant thyssenkrupp, answers our questions. Other hot topics covered this month include building information modelling, green MEP projects, and sustainable supply chain operations. On top of this, our top 10 looks at the most expensive infrastructure projects in the world, while the events section offers a lowdown on the key tradeshows coming up in the months ahead. Finally, the issue rounds off with further exclusive insights, including Charter Hall, Digita Oy, Groningen Seaports, Server Farm and Siemens Building Technologies. As always, please tweet your feedback to @ConstructionGL
Enjoy the issue! www.constructionglobal.com www.bizclikmedia.com
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F E AT U R E S
The shape-shifter of urban landscapes
10 C O N S T R U C T I O N S T R AT E G I E S
CONSTRUCTION 4.0
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BIM: BRIDGING THE GAPS BETWEEN ON-SITE SYSTEMS
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MISSION CRITICAL
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NEWTECNIC: NATURALLY EFFICIENT
HOW TO UNITE YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN WITH ADJUNO
S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y
62 TOP 10
MOST EXPENSIVE INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN THE WORLD
TOP 10
50
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E V E N T S A N D A S S O C I AT I O N S 5
C O M PA N Y PROFILES
80 Digita Oy EUROPE
90
Groningen Seaports EUROPE
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106 Server Farm EUROPE
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Siemens Building Technologies MIDDLE EAST
122 Charter Hall ANZ
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NAHB Industry forward USA
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UCSF PCMB Project The Precision Cancer Medicine Building (PCMB) BIM4FM Project USA
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The shape-shift of urban landsc The unstoppable tide of urbanisation is forcing architects and builders to make more out of less space. Construction Global talks to thyssenkrupp Elevator CEO Andreas Schierenbeck to see how it is solving an important part of the puzzle Wr it t e n by TO M WA D LOW
ter capes
C O N S T R U C T I O N S T R AT E G I E S
“Two station be connecte MULTI syste travels up, d left and righ much cheap any other fo construction
Andreas Schierenbeck, C thyssenkrupp Elevator
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June 2018
ns can ed by a em that down, ht. It is per than orm of n�
CEO,
HIGH RISE BUILDINGS are on the up in more ways than one. Since the turn of the millennium the number of high-rises over 200m has more than tripled, while more than 180 buildings measuring 250m in height are currently under construction. This has and will continue to be the answer to sprawling urban populations. Half of the world’s population already live in cities, a figure set to rise to 70% by the end of the century. With available land in city locations ever at a premium, urban planners, architects and construction firms are looking upwards for answers. But looking upwards presents another problem. The taller buildings become, the more reliant they are on elevator installations to move larger numbers of people around. On average, some 40% of usable high-rise floor space is devoured by elevator shafts. However, while this conundrum may leave urban planners scratching their heads, engineering firms are sensing opportunities to open up massive new revenue streams by reinventing the way people navigate tall buildings. Thyssenkrupp Elevator is certainly among this group of protagonists. A $9bn-revenue subsidiary of the German industrial giant, its 50,000-strong cohort of engineers and support staff serve 1,000 locations in 150 countries. CEO Andreas Schierenbeck is therefore better placed than most to discuss the challenges and opportunities of developing more efficient 13
C O N S T R U C T I O N S T R AT E G I E S skyscraper mobility solutions. “The problem actually gets worse the higher the building is,” he explains. “Many rope-based elevator systems need a transfer lobby at a certain height, which is wasting another floor completely as people are going out of one elevator into another. “It’s a waste of space, material and money from my point of view, and it is costing us productivity and GDP, just as a traffic jam does in London or other big cities.” The greater number of occupants also requires taller buildings to house more elevator shafts, by virtue of
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the fact that traditional installations can only accommodate one cabin. Enter MULTI Schierenbeck believes thyssenkrupp Elevator has the answer. MULTI is the world’s first rope-free elevator, harnessing the power of linear motor technology to move multiple cabins horizontally and vertically. With many cabins operating in one system (one up to every 50m of lift shaft), the potential to save vital floor space is clear, as the need to build numerous singlecabin elevator shafts is removed.
Video: thyssenkrupp MULTI rope-less elevator for metros
“The waiting time for the people is reduced dramatically also,” Schierenbeck adds, “because the cabins are smaller and we estimate that every 20-30 seconds a new cabin can arrive, taking six to eight people, and sending them to their final destination. “Another point is that you’re only sharing a cabin with people who are going to the same floor without any interruptions.” The linear motor technology also addresses the issue caused by height, removing the limitations caused by rope-based systems which depend on building strength to operate. The ability to move laterally also takes away restrictions for architects, who need no longer be concerned about elevator shaft height and vertical alignment. After rigorous development and
190MN HOURS amount of time lost to elevator maintenance every year
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“If we look into the service part of the elevator business we predict that every elevator, on average, has a tendency to stop four to six times a year. This translates into overall downtime for the elevator industry at around 190mn hours annually� Andreas Schierenbeck, CEO thyssenkrupp Elevator
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C O N S T R U C T I O N S T R AT E G I E S testing, thyssenkrupp Elevator is carrying out the first MULTI installation for OVG Real Estate in Berlin, at the company’s new East Side Tower project which sits adjacent to the Mercedes-Benz Arena. Schierenbeck believes that MULTI, often referred to as the Willy Wonka elevator, can be a gamechanger not only for transit in buildings, but also between them. He cites the possibility to connect underground metro stations – sites which may not be far apart but are at different depths and serving different rail lines. Metro stations are complex infrastructures that connect several
rail lines overlapped in a very restricted space. London’s busiest tube station, Waterloo, handles 95mn passengers every year and the deepest platform in the network is 58m below street level, at Hampstead. “Two stations can be connected by a MULTI system that travels up, down, left and right,” Schierenbeck says. “It is much cheaper than any other form of construction, and we have had discussions with Transport for London (TfL) about the money-saving potential.” Speaking at the time of the first meeting with TfL, Schierenbeck said: “If applied it would undoubtedly
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change the face of London’s transport network, and reinforce the UK’s position at the head of global innovations. Yet it also offers a practical solution that could ease congestion in dozens of underground networks across the world too.” A waiting game While MULTI’s potential to transform the design of buildings and metro installations is apparent, there is also an important facilities management dimension to consider. Elevator downtime can have an enormous impact on the productivity 18
June 2018
of a building, a costly problem given that, worldwide, more than 12mn elevators make 7bn trips moving more than a billion people every day. “Downtime is a big issue,” Schierenbeck says. “If we look into the service part of the elevator business we predict that every elevator, on average, has a tendency to stop four to six times a year. This translates into overall downtime for the elevator industry at around 190mn hours annually.” A study by Columbia University sheds further light on the issue. It found that in 2010, office workers in
100GB
amount of data processed by MAX every day
New York spent a cumulative 16.6 years waiting for elevators, compared to 5.9 years actually riding in them. “Another problem is that once the elevator has stopped working, you have to wait for facilities management or a client to pick up the phone and say their elevator needs repairs,” Schierenbeck adds. “That’s one of the reasons for creating MAX, to transfer the data out of the elevator, sending it to the cloud, using the intelligence to process the data.” MAX is a real-time, cloudbased predictive maintenance platform. Leveraging the power 19
C O N S T R U C T I O N S T R AT E G I E S of machine learning and IoT, as well as providing real-time alerts to engineers, it can predict some issues before they occur. So far, downtime has been reduced for more than 41,500 customers, with major markets being Germany, the US, South Korea and Spain. “This is around 120-130,000 elevators,” Schierenbeck says. “They are generating 150mn data transactions a day, which translates
into around 100 gigabytes of data to process on a daily basis.” Thyssenkrupp Elevator engineers are also taking advantage of the smartest equipment when on-site, including the likes of Microsoft HoloLens, a partnership which saw Business Chief visit New York for a demonstration. While maintenance technology is being deployed with full force, Schierenbeck foresees a future
where the construction industry embraces truly transformational solutions such as MULTI. “There were some pauses in building taller and taller, partly because we lacked the technology, but from a construction point of view these limits are being taken away. The elevator was one of these limits, now we have a solution that makes it possible to build as high as you want.”
“There were some pauses in building taller and taller, partly because we lacked the technology, but from a construction point of view these limits are being taken away. The elevator was one of these limits, now we have a solution that makes it possible to build as high as you want” Andreas Schierenbeck, CEO thyssenkrupp Elevator
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TECHNOLOGY
BIM: BRIDGING THE GAPS BETWEEN ON-SITE SYSTEMS Simon Rooks, General Manager of the Special Projects Group at Johnson Controls, on how building information management systems are at the heart of the smart revolution in construction Writ ten by DAN BRIGHTMORE
“Essentially BIM systems act as a matrix, connecting up your entire building so you can gain actionable insights into the data coming from your smart systems� Simon Rooks, General Manager of the Special Projects Group, Johnson Controls
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SIMON ROOKS IS General Manager of the Special Projects Group at Johnson Controls, a position that requires and develops expertise on all things building information modeling (BIM). Construction Global asked Rooks to explain how BIM systems are at the heart of the smart revolution in construction that is changing the entire landscape for developers and constructors alike.
TECHNOLOGY
Simon Rooks, General Manager of the Special Projects Group at Johnson Controls: The notion that buildings are soon to be transformed by a wave of connected devices has become pretty widely accepted in the construction industry. For contractors and construction professionals, it’s increasingly becoming an issue that has to be addressed at the planning stage. Adopting BIM requires investment cross the whole supply chain. That can
be a challenge if you’re bidding on a contract under tight cost pressure. When you’re delivering against a contract, there’s always a trade-off between time and cost pressures and the introduction of new technology. Ultimately, you have to get the building done on time and within budget. For smaller contractors in particular, that can become a challenge if you also have to incorporate the requirements of BIM systems – wiring, integrated systems and 27
TECHNOLOGY
FOUNDED IN 1885, IT’S A GLOBAL DIVERSIFIED TECHNOLOGY LEADER WITH CUSTOMERS ACROSS INDUSTRY SECTORS IN OVER 150 COUNTRIES SERVED BY OVER 120,000 EMPLOYEES AT 2,000 WORLDWIDE LOCATIONS
Simon Rooks, General Manager of the Special Projects Group, Johnson Controls
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specific hardware – from the start. Subsequently, we are currently seeing BIM being introduced primarily on higher-end projects with larger budgets. Designing and installing BIM systems at the construction stage requires a very different set of skills, so it won’t happen overnight. But what starts in large-scale projects always eventually trickles down over time to the rest of the industry. This means that construction companies of all sizes need to consider how the growing demand for BIM is likely to affect them. Will they be able to provide the expertise and support needed when their customers start asking whether they can offer BIM? Key benefits First, though, it’s worth taking a step back and reminding ourselves what all the fuss is about. Why is BIM considered so essential all of a sudden? Put simply, a good BIM system can provide you with technology cost savings, improved communications and greater productivity. It can also help you improve the safety of your building and ensure that visitors are restricted to appropriate areas. It can improve fire
Video: Smart Buildings | A Day in the Life at Johnson Controls
detection and suppression and help facilities management teams to oversee all the essential activities going on around the site from a single dashboard. How? By collecting, consolidating and presenting to a single command point all the information generated by smart sensors and systems throughout the build. Essentially BIM systems act as a matrix, connecting up your entire building so you can gain actionable insights into the data coming from your smart systems. With that matrix in place, you can connect all sorts of dots. Weather sensor tells you it’s raining? Expect a heavy load on your car park this morning. Access systems report an unauthorised entry attempt? CCTV automatically locates the incident and gives security teams eyes on the ground. Energy consumption through the roof? Motion sensors automatically 29
TECHNOLOGY switch off electricity in rooms that aren’t in use. Not only is this great news for occupants, but it will also allow construction companies to charge a premium. Future-proofing An effective integrated BIM system, however, should not just be focused on the present, but also have an eye to the future of a building. By nature, technology changes fast, and construction companies need to be aware of the potential demands that the ever-accelerating rate of technological change could put on them. Buildings, like dogs, are not just for Christmas. They last for decades, and any investment in building management systems needs to be built to last. What looks like the best system for the job now may not still be performing in the best way several years from now, particularly given the march of technology on these essential systems. The tools we use to protect and manage our properties are changing fast, so it’s essential for the modern construction company to consider a more forward-looking approach to new installations and upgrades. 30
June 2018
“By integrating building systems you can build a futureready network environment with the ability to grow as technology advances and communications needs evolve” Simon Rooks, General Manager of the Special Projects Group, Johnson Controls
A FORTUNE GLOBAL 500 COMPANY BOASTING ANNUAL REVENUE IN EXCESS OF $30BN ALLIED TO A COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY DATING BACK TO ITS ROOTS IN 1885 WHEN IT BECAME THE FIRST COMPANY TO MANUFACTURE THE ELECTRIC ROOM THERMOSTAT
As the internet of things (IoT) moves further into the realm of facilities management and construction, building-wide system integration is more important than ever before. A convergence of building, specialty, business and information systems can be attained, eliminating redundant, isolated systems managed under various vendors and communication
channels. The convergence of these systems allows entities previously operating in silos to connect, share and optimise data across technology platforms, knocking down the walls of proprietary systems and using one common communication language. The result is a holistic systems environment, managed on a unified and intelligent infrastructure. 31
TECHNOLOGY
“As buildings become smarter, greener and more interconnected, construction companies are working with companies that can provide integrated packages. They need the ability to tackle not just design and installation but security in a holistic manner� Simon Rooks, General Manager of the Special Projects Group, Johnson Controls
Caption to the image
More importantly, by integrating building systems you can build a future-ready network environment with the ability to grow as technology advances and communications needs evolve. Consolidating into a single logical management structure lets you plug in and take out components as needed, so you can incorporate the latest tech and do away with older items without always having to totally rebuild your infrastructure. Making it happen At the bottom of it, the idea of ‘smart buildings’ is all about data. BIM makes that data usable. But it needs hard infrastructure to work. Dedicated wiring must be laid for information exchange, and many buildings will need to be designed from the ground up around the systems to be deployed. As mentioned earlier, all of this will take a toll on construction companies’ supply chains. They’ll need to engage with new suppliers, learn about new installation techniques and adjust their timescales accordingly. In other words, you can only get the rewards by putting in the work at the front end. The traditional approach to construction is to break the job
down by packages and appoint subcontractors to do individual elements of the build. However, as buildings become smarter, greener and more interconnected, construction companies are working with companies that can provide integrated packages. They need the ability to tackle not just design and installation but security in a holistic manner. If the system covers the whole building, the contractor will need to do the same. What’s more, if you’re employing lots of subcontractors, it’s much harder to manage them against your standards – running an integrated model reduces that workload. Our view With all that in mind, let’s look at some real-world examples from Johnson Controls’ current portfolio. In terms of innovation, we’re looking to lead the way on BIM for smart buildings at our HQ in Cork, Ireland. Designed to exhibit the best cutting edge smart building technology, 1 Albert Quay demonstrates how BIM can change the way buildings are run. For example, when someone enters the building, the AC2000 Linux-based access management 33
TECHNOLOGY system identifies which floor they are booked to visit and, in tandem with Schindler’s smart lifts, directs them to the lift which will get there first, saving on time and energy. Once arrived at that floor, the system will only let them into meeting rooms for which they have been pre-approved, reducing the risk of information breaches. The car park also has number plate recognition technology installed to ensure that only employees or registered guests can gain access. We’re also building partnerships with other industry leaders to push for BIM innovation. In partnership with Autodesk, Johnson Controls has invested heavily in some of the best BIM authoring and reviewing tools on the market. We currently use Autodesk Revit, Autodesk Navisworks, BIM 360 Team, Collaboration for Revit (C4R) and BIM 360 Glue and will continue to research the best tools and introduce them into our business. We also hold a monthly ‘BIM Chalk Talk’ discussion with our partner Autodesk, to be sure we are working in the best possible way and using the most up to date tools. 34
June 2018
JOHNSON CONTROLS CREATE INTELLIGENT BUILDINGS, EFFICIENT ENERGY SOLUTIONS, INTEGRATED INFRASTRUCTURE AND NEXT GENERATION TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS TO WORK SEAMLESSLY TOGETHER TO DELIVER ON THE PROMISE OF SMART CITIES AND COMMUNITIES
Finally, in terms of our goals in the space, we’re taking a holistic approach. First of all, Johnson Controls is always looking for the best-in-class BIM personnel. We have created a large network across the globe that is highly skilled in delivering BIM to our clients. We are committed to the continuous training of our personnel to keep up to speed with the latest developments in BIM, and are training our teams
globally with the help of a customised Autodesk Training course to ensure fluidity amongst our design teams. We’re also a manufacturer of over 10,000 products and are currently creating BIM Objects for our customers’ project requirements, and will expand this to include the full library going forward. In line with that, we’re working towards a BRE BIM Level 2 Certification to show our ‘BIM Readiness’. 35
MISSION CRITICAL
NEWTECNIC: NATURALLY EFFICIENT
CEO Andrew Watts on how its strategic approach to MEP solutions results in more bespoke solutions with proven green credentials Writ ten by DAN BRIGHTMORE
NEWTECNIC WORKS WITH integrated strategies so the MEP engineering on a construction project is environmentally controlled by mechanical or natural means. It’s achieved by linking it to the structural and envelope design strategies so, rather than having a loose fit between the different parts of the design, Newtecnic can seek an integrated fit. For example, a heavy concrete 38
June 2018
structure can benefit from the thermal capacity of sufficiently exposed material, in walls and floor finishes, allowing Newtecnic to innovate and generate the environmental MEP design from the loads imposed upon it, rather than choosing an economic system and getting it to work. “We like to work with the building physics to be able to respond to the nature of the structure and the
MISSION CRITICAL
“We like to work with the building physics to be able to respond to the nature of the structure” Andrew Watts - CEO, Newtecnic
envelope,” explains Newtecnic CEO Andrew Watts. “If we have a quick response façade system – one that heats up and cools down speedily – that suggests a very different way of handling the MEP to a heavy concrete-based façade system, particularly where you have interior spaces with exposed concrete finishes. The heating/ cooling loads and ventilation strategy,
which we try and encourage clients to make as naturally ventilated as possible, those are the drivers.” Watts identifies air movement around a building and through its spaces as of primary importance in zoning a building and providing the right mechanical and electrical services to those parts of the building that need it. “HVAC is the core of the environmental 39
MISSION CRITICAL design and primary tool we work with, while the supply of electricity, water, soil and waste etc. are secondary and user driven,” he adds. So, what innovations does Newtecnic favour to achieve optimum results? “For large spaces we’re big fans of VAV (variable air volume) but the industry still prefers variations on the CAV (constant air volume) system,” says Watts. “We believe varying the air volume in a building is technically more efficient. It’s currently more expensive, but we encourage clients to use a superior approach and find ways of making it cost effective. The capital cost, and in use costs, tend to win but we urge clients to work with manufacturers to make the more technically advanced systems competitive for design and installation.” Newtecnic collaborates with the building physics software house Console to improve its CFE capability and deployment. Watts notes HVAC equipment is relatively generic, and it’s the building physics and energy consumption he is keen to focus on. The company is planning to work more closely with HVAC manufacturers during the tender stage to gain greater cost insights while aiming to create more bespoke solutions with 3D models. “For us the primary output of MEP design, apart from thermal analysis, is 3D models that show how the whole design fits together,” maintains Watts. “We’re doing this as a primary design resolution tool in order to reduce duct runs to a minimum as we prefer to get air flowing through a building rather than squirt air locally. The large air 40
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“We would rather be working with thinner configurations reducing energy consumption and promoting a more environmental approach than we’ve seen utilised on the likes of university campuses” Andrew Watts - CEO, Newtecnic
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MISSION CRITICAL displacement method is the way we prefer to work making the MEP installation as efficient as possible.” Watts notes that over the past 15 years the industry has been moving towards natural ventilation and encouraging ways of circulating air where you need it: “It’s an important trend in contemporary design and one that needs to be developed to move away from the inherent disadvantages of simply opening a window for a gust of air; and complicated and expensive double-skinned facades where the air is blocked by an outer screen and then introduced locally into a cavity between the outer and inner skins. We would rather be working with thinner configurations reducing energy consumption and promoting a more environmental approach than we’ve seen utilised on the likes of university campuses. Let’s face it, working in a 1980s-built sealed box that’s mechanically ventilated is not an enjoyable experience.” Allied to this, Watts cites an increasing preference with envelope designs for shaded façades that don’t allow high levels of daylight for their own sake, enabling energy
consumption to be significantly reduced. “In hotter countries there’s been increasing acceptance of these designs with less glass allowing for increased energy efficiency in the way they are mechanically ventilated and in the services of electrical lighting etc.” Meanwhile, he identifies a challenge in more temperate climates: “Designers are still very keen on glazed facades which provide an idea of transparency as a design principle. Heavy use of this approach makes a building energy inefficient and difficult to improve upon. The love affair with glazing is still a concern for us (with office campuses etc) so we would encourage more opacity in design rather than relying on a view into a space via a flat glass façade. “Some architects are looking at modelled, curved concrete and much more opaque wall façades along with the ability of materials like concrete to be exposed internally, which allows for the thermal mass to benefit from night time ventilation keeping the building cooler in the summer months. It’s a challenge for designers who are often less engaged with the technical aspects and the 43
move towards energy efficiency.” Newtecnic has put its MEP principles to the test on high profile mission critical projects such as Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District Metro Station, designed by the late Zaha Hadid. “The primary achievement is energy consumption close to that of a temperate climate,” explains Watts. “For a large railway station, the amount of glazing, incidental daylight and solar incident has been reduced through the detailed design of the building. We’ve provided shading over glazed openings so there’s an 44
June 2018
adequate level of daylight, but we have drastically reduced solar load therefore the cooling load has been reduced significantly. The geometry of the building encourages that shrink wrap of spaces. The way the façade controls that heat and light is critical to the building’s success.” Elsewhere, Newtecnic is working on a new office tower under construction in the Middle East, employing large areas of opaque concrete façades. “We only allow light in where it’s needed,” reveals Watts. “The glazed facades feature a thin double skin build up where we have a 300mm
MISSION CRITICAL gap and the HVAC passes through the façade up into the ceiling void. Where this has been used on some high-profile projects in continental Europe, we’re using it as a regular economic solution for the Middle East so we can offer the benefits of opaque façades and passing air through the glazed façades. “Unlike those European projects we’re not using this approach as a way of controlling a huge expanse of glass, we’re implementing this where we have vertical glass blades and thin glass panels as continuous thin
strips of glazing. It allows us to control the energy consumption through the façade by passing cool and warmed air through the void within the double skin façade, where we have blinds that can be raised and lowered. We’re doing this to reduce energy consumption rather than as a way of countering the effect of a large-scale glass façade in an all glass building where that kind of tech would typically be deployed. We do this to create an energy consumption comparable to that of a temperate climate in what is quite an extreme one.”
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MISSION CRITICAL All of its projects, including the likes of the Grand Theatre of Rabat have a strong environmental component. The KCTV Tower in Instanbul has large areas of opaque façades balanced by expansive areas of narrow band glazing to give a dramatic view out whilst keeping the building thermally insulated. Elsewhere in Instabul, Newtecnic is working on the IKM City Museum (currently under construction with Salon Architects) reveals Watts: “It
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has large opaque façades where we were able to create small windows across it that avoid the oppressive nature of a large blank concrete façade, which as projects from the 70s and 80s showed can have an alienating effect on the urban landscapes around them. Cassette panels on the outside still have thermal insulation benefits with small windows inserted into them, and then a solar shading on the outside of that which is also a rain screen to protect the waterproof membrane behind it. It’s a folded geometry building that creates quite a sparkling effect due to its façades which create a sense of transparency, as you’re invited to look at and through the building along with a thin band of glazing that goes right around the ground floor of the building. One area that is much more protected environmentally is in the courtyard, which is full-height glazed and again has metal screens on the inside it to protect against the heating effects of the sun.” Conscious of the need to further develop its MEP offering, Newtecnic is concentrating on plug-ins for air handling around buildings on generic software to show the modelling of
air and energy movement which can then be shared as freeware with manufacturers. Watts believes sharing knowledge is critical for the adoption of energy efficient HVAC systems and confirms this plug-in will work with standard energy-based software used by manufacturers. “We like to be proactive in what we do and want to be able to demonstrate a solution in a fairly interactive way. We want the industry to move forward and the best way to do that is to do it yourself. The construction industry offers that benefit – it’s still quite open to fundamental development that’s
perhaps not always the case in other engineering-based industries.” He concludes: “We want to narrow down the options to the best available – it’s what we did with façade design and we’re taking the same approach with MEP. In structures you can combine different functions into a single component but MEP design is quite fragmented and with currently few opportunities for integration of electricity, water etc., the reduction of components is key to success as we aim to further imitate the benefits of the natural environment inside the building.” 47
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HOW TO UNITE YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN WITH ADJUNO
Adjuno’s Global Business Development Director Alan Gunner on how the cloud-based software specialist can support the sustainability needs of construction supply chains with a multi-module scalable solution Writ ten by DAN BRIGHTMORE
S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y ADJUNO IS PART of Cargo Services Group, a well-established global freight forwarding company with annual turnover in excess of $1bn. Starting out as an in-house software team, over the years that team has become a department branching off into other services. These were brought together in 2016 to form Adjuno and go to market directly offering out of the box, real time and tailored cloud software solutions working with companies of all sizes across industries, including AXA Insurance, Marks & Spencer and John Lewis. Adjuno’s Business Development Director Alan Gunner explains that its modular software is offered subscription based with hosting and integrates with any ERP system. The name Adjuno is derived from the Latin word, which means ‘Unite’. “It’s a word that embodies what we can do for you,” affirms Gunner. “With business operations being conducted on an increasingly global basis, we recognised there was a need for companies to have a single ‘United’ community, particularly within the supply chain arena. This is so that optimal levels of efficiency and quality 52
June 2018
could be achieved. Our business was formed based on this simple yet powerful concept. We develop, deliver and support cloud-based B2B SCM software solutions that revolutionise the way businesses operate.” Adjuno offers a range of modules that support the end to end supply chain journey for its customers and can also support the construction industry. “It starts with bringing suppliers on board; on to manufacturing, managing raw materials and ethical standards right through to helping customers manage their product with accreditation, legislation, design specs, pricing – anything to do with product lifecycle management,” reveals Gunner. “We then look after the physical movement of goods all the way up to container level visibility across multiple modes of transport towards delivery at a DC (distribution centre). Generally, that’s where our involvement ends as we don’t cover last mile delivery.” What trends is Gunner seeing in the industry that can support the needs of construction supply chains? “Around 60% of the UK’s top retailers are using an Adjuno solution,” confirms Gunner, who notes a clear
“With business operations being conducted on an increasingly global basis, we recognised there was a need for companies to have a single ‘United’ community, particularly within the supply chain arena” Alan Gunner, Global Business Development Director, Adjuno
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step by construction firms towards understanding how they can make the supply chain more efficient being driven by two key factors. “One is the need to have more control from a sustainable/ethical perspective because today it’s not acceptable to not know where goods are coming from, how the raw materials were produced or how the workers at a given factory are being treated. “Of course, the second driver is cost and efficiency where we’re seeing companies pushing to understand 54
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what they can do better. Gone are the days when supply chains were just there to support core purpose and getting products into stores to sell. Our customers are looking at speeding up their processes, with less friction, while gaining insights from data they collect to become more cost efficient. We’re being asked more and more to leverage the historical data we have. As a business we go back more than 20 years providing supply chain solutions so we’re looking at ways of turning that
“We would encourage anyone with a supply chain to look at it with some professional honesty and ask themselves how they can do it better… Is it running as efficiently, quickly and cost effectively as possible?” Alan Gunner, Global Business Development Director, Adjuno
11MN PROCESSES MANAGED PER MONTH
experience into actionable insights.” From a construction industry perspective, Gunner remembers a meeting he had with the team at industrial building materials company James Hardie during this year’s annual Multimodal event for the logistics industries. “It highlighted the fact that though retailers lead the way in supply chain evolution, construction companies like theirs are keen to leverage those learnings and take inspiration from what the typical high street retailers have 55
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done and apply those skills and habits to their business. We’re here to help unlock those learnings.” What advice would Gunner give to construction firms navigating their supply chain challenges? “We would encourage anyone with a supply chain to look at it with some professional honesty and ask themselves how they can do it better. Is it running as efficiently, quickly and cost effectively as possible? These are difficult questions that help you start to peel back the layers and see what positive changes can be made. When we engage with a prospective client it typically involves doing some client analysis and evaluation to ratify and verify work they’ve already completed, or carrying out a full study on their behalf.” Gunner believes there is still much room for improvement: “It’s quite frustrating for companies because there are often false horizons
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when you find another aspect of the supply chain that should be upgraded. We would encourage them to be open to new ways of working, implementing new systems to move away from their heavy reliance on spreadsheets and email. The old systems are convoluted and we can help cut through that and streamline processes, but it requires them to be open minded.” Adjuno has two decades of experience to draw on which Gunner feels sets it apart from other operators in the market. “We’ve got a huge amount of data to mine from which has allowed us to develop 18 different modules that can take an operation from sourcing raw materials through to delivering into a DC. That breadth of solution, and the depth each solution goes to, is quite unique in the market. You can get FRM, PLM and logistics solutions but we’re one of the few, if not the only one, to deliver
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them as one end-to-end solution.” Gunner highlights how a sustainable and ethical approach to the supply chain is available as an out-of-the-box solution from Adjuno. “Our Ethical Audit module supports a sustainable approach with a raft of functionality to help an organisation monitor the practices in their factories. Part of that is understanding, particularly for fashion retailers we deal with, where their fabrics are being made, where the raw materials are coming from and how the workers making them are being treated,” he explains. “At a basic level the Ethical Audit is a repository of all that information which is then visible and has the ability to be interrogated to understand how things are working. Allied to this are gates and standards that suppliers have to achieve, and be recognised by, so the retailer is able to monitor the procurement.” The next step for Adjuno is to further leverage predictive analytics and machine learning. Gunner maintains that on the back of the amount of data Adjuno is collecting, it can start adding a layer of intelligence for its customers to provide insights and suggest what they could or should be doing as a
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Video: Supply Chain Software | Adjuno SCM Solutions
“Our Ethical Audit module supports a sustainable approach with a raft of functionality to help an organisation monitor the practices in their factories. Part of that is understanding, particularly for fashion retailers we deal with, where their fabrics are being made, where the raw materials are coming from and how the workers making them are being treated� Alan Gunner, Global Business Development Director, Adjuno 59
S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y result. It can make those decisions quicker and easier and take some of the guesswork out of the process. “Data flows, product flows, lead times, weather patterns, shipping patterns – you name it and we’ve got a view on it,” says Gunner. “And we’re able to offer some kind of trend analysis for each particular shipment.” However, Gunner predicts the implementation of supply chain solutions is going to get tougher before it gets easier as organisations unearth new challenges. “You can’t manage, what you can’t measure,” he warns, “though Adjuno is already providing solutions for the more forward-thinking retailers. If the sustainability-oriented
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user group we ran last year is anything to go by, we’ll see a number of retailers collaborating and sharing best practice to leverage each other’s work for mutual gain. It’s certainly an area where the competitive and political challenges are far less prevalent.” It’s why Gunner believes the future is bright. “We want to grow and remain profitable while delivering an exciting roadmap of products – all oriented around intelligence and predictive analytics. From a market perspective, we want to understand what people are challenged with and find ways to help overcome those obstacles to deliver renewed efficiency and sustainability.”
8,000 INSURANCE CLAIMS TRACKED PER MONTH
150 CUSTOMERS AND ORGANISATIONS GLOBALLY
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MOST EXPENSIVE INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN THE WORLD In order of price tag, here are the biggest and costliest projects either already completed or ongoing W r i t t e n b y TA M S I N O X F O R D
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KANSAI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT www.kansai-airport.or.jp/en/
PRICE TAG: $20bn DATE: 1994
ITAIPU DAM www.itaipu.gov.br/en/pressoffice/faq
PRICE TAG: $19.6bn DATE: 2008 An extraordinary project that should be emulated around the world, the Itaipu Dam generates 16% of the energy needed in Brazil and 76% of the energy consumed in Paraguay. It is, according to its own hype, the largest clean, renewable energy generator on the planet and had produced more than 2.4bn MWh by 2015. 64
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One of the busiest airports in the world was once just sea and soft ground. After billions in development, land reclamation and extraordinary engineering, Japan’s Kansai International Airport is one of the most expensive and impressive feats of modern infrastructure development.
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THE BIG DIG https://goo.gl/iTfGhd
PRICE TAG: $23bn DATE: 2007
8 THE CHANNEL TUNNEL www.eurotunnel.com/uk/build
PRICE TAG: $22.4bn DATE: 1994 The tunnel that links the south coast of England to France took more than five years to finish – it started in 1988 and finished in 1994 – and has been given the impressive title of one of the seven wonders of the modern world. It also redefined collaboration between the UK and France as 13,000 workers from both countries turned the idea into reality.
For those who lived in Boston, Massachusetts, the Big Dig was a part of everyday life for many, many years. It started in 1984 and ended in 2007, but it ended up being the most complex, technologically challenging and remarkable highway project in the USA. According to the official site, during the peak construction time, $3mn of work was done each day.
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AL MAKTOUM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT www.airport-technology.com/ projects/al-maktoum
PRICE TAG: $35.7bn DATE: Estimated to complete in 2020 Al Maktoum International Airport, Dubai, has an eyewatering bill attached to its phased construction – $33bn – and it is planned for completion in 2020. The airport is being built in phases and has some impressive statistics attached to its size and capability. It will be, at the end of its time as a building site, the largest airport in the world.
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5 CALIFORNIA HIGH SPEED RAIL www.hsr.ca.gov
PRICE TAG: $77bn and counting DATE: TBC The California High Speed Rail may come in at an excellent spot on the top 10 most expensive projects, but sadly it has been plagued by challenges, delays and complexities that none of the project planners had predicted. Currently the rail is under review as it has overrun both its budget and timeline.
DUBAILAND https://goo.gl/B7q1LR
PRICE TAG: $78bn (give or take) DATE: TBC How about an ambitiously lush and gorgeous park built in one of the hottest countries in the world – Dubai. The park is set to span around 1, 430 sqm, almost as big as Hyde Park, and will become a lifestyle estate park/splash of brilliant colour in the midst of the desert.
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3 KASHAGAN OILFIELD https://goo.gl/Rcefpw
PRICE TAG: $50bn starting price & rising DATE: under constant construction This field of oil is currently being mined for all its worth by organisations such as Shell, ExxonMobil, Total, China National Petroleum Corp and AgiKCO, among others. It has been an incredibly expensive project that’s been impacted by delays, rising costs and rising waters. The area is hostile, the problems numerous, but the potential profit high. 67
DELHI-MUMBAI INDUSTRIAL CORRIDOR http://delhimumbaiindustrialcorridor.com
PRICE TAG: $90bn starting price and rising DATE: Under construction The second-place spot is taken by this hugely ambitious project that will run at around 1,483 km between the political and business capitals of India. The DMIC is one of the largest infrastructure projects in the world and spans 24 industrial regions, eight smart cities, two airports, five power projects and two logistical hubs, to name a few.
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FOREST CITY MALAYSIA www.forestcityjohor.info/home/4591457883
PRICE TAG: $100bn DATE: Under construction Forest City is a partnership project between Malaysia and China, a vast city island designed to deliver the ultimate in lifestyle and living excellence. All cars are parked underground and connected by a network of tunnels so they don’t disturb the tranquil gardens and space above. It’s a remarkable project smothered in greenery, sky gardens, rainwater and air purification systems and even swamps, wetlands and water areas to enjoy.
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E V E N T S & A S S O C I AT I O N S
Events The biggest and best events and conferences from around the world‌ Writ te n by A N D R E W WOO DS
The World Green Building Council Congress 2018 Toronto, Canada 3-7 June
Titled “Building Lasting Change with WorldGBC Congress Canada”, the event will see Green Building Councils, international speakers and delegates from five regions of the world (Europe, Africa, MENA, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific) combine with CaGBC members, enabling Canadian delegates to showcase local expertise to international attendees to encourage collaboration, innovation and business exchange. ww.worldgbc.org
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Webit.Festival Europe 2018 Sofia, Bulgaria 26-27 June
Part of EU Digital & Innovation Week, Webit.Festival Europe 2018 is gathering EU policy makers, global business leaders raging from Fortune 500 top executives to worlds most impactful and promising founders and entrepreneurs and academia to re:Invent Europe’s Future. There will be over 7,000 attendees from 100-plus countries, including 1,500 top policy makers from all over the globe as well as entrepreneurs, investors, scientists and digital economy shapers and representatives from Europe’s most promising startups. www.webit.bg
London Build 2018 Olympia National, London 23-24 October
London Build is the leading construction show to cover London and the south of England. London Build unites an incredible range of high-level attendees involved in construction, architecture, infrastructure and design in London to discuss a wide-ranging source of issues relating to every aspect of the industry. www.londonbuildexpo.com
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Design-Build Institute of America DBIA Conference and Expo 2018 New Orleans, LA November 7-9, 2018
DBIA’s annual Design-Build Conference & Expo grows each year as an increasing number of the nation’s owners and designbuilders declare this is their #1 design-build event. 2018 is also DBIA’s silver anniversary, so come celebrate 25 years of designbuild success with us. Owners and design-builders across the nation, as well as sectors and professions come together for three days of workshops, panel discussions and keynotes by industry leaders addressing the real-world challenges America’s design-build teams and owners face across all sectors. www.dbia.org/Conferences/expo/Pages/default.aspx
Greenbuild
McCormick Place, Chicao, IL, USA 14-16 November Greenbuild is the world’s largest conference and expo dedicated to green building. Greenbuild International Conference and Expo provides the opportunity to visit with more than 750 suppliers and top manufacturers of the latest green building equipment, products, services, and technology available in today’s market. www.greenbuildexpo.com/en/home.html
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National Construction Equipment Convention (NCEC) Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park 15-17 November
The inaugural NCEC is a newly designed mega show that builds on the success of three biennial state-based shows to make a new national event (a three-day hub for industry). NCEC is Australia’s first industry-owned, multi-disciplinary, multi-event platform for the earth moving and infrastructure construction sector with Hitachi, Komastu, Volvo/CJD, Toyota Materials Handling, Tutt Bryant and Clark Equipment attending this year’s show. “With the theme ‘Think Globally, Act Locally’ this three-day event will give you the opportunity to interact face-to-face with industry leaders. NCEC will form a vibrant industry hub, working with major associations to create an event, for the industry, by the industry to conquer common challenges and drive the sector forward together. With a focus on infrastructure and cutting-edge technology, this is the time to get involved in this fast-paced industry.” ncecaustralia.com.au
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The Buildings Show
Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Canada 28-30 November Canada’s largest exposition, networking and educational event, The Buildings Show is the leader in sourcing, networking and education in Canada for the design, architecture, construction and real estate communities. The Show is home to Construct Canada, HomeBuilder & Renovator Expo, PM Expo, STONEX Canada, World of Concrete Pavilion. More than 30,500 trade professionals attend the show annually to discover new innovations across the building industry and source the latest materials, products, tools and technologies from more than 1,600 Canadian, US and international exhibits. Through the show’s comprehensive seminar programme, attendees can choose from 350-plus seminars, keynotes, summits and roundtables led by a roster of 500-plus industry experts. www.thebuildingsshow.com
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Video: Construction News Awards Highlights 2017
Construction News Awards 2018 tbc Organisers: Construction News tbc
The Construction News Awards are back, celebrating 22 years of rewarding the very best companies and individuals in construction. Hundreds of global companies with combined revenues of more than $148bn will enter the Construction News Awards to hae their work recognised as the best in the infrastructure, property and residential sectors. awards.constructionnews.co.uk
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Pioneering the Finnish data centre market Written by Dale Benton Produced by Lewis Vaughan
Digita Oy looks to capture the Finnish data centre market by expanding its service portfolio
I
n the modern world of the data centre industry, the secret to success for a data centre provider has shifted. Traditionally, a data centre provider could rely heavily on the location of its infrastructure and that would be more than enough to attract and retain customers and service providers; but as the industry has continued to boom over the last decade, what a customer demands from a data centre provider has evolved. “It’s about providing the right, relevant managed services as part of our service portfolio,” says Fredrik Brunberg, Director, Data Centre & Cloud Services at Digita. “We need to add relevant services all of the time to be able to show something going forward to the customer.” Digita is a major Finnish communications network company, transmitting radio and TV programmes reliably across the country each and every day.
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“The location is crucial, but of course what we are doing is building on that and providing more value and more services around that interconnectivity” – Fredrik Brunberg, Director, Data Centre & Cloud Services at Digita
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Expanding its service portfolio is a crucial component of the business’s strategy, as it also provides comprehensive IoT services and world-class data centre services to a number of media, mobile and broadband operators and new customer segments like service providers and different industries that are digitalising their businesses Television and radio broadcasting is the biggest area of business for Digita and Brunberg explains that data centres is a relatively new business category for the company. In fact, it was this expansion of Digita’s service portfolio that attracted Brunberg to the company in 2017. Having previously worked in cloud and data centre services throughout his career, Digita’s vision for capturing the data centre market represented an opportunity that he could not miss. “When I joined Digita, it already had pretty good facilities and locations, but as a business we want to climb the ladder higher and add more value to the services we provide. I saw it as a challenge to change our approach in order to grow.”
As Brunberg embarked on this journey he recognised that as the company looked to change from the way it had traditionally operated, he first had to start from scratch and build up a data center team with an IT function. Naturally, in attempting to build a new growth business to leading network operator company that has been successfully operating for almost 20 years, changing a culture takes time. This is where Brunberg can call upon his experience throughout his career. “In effect, in the coming years we are almost moving from one company to another,” he says. “Changing the culture is a big goal of ours and so I’m building a new team and a new business unit that will transform Digita into not only an IT services company, but a modern IT services company.” Brunberg feels that the market is consolidating, with only a limited amount of small service providers or co-location providers in the Finnish data centre market. When compared to the other end of the scale, there are only a small number of large scale
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OPERATIONS SECURED 24/7
Coromatic will keep Data Centers running without disruptions. We will take full responsibility from advisory to design & build, as well as operations and maintenance of the Data Center. visit our website info@coromatic.fi
mobile network operators (MNOs) and international co-location providers, and Brunberg identifies a gap in the market where Digita can capitalise. “As the market consolidates, we want to be part of that space in between those two areas and build something bigger,” he says. “We want to take Digita service to the next level and be recognised not only as a broadcast service provider or just as a data centre service provider, but something more. A cloud service and modern IT service provider.”
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“And we aim to have the same high-quality level of services as Digita now has in its core business,” continues Brunberg. Digita itself explains on its website that having the best network is not based on bandwidth alone, and while Brunberg recognises that the industry is changing, location is crucial. This is where Digita has an ace up its sleeve. Across its portfolio, Digita’s Helsinki Pasila region is located in close proximity to the FICIX Helsinki Internet Exchange Point.
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“We want to take Digita service to the next level and be recognised not only as a broadcast service provider or just as a data centre service provider, but something more. A cloud service and modern IT service provider” – Fredrik Brunberg, Director, Data Centre & Cloud Services at Digita
This provides customers who choose to work with Digita to access to the biggest structural data communication location in Finland. “Service providers seek locations where there are lots of network service providers present,” Brunberg says. “But it’s not only network services providers that want to be at this premium location, it’s content providers and IT service
providers, social media companies and hyper scale kiosk providers.” “The location is crucial, but of course what we are doing is building on that and providing more value and more services around that interconnectivity.” Ultimately, what will define Digita as it continues to grow its portfolio and client base is in fact this client base. Brunberg is all too aware of the importance of attracting those providers and more significantly, retaining them. As Digita seeks to provide a level of stickiness in order to keep the customers, it can do so with the support of strong strategic partners. “I’ve always believed that partnering is really key to making things happen,” says Brunberg. “You really have to trust your partners and know that they will be there alongside you, in both the good times and the bad.” One such partner that has and will continue to play a key role in Digta’s vision is Coromatic AB. As the leading Nordic critical solutions provider, Coromatic promises to safeguard continual power supply
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Fredrik Brunberg Director, Data Centre & Cloud Services
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and data communications. As Digita looks to redefine its network approach, this support has been key. “Coromatic has been excellent in retrofitting and refurbishing our facilities and, given the breadth of network providers we have, to do so without disruption or downtime was crucial,” says Brunberg. “They are incredibly easy to work with, they understand where we want to go as a business and we will continue to expand with them alongside us.” Only a year into this journey, the message for Digita is clear – to continue to build its service portfolio and value-added services. That’s the first priority for Brunberg and Digita, to be able to cater to all of the different service provider needs.
This will help it capture that market gap and in turn enable the company to become the data centre service provider of choice. “As the market continues to evolve and network service providers begin to turn towards a more modern, digitised approach we want Digita to be seen as the first company that they think of to connect with,” Brunberg says. “So, as we build bigger facilities and build on top of our existing network infrastructure, it’s imperative that we continue to build and expand our services on top of that.”
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CONNECTING THE
WORLD WITH
GREEN ENERGY Written by CATHERINE STURMAN Produced by LEWIS VAUGHAN
GRONINGEN SEAPORTS NV
The data centre industry and subsequent demand for energy is growing apace. Manager for Energy & Dataport, ROBERT VAN TUINEN, tells us how Groningen Seaports is catering to this demand
ROBERT VAN TUINEN is responsible for the development of the energy, IT and automotive sector within both ports. He has an academic background in business administration and previously worked for a national bank and as a manager for an energy knowledge institute.
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CONSTRUCTION
Chemical industry Delfzijl
T
HE ONGOING demand for connectivity has led to an exponential boom within the energy sector, thanks largely to the launch of data centres worldwide. The communications industry is set to absorb up to 20% of the world’s electricity by 2025, as businesses and consumers depend on the increased use of digital data to fuel business growth. Europe has become a significant player, where competition remains rife in an area of unprecedented potential. “A major change is that it’s no longer big telecom operators or state-owned telecom companies
who are investing in connectivity, it’s mostly commercially driven. In particular, there are big investments coming from the data centre sector itself,” explains Robert Van Tuinen, Manager for Energy & Dataport at Groningen Seaports. Consisting of two seaports, the port of Delfzijl and Eemshaven, as well as two inland ports, Farmsumerhaven and Oosterhornhaven, Van Tuinen has led the growth of one of Europe’s largest energy hubs for data and a growing offshore wind sector. The 1,319 hectare site at Eemshaven has been transformed into an area of international significance within the
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Your business case today
translated in smart data centre space for tomorrow
Royal HaskoningDHV is an independent, international engineering and project management consultancy with 135 years of experience. Backed by the expertise and experience of 6,000 colleagues all over the world, our professionals combine ‘global expertise’ with ‘local knowledge’ to deliver a multidisciplinary range of consultancy services. By showing leadership and innovation in the design of data centres, we are creating solutions for a vital infrastructure in our modern live and empower a sustainable society now and into the future. For more information, please contact: Martien Arts, Director - Mission Critical Facilities T: +31 88 348 6550 M: +31 6 51846333 E: martien.arts@rhdhv.com www.royalhaskoningdhv.com/datacentres
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data centre industry, renowned for accessibility and quality. Utilised by international companies, the area is driven by 100% renewable energy. “In 2012, we said that we were going to invest millions in this new port area. We had this million-euro programme to redevelop land and start conversations with landowners and foreign investors to take a look at Eemshaven. It was still predominantly farmland, but people needed to believe in this,” Van Tuinen recalls. “A few years back, I thought, ‘we need others to tell our story as well’. We combined the data port development together with partnerships, who we call ‘preferred suppliers’. These were the early movers who believed in the concept. “Energy suppliers in general weren’t used to structured power purchase agreements based on joint equity or very long terms for instance,” he continues. “This may sound funny, but five or six years ago, this wasn’t something normal for energy companies. Eneco was a good match with the specific
“It’s no longer big telecom operators or state-owned telecom companies who are investing in connectivity, it’s mostly commercially driven. There are big investments coming from the data centre sector” ROBERT VAN TUINEN, Manager for Energy- & Dataport
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demand coming from the industry, one of the first companies to believe in the area and pioneered the way. “Most energy companies were scared at doing structured deals, so it was a different time. The other thing was asking fibre developers to join. Eurofiber were one of the first companies who said ‘we actually believe this is going to work’ and committed to new investments.”
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GAINING SUPPORT To gain further clout, the company appointed Deloitte to undertake an essential market analysis on the data port area. Finding Eemshaven to have future potential, Groningen Seaports also appointed specialists who worked specifically for technology companies, such as Microsoft, Google and Apple. “It’s a pretty strong story with a lot of partnerships, but these
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Your datacenter running on additional renewable energy in 2020? Wind farm Delfzijl currently supplying GOOGLE datacenter Eemshaven
Working with partners
Eneco Group
Brands & Business Units
Green Data Port
We make it happen. When you decide to build your datacenter in Green
together and helping to find solutions to a wide range of energy
Data Port Eemshaven, we will take care of the availability of more
issues. We cannot realize these ambitions by ourselves. It’s possible
than 230MW (+/-650 GWh) of additional, green and local energy.
only when we connect ideas, technologies, people and companies.
An abundance of space, close to wind- and solarfarms
That’s why we’re working together with startups, universities, research institutes and other innovative organizations on innovative
We work together with or on assignment for customers. We invest
energy services that give consumers and companies control over
with partners in the sustainable production of electricity and heat and
their own energy. This is how we’re making green energy accessible,
cold. That way, we use each other’s knowledge to realize a greater
affordable and scalable. Enhanced by one of the most reliable grids in
production capacity with the same financial resources.
Europe, with enough power supply for any datacenter development in the future.
We have only one planet. Every year, worldwide we take 1.6 times more out of our planet than it can cope. Our goal is to guide the
We take this responsibility seriously. In the countries in which
energy consumption of our company and our customers within the
we’re active, we work together with (local) governments, energy
planet’s recovery capacity. All our activities are aimed at preventing
cooperatives and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as
further global warming. We’re doing this not just for ourselves but
the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). In the Netherlands, Eneco Group is
also for future generations. More and more people and companies are
one of the founders of the Dutch Association for Sustainable Energy,
becoming aware of the way they live. And more and more of them are
an association that combines the forces of its members so that we
taking matters into their own hands. Eneco Group is helping people
can speed up the energy transition together. So we don’t just provide
and companies to make an energy transition.
support with capital but also by sharing knowledge and experience
Our mission, “Everybody’s sustainable energy”, is the basis for the
Want to know more about our 230MW projects for Green Data Port Eemshaven?
innovative energy solutions we want to develop so that people can determine where and how they generate, use, store and share clean energy. We’re convinced that this is the way to achieve a liveable planet. Eneco Group isn’t a traditional energy company. The energy
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transition requires us to work together in a different way. The current customer-supplier relationship is disappearing. Individuals, companies, municipalities and other market parties are now working with each
Joost de Boer
other in multiple changing roles. Eneco Group – with its numerous
Manager the Nederlands–North for Eneco Group
brands and business units – is the connecting link bringing parties
joost.deboer@eneco.com | +31 (0)6 – 55 69 70 91
Welcome to the new world.
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companies are also competing against one another with more renewable project coming online in the next few years,” adds Van Tuinen. “We have a partnership with Eneco, but also with other energy companies, which is why we call them ‘preferred suppliers’. Of course, data centre companies are free in who they want to work with” Additionally, the company’s strong partnership with Royal Haskoning DHV has provided support across its data centre operations. “We asked Royal Haskoning
DHV to inform companies of our technology mission and why they believe Eemshaven is a good area for their data centres. Royal Haskoning DHV is independent, it believes in the story and has a strong advisory opinion.” Van Tuinen says. “They look not just at land development but also cooling. They believe Eemshaven is a good area; it has lots of air, good quality, good wind, and is one of the best locations. The company also bought investors to our port. When they’re busy with conducting business, they use
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“Royal Haskoning DHV is independent, it believes in the story and has a strong advisory opinion” ROBERT VAN TUINEN, Manager for Energy- & Dataport
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Eemshaven as an example port.”
GREEN DATA PORT Harnessing a combination of green energy, the largest onshore wind farm is located in Eemshaven together with multiple substations connecting Danish and Dutch offshore wind farms, besides the 30MW solar farm, iSunport Delfzijl, the largest solar energy park in the country, all of which fall under Groningen Seaports’ umbrella. “If you look for the major developments worldwide, it clearly makes sense to think about data centres. However, to be honest, we didn’t expect such a demand for land usage,” reflects Van Tuinen. “I don’t think the sector itself could have foreseen how much land it would need for further growth”. “Google has recently purchased all green electricity generated at Sunport Delfzijl for 10 years as part of a second deal with Eneco on top of the earlier energy deal combined with a local Eneco windfarm. The company recently announced another
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€500mn investment after €950mn spent over the last couple of years. This is great news for our region, which has shown great support for the data port development. The challenge was that we needed to develop more land close to the port, anticipating all further growth from the data centre sector itself.” “We did this in partnership with the local government and environmental organisations, who The Vole au vent jack-up vessel
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saw an opportunity to combine green energy and recreate some major values before it was all agricultural. A data centre provider must feel comfortable with their investment, of course, which has to do with the local support,” adds van Tuinen. Marc Oman, EU Energy Lead at Google recently commented in a press release: “We are proud that our data centre in Eemshaven has been powered by renewable
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Googles EU data centre community Stories from the Netherlands
energy since day one thanks to our agreements with Dutch suppliers. After the agreement with Eneco for the delivery of wind energy from WindPark Delfzijl and the agreements with the wind parks Krammer and Bouwdokken, we are pleased that we can now also make use of solar energy. “Google is the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy. Contracts like this also give companies like Eneco the economic certainty to invest in new renewable energy capacity.”
TECHNOLOGICAL BACKBONE In order to strengthen its connectivity capabilities, Groningen Seaports has worked to house a ‘plug and play model’ across its operations, where its need for cooling water and redundant power is set apart from its power purchase agreement based on green energy. “The ‘plug and play’ model has also helped with the technical part. Through our partnerships we secured extra international fibre, boosted cooling water facilities, reinvestments,
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and of course the redundant power connections with the grid operator.” Additionally, by attracting investors from fibre companies, it has attracted essential fibre packages, with low latency routes crossing Amsterdam, Germany, Denmark and other parts of Scandinavia. “Data centre companies need a certain amount of connectivity via separate routes or a different fibre system. If you want to attract various new economy industries, this is essential,” says Van Tuinen. “The most important thing is that we succeeded in enabling Google to work with Eneco. It was a new project and provided an opportunity
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for Google to harness green energy. They have run on green energy from day one and enhanced major green investments in the region.”
GROWING DEMANDS “The Netherlands has proven to be an interesting market for data centres and not just the Google’s of this world,” Van Tuinen says earnestly. By combining green energy cables across the Northsea with essential fibre packages, the company has managed to reduce costs significantly and created the fastest route between the Netherlands and Denmark with Eemshaven becoming a fibre and data roundabout in North West Europe.
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With greater demand for green energy on a global scale, the company’s largest wind farm is set to grow a further 200MW in the next three years, providing time to further enhance its data centre operations. “Demand for land in Eemshaven is rising fast, not just from the data centre sector but also with the launch of electric and hybrid cars. The automotive sector is looking at Eemshaven and are interested in port areas where they can develop their newly-built cars, which is really cool. It is something we are anticipating now, but we weren’t three years ago. This sector is again new economy industry, which fits well with the infrastructure
at our port,” says Van Tuinen. “Everybody needs to keep pace with a new economy,” he concludes. “The good news is that all political parties in Groningen are very supportive towards data centres, the automotive sector and the new economy. It provides a good combination of economic opportunities together with boosting on and offshore green power.”
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TM
SERVERFARM MAKING THE PHYSICAL AGILE
Written by Laura Mullan Produced by Lewis Vaughan
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With a data centre portfolio of more than a million sq ft, ServerFarm has positioned itself as a leader in the data centre industry
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ith mobile computing, 5G technology, and the internet of things (IoT) rapidly entering the fray, the data centre market is expected to thrive over the coming years. In fact, according to a report by Research and Markets, the global colocation data centre market is expected to grow to $54.8bn by 2020. But in an industry that has been defined by innovation and rapid growth, what’s the next step for the data centre space? Moving forward, ServerFarm believes that its strategy of moving physical data centre assets into the virtual world is going to elevate the company to new heights. The benefit of virtualising servers and infrastructure is clear: it breaks the link between the physical and digital and in doing so, it creates the foundation for a more dynamic, flexible and efficient data centre. Jim Shanahan, VP of Global
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Operations, says that it was this unique take on data centres which first drew him to the firm. “When I joined ServerFarm I saw an opportunity to change things; to take what in many organisations has been a rather pedestrian approach to the physical assets of the data centre and bring that into the modern world by taking everything physical – space, power and cooling, as well as compute and putting it in a private cloud with a comprehensive online interface to make it as easy as possible for end users,” explains Shanahan. “This is an industry that is growing but also changing very quickly,” adds VP of Sales Arun Shenoy. “I think we’ve come to the realisation that some of the approaches, especially in the mechanical and electrical side, are not keeping pace with the IT environment from an innovation perspective. “At ServerFarm we believe that
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Jim Shanahan VP OF GLOBAL OPERATIONS Jim Shanahan is Head of Global Operations and European Business at ServerFarm. He is responsible for activities across the company’s fleet of data centres, where Serverfarm selfperforms its own facility management, smarthands and bare-metal cloud operations. Mr. Shanahan also leads ServerFarm’s expansion as the company moves into a number of firsttier European markets. Shanahan has previously headed the global DC business of ABB’s software division and served as MD of the international business of Lee Technologies. An Electrical Engineer, Jim started his career with Amdahl Computers and PM Group as a design consultant.
S E R V E R FA R M
A member of ServerFarm’s staff working on a server rack
“We remove the pain of managing all of the physical assets in a data centre. As we see it, we are still the only company that has the ability to genuinely take all of the physical assets of the data centre, including the existing assets of an enterprise, and virtualise them for our customers” Arun Shenoy VP of Sales our customers are trying to transform their companies into organisations that care less about the physical aspects that make up a data centre, so that they can focus more on the business applications that enable growth and transformation. “That is ultimately our role in the data centre space,” he continues. “We remove the pain of managing all of the physical assets in a data centre. As we see it, we are still the
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only company that has the ability to genuinely take all of the physical assets of the data centre, including the existing assets of an enterprise, and virtualise them for our customers.” In doing so, the US headquartered firm helps to create data centres that are more instrumented, monitored, reliable and ultimately more efficient, from both an energy and cost-perspective, than a customer could achieve by themselves.
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Arun Shenoy VP OF SALES Arun Shenoy is responsible for developing the success of ServerFarm’s data centre colocation and InCommand Services business globally. He joins from Schneider Electric where he was Vice President of the IT and Data Centre business in the UK & Ireland. Shenoy has also worked for major companies including Intel, ABB, IBM and Romonet in general management, sales and marketing roles with over 20 years in software, services and technology markets. w w w. c o n s t r u c t i o n g l o b a l . c o m
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The pair believe that it is this ability to manage everything physical in a digital world which is ServerFarm’s unique selling point. Originally launched by the international real estate development company, Red Sea Group, ServerFarm also has a distinctive customer-centric ethos ingrained in its DNA. With sister companies focused on hospitality, Shanahan says that the firm understands that customer service is king. “We apply a customer focus to the data centre space and it has served us very well,” says Shanahan. “Like the real estate or hospitality business, we value customer service above everything else. “We try to be very flexible in our approach to customers because everybody’s needs are different. We will go the extra mile to try and give those customers whatever they need and it pays off because we have customers that will follow us around the world.” Nowhere can this customer loyalty be seen better than the firm’s newly-opened data centre in London, in what is its first step into the European market. The latest acquisition adds to ServerFarm’s growing data centre estate with locations in California, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington and Toronto among others. In doing so it adds a further 120,000 sq ft to the company’s footprint,
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bringing it to over 1mn sq ft today. Located five minutes from Heathrow airport, the 8MW London data centre has attracted customers from across the globe as Shanahan believes London is “one of the most sought-after locations” in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “It was a natural choice for us to go to London as part of our push into Europe,” notes Shanahan. “We’ve been eyeing a number of other opportunities throughout the region so I’d say when it comes to future expansions – watch this space.” “We’ve managed to get one of our US customers onboard into a multi-megawatt capacity environment for them in around eight or nine weeks – that is something that is quite unheard of in this industry,” continues Shenoy. “I think it really speaks volumes about the way that we plan our environments and how we share our roadmap with our clients and align with their expansion plans.” In London, ServerFarm took an existing data centre and significantly upgraded it with completely new infrastructure, new technologies and new ways of working. Through the major refurbishment, it has helped drive cost-efficiency and reduce waste. “The existing tenants now get extra capacity that they otherwise had no use for and they’re able to monetise that,” explains Shanahan. “The data centre gets a new lease of life, it increases capacity and reliability for our customers and geographically, it’s in an area into which customers are keen to expand.
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ServerFarm staff discussing InCommand in CH1 control room
50+ Number of employees at ServerFarm
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ServerFarm STATS The global colocation data centre market is expected to grow to $54.8bn by 2020 according to a report by Research and Markets.
We follow our customer where they need to be and as a result, we can be more dynamic and flexible than other players in the market.” Driving agility and flexibility, the company’s InCommand solution further defines the company from its competitors, allowing consumers to see the current state of the data centre and gain the insights needed to plan for ‘what-if’ scenarios. With the technological innovation,
ServerFarm provides customers with a portal that offers unprecedented asset lifecycle management, data, power connectivity and streamlined workflows. As the data centre industry shifts towards more hybrid solutions, this flexibility is more important than ever before, explains Shanahan. “InCommand is the eyes and ears of the data centre,” he explains. “It’s the processes that govern
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“ We’ve been eyeing a number of other opportunities throughout the region so I’d say when it comes to future expansions – watch this space” Jim Shanahan VP of Global Operations
ServerFarm LONDON The London data center is ServerFarm’s first European property adding another 120,000 square feet to its existing data centre portfolio of more than 1 million square feet.
everything and because it’s delivered as a service through our people and our training, it becomes an all-encompassing operating system. We’ve used that to deliver some of the highest efficiency data centres. Nobody else in the industry is doing anything like this, providing this combination of people, processes and portal in such a compelling way to get such good results. “The InCommand system is linked to the in-house management systems, building management systems and electrical power management systems, so it knows instantly what’s going on in every data centre in every corner of the world and can pre-diagnose a range of issues,” he adds. “So, for example, if a chiller unit is running at less than maximum efficiency, it can diagnose this and raise a ticket to carry out a preventive maintenance task on it.” Yet, perhaps the most impressive aspect of the firm’s solutions is the customer-centricity it provides by giving clients access to ServerFarm’s people, processes and platforms. “I think what makes our customer experience very dynamic is the fact that, through InCommand, our customer is very closely connected to our operational environment,” observes Shenoy. “Together with our customers we’re creating a better experience regardless of their physical location.” “We’re coming to the market with a tool which, if you were using the capacity management feature
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S E R V E R FA R M ServerFarm’s Mike Whitman, DC Operations, and Sam Brown, VP of Engineering/ Construction touring CH1 in Chicago
“ InCommand is the eyes and ears of the data centre” Jim Shanahan VP of Global Operations
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of InCommand, for example, you could identify how much spare capacity you had, and it helps you to maximise the use of all your capacity, so avoids or postpones the need for more capacity,” adds Shanahan. “We’re maximising customer efficiency which helps us to become trusted partners to our customers. Then they can see their interest is our interest. We’re helping our customers make the best use of the services, the capacity, the power and cooling that they buy from us and through our portal they also have such great visibility. Therefore, our customers are loyal to us.” “With the rollout of 5G and regulations like General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) underway, the data centre space is changing rapidly,” says Shenoy. “I think by 2020, ‘things’ on the internet - in terms of the endpoint devices and applications – will outnumber consumers,” Shenoy says. “There will be more data and traffic generated by things rather than people and that requires infrastructure to be thought about, designed
and delivered very differently. “5G and new regulatory requirements will also accelerate change. We find ourselves in a market that is changing size and shape quite dramatically. Our customers find that a very challenging environment, and therefore they need companies like ServerFarm who understand how to manage those physical environments.” Security is now, more than ever, a prevalent issue in the data centre sector, and it is something Shanahan and his team are keen to tackle head-on. “I think it’s becoming evident to us that in the next number of years the challenges that are out there in terms of individual hackers, nationstate threats, and physical and logical security are suddenly becoming a real issue for people,” he notes. “I think we’re going to experience a sea of change in how concerned consumers and organisations are about their data and accordingly, we have taken steps to provide what we see as one of the most secure solutions in the industry with routine assessments and penetration testing
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Toronto is a highly secure, concurrently maintainable data Centre constructed to ensure an optimal PUE and flexibility for ongoing customer operations.
by cybersecurity professionals.” Attracting and hiring talent and expertise is a challenge for any company, especially in IT and the data centre space. But with a strong sense of purpose and a holistic approach to training, ServerFarm has circumvented the challenge and grown a strong and capable team. “We hire the best-in-class,” notes Shanahan. “The majority of our personnel are equally trained in
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mechanical and electrical, physical and IT and then we also have a team of high-level specialists for each of those areas. This means we have a holistic approach to how we train and retain our people. It actually pays off very well for us in customer service and our personnel’s satisfaction levels. “I think we’re quite unique in the industry because we have a real purpose,” adds Shenoy. “We’ve created a fast-moving
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2004 The year that ServerFarm was founded
environment because of our strong growth but we’re also innovating. That combination of a fastgrowing organisation which has a purpose and really focuses on innovation is a tough environment to replicate anywhere else. I think this is in part why we have such a high retention rate.” It seems this sense of purpose has cemented ServerFarm’s position as an expert data centre organisation. Combined with the firm’s customerfocus, the US company is set to continue on this upward trajectory in the years to come. TM
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Leveraging
proptech
to lead Australia’s real estate sector
Charter Hall has long been a leading Australian property management company: as the sector evolves it is also leading in the transition from traditional attitudes to a future enabled by proptech Written by John O’Hanlon Produced by Glen White
CHARTER HALL
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he organisation that Aidan Coleman joined in 2014 as its transformational Chief Technical Officer is not as wellknown as it deserves to be. But it sits among the ASX top 100 companies with more than 350 properties and around A$23bn under management. It differs from its rivals somewhat – as well as managing assets for active funds in key retail, office complex and industrial markets it is also deeply involved in property finance as an investment manager for some 30 funds across the retail and wholesale space. Coleman found that
he had a dual role. The first objective was to create a scalable technology and information systems capability and platform that could support the business going forward. The second, no less important, was to understand the potential impact of technology disruption and help the business to identify opportunities that would get it onto the front foot and create a real commercial advantage. There was, he says, much work to be done to achieve the former and transform the internal employee experience. The latter he took to like a duck to water, taking leadership of the accelerator
Aidan Coleman CTO
Aidan Coleman joined Charter Hall in 2014, and has over 16 years technology experience across a range of industries and geographies including property, funds management, retail, media, consumer goods, consulting, financial services and telecommunications. In his current role, Coleman is responsible for providing leadership and direction for all strategic IT activities associated with supporting IT’s contribution to the organisation’s key business initiatives. Since joining in May, he has focused on improving the IT user experience 124
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at our head office and regional sites, whilst building the IT strategy and underlying capability that can leverage technology to power growth and productivity across the Charter Hall business. Prior to joining Charter Hall, Coleman worked at Stockland as IT Strategy and Planning Manager where he delivered significant improvements to customer, asset, development and financial systems. Aidan also transformed Stockland’s digital platform and online capability. His additional experience includes eight years at News Corporation Australia.
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programme described below. On his appointment Coleman found a business whose leadership, though attuned to the potential of IT, was experiencing growing pains as it put its EnterPRISE business technology transformation programme into effect, still relying on manual processing, spreadsheets and printtailored solutions. The first task that faced him was to make the case for an IT focused vision. “Bringing the business along on the transformation journey was a significant part of my first years. In the last 18 months we have gained positive momentum, and we have been able to shift our
focus more towards innovation and how we might utilise investment in some of the newer platforms and technologies to add value, not only empowering our employees with the information and tools they need, but giving a better experience to our tenants and customers.” There’s a new wave of younger property investors emerging, he says: more tech savvy and demanding than their predecessors and ready to embrace the concepts of proptech and fintech. The cloud beckons It quickly became clear to Coleman, from annual engagement surveys,
“IN THE LAST 18 MONTHS WE HAVE GAINED POSITIVE MOMENTUM AND WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SHIFT OUR FOCUS MORE TOWARDS INNOVATION” – Aidan Coleman, CTO, Charter Hall
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West Corporation is a global provider of communication and network infrastructure services that form the backbone to driving sustainable business transformation. We enable our clients to more effectively communicate, collaborate and connect with their audiences through a diverse portfolio of solutions powering their growth and productivity.
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that that investment in technology had not been prioritised, though that soon started to change. “People across the business are now encouraging us to continue to invest in and focus on digitisation.” A good example of transformation initiatives that have impacted cycle times and helped de-risk the business was the group wide Forecasting Analytics program, launched in 2016 and developed in partnership with MRI Software. “MRI is a well-known global platform in our industry,” Coleman says, “but less so in the investment management space. We have put our IP into MRI, and that allows us to really draw out the value of this platform.” In the past Charter Hall was doing this in a bespoke way, fund by fund: this has shifted to a more integrated real-time environment that admits of change. For example, what used to take 10 people 20 days in Excel will now take minutes, like reflecting a future interest rate assumption change across all property and fund valuations. “We’ve significantly improved our risk profile by moving our key inputs,
calculations and outputs/analytics into a centralised and controlled environment,” Coleman says. A principle he established from day one was to minimise the fixed footprint, whether in infrastructure or people, to minimise capital spend, moving it where possible to operational cost so as to create more elasticity in the business. “Property cycles go up and down. When we are booming we need to be able to dial up services and capability quite quickly and when they flatten we need to be able to do the opposite. But when you have fixed costs you can’t do that so we have been looking at platform- and software-as-a-service (PaaS and SaaS) strategies for any new applications or software that we bring on board. I also wanted to transition from on premise legacy platforms, either replatforming in a cloud-based environment or decommissioning them altogether.” Disaster recovery (DR) relying on a secondary data centre, both expensive and of doubtful efficacy, was a case in point. Considerable capital expenditure would have been
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CHARTER HALL
“PEOPLE ACROSS THE BUSINESS ARE NOW ENCOURAGING US TO CONTINUE TO INVEST IN AND FOCUS ON DIGITISATION” – Aidan Coleman, CTO, Charter Hall
needed to upgrade it, and most of the time that capacity wouldn’t be needed. Bringing in technology partners like Microsoft and VMware to create a DR solution in the cloud meant that for a management fee Charter Hall moved millions of dollars off its balance sheet, at the same time enabling it to recover from any disaster scenario with speed and agility. Microsoft Azure is now Charter Hall’s platform of choice for conditioning all its data and documents, continues Coleman. “We have been able to
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eliminate all but between 5% and 10% of existing infrastructure in our data centres.” Unlocking the value of elements such as OneDrive, SharePoint in conjunction with Power BI, and the CRM capabilities of Dynamics has de-risked the business significantly as well as eliminating infrastructure cost. “From an infrastructure point of view, I would say that we are very close to being fully cloud enabled,” Coleman continues. “We are rolling out a network to our retail shopping centres and corporate sites over the next 12 months and
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Western Sydney University - Rethinking a University | Developed & Managed by Charter Hall
that will give us a lot capacity and bandwidth into all our properties. People in retail sites will be working in the cloud: all their applications, documents and key network points will be cloud-enabled and that will speed traffic over the large distances that separate these sites in Australia, reducing latency and congestion through to our data centre.” Proptech to the rescue Until recently real estate technology has been, relatively speaking, neither user friendly nor integrated,
he admits. Innovation, and not only in the IT space, is one of his passions, one in which he has taken a leadership role. One innovative solution his team delivered was a first in Australia in partnership with a proptech startup aptly named Comfy – an app that delivers ‘climate control on demand’, allowing people to make known their temperature preferences using their smartphones. “Before Comfy,” Coleman says, “we had very little information on how occupants were actually experiencing the temperature in the
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CHARTER HALL
building. The standard approach for temperature control in buildings has been ‘one temperature fits all’, and the feedback loop is manual and usually complaint-driven.” This is about more than end user satisfaction. It is expected to deliver between 15-25% energy savings across properties as it’s rolled out in more offices. For example, Comfy will use machine learning to track and learn how meeting rooms and shared spaces are used, heat or cool the room for the meetings and not waste energy conditioning an empty room. There are significant benefits from collaborating with these startups, Coleman believes. “Engaging with them is creating a palpable dynamism within the business that we have never seen before, and from a brand positioning perspective it
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has been fantastic. We have been getting a huge amount of feedback from our peers and lots of coverage from major news organisations in Australia, and among whom proptech is becoming a new hot topic.” So, ahead of most of the competition, Charter Hall has really thrown its weight behind proptech, partnering with the Australian incubator and accelerator Collective Campus in an initiative to find and encourage some of the most promising startups. After some discussion it lit upon three relevant segments – smart buildings, shared space (think of it as Airbnb for offices) and finally fintech. There has been a lot of disruption by financial technology of Australia’s financial institutions and this is starting to spill over into real estate fintech.
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The Charter Hall PropTech Accelerator was set up in 2017 in collaboration with Collective Campus. It’s an initiative very much led by Coleman: “We received applications from about 50 startups, went through a process of evaluation and shortlisting that reduced the list to 15. These we brought in to a two-day boot camp in Melbourne and took them through a very intensive two days of thrashing out their business case and their business model, culminating in a pitch night to which we invited peers, customers and potential investors.” Out of this group, four startups were invited to join a 13-week programme that stated in February 2018. The four companies have been given intensive training around business and product development, marketing and everything a startup needs to survive and grow. The programme culminates with a demo day when their products will be showcased to Charter Hall leaders and managers, and a range of investors that partner with Charter Hall. Why these technologies are of interest to Charter Hall is a no-brainer
“WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO ELIMINATE ALL BUT BETWEEN 5% AND 10% OF EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE IN OUR DATA CENTRES” – Aidan Coleman, CTO, Charter Hall
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THE FUTURE OF PROPTECH
The four companies Charter Hall is supporting
InSpaceXR Justin Liang, Co-founder and CEO of InspaceXR leads one of the startups recently selected to participate in a 13-week incubation period at Charter Hall. Liang’s virtual reality software helps architects visualise a project in 3D, leading to better design outcomes, reduced iteration times and easier discussions with engineers and project developers. “The majority of the top 10 architecture firms already have VR headsets and younger architects who know it’s the future of the profession, are a lot more active and receptive in picking up the tools. It’s moving in the architecture space, but I’m not sure if we’ll see the same kind of adoption rates across the rest of the industry,” says Liang. With the upcoming launch of his software to market, Liang recognises a mindset challenge in Australia in comparison to the tech hubs of the world.
BricksandAgent.com Bricks & Agent, founded by entrepreneurs Jon Stuhl (the son of Shopkins billionaire Manny Stuhl) and Rafael Niesten is a cloud-based platform focused on streamlining residential property management and maintenance. This will now be developed through the Charter Hall incubator program to handle retail property and facilities management. Stuhl said the company had enough
money to self-fund itself indefinitely but would consider taking on investors “if there is a strategic benefit”. “I would describe their product as the Uber for property maintenance,” comments Coleman. “We have 45,000 retail customers and we want to be able to give them some productivity tools so that they can manage their retail shop and easily communicate when they have issues.”
Snaploader Snaploader, which has developed a webviewer that enables potential tenants and investors to access an interactive 3D model of properties, is already being used by Charter Hall’s industrial business to support lease negotiations. The business was founded by former Hugo Boss Australia MD Erik Fink.
Estate Baron Estate Baron is a blockchain-enabled property development and investment crowdfunding platform. Coleman says Charter Hall saw potential synergies with this platform and its emerging millennial investor base: “It’s interesting because it is more investor-focused, having evolved from being a crowdfunding platform for retail investors. We are now looking at how to build a blockchain and streamline our whole retail investment process for what is becoming a very tech savvy and technically aware investor base.”
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for Coleman. “We are all about bringing to life the experiences that we can provide to our customers. For example we have investors spread around the globe, and potential tenant customers that we want to bring into our commercial offices, so why not use advanced visualisation technology to give them that experience wherever they are, showing them the fit-outs they might be able to achieve and the potential of the space? Till now we had to show potential clients, in person, our assets in the form of physical models or at best architects’ 3D plans. They may be based in Perth and we might want to take them through that asset in Sydney: virtually reality enables us to bring that experience to life.” Embarking on this process, and the collaboration with Collective Campus, has in a real sense augmented Coleman’s team, or at least the resources available to them. “These four startups are really trying to revolutionise different parts of our business. As the programme ends we can see how to continue to partner with them, whether that may be by investing in their business,
partnering with them as a strategic customer, or simply continuing to leverage the platforms they have developed.” It’s a kind of symbiosis that may have been explored in Silicon Valley, Cambridge or Sophia Antipolis but it is less common in ANZ. “We are blazing a trail here in Australia,” Coleman proclaims with satisfaction. IT at Charter Hall has a very different look and feel today compared with 2014. It has given the company a much more visual experience from the board down through the business units. “All this was a bit of a shock to the system but a shock that was needed in order to effect change,” Coleman concludes. “Now I feel that we have morphed into a steady state. People are very accepting, asking for more, looking to get even more engaged. We have a great cohort of business product owners at all levels of the business full.” More remains to be done in the way of change management and employee experience, but the business is ready now, he feels, to take full advantage of a proptech revolution that is still in its infancy.
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Creating perfect places with
technological ingenuity
Written by Laura Mullan Produced by Shirin Sadr
Championing comfort, sustainability, safety and security, Siemens Building Technologies is revolutionising how we see buildings today with technological innovation
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e spend a large proportion of our lives in buildings and it makes sense that they, in turn, have an enormous impact on our lives. Studies show that buildings can have a tangible effect on our mood and wellbeing and, as a result, Siemens has made it its driving motivation to create perfect places for its consumers. Headquartered in Switzerland, the company’s Building Technologies Division has earned a strong reputation for producing cutting-edge technologies for commercial, industrial and public buildings alike. In doing so, it has become a trusted technology partner for those who want to create comfortable, energy-efficient, safe and secure spaces. Ahmad Farrakh Manzoor, Head of Building Technologies in Siemens Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, says that buildings aren’t just four walls and a roof. Buildings are alive – and they talk to us with information. Billions of intelligent devices and machines generate massive amounts of data every day, every hour, every second and,
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with the right digital tools, you can now learn from them and interact with them like never before. “It’s about making perfect places for people to spend their lives, whether it’s educational spaces, work environments, hospitals or even leisure facilities,” Manzoor explains. “It’s about creating buildings which allow you to grow, to learn, and feel safe and secure. Today,
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90% of our lives are spent indoors and this is why at Siemens we want to make perfect places - perfectly designed for its purpose.” Siemens Building Technologies is renowned worldwide for its stateof-the-art solutions and innovative thinking but, for Manzoor, what gives the company a competitive edge is the talents and expertise of its staff. “I think the most important thing
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“It’s about creating buildings which allow you to grow, to learn, and feel safe and secure. Today, 90% of our lives are spent indoors and this is why at Siemens we don’t just make buildings, we want to make perfect places perfectly designed for its purpose” – Ahmad Farrakh Manzoor, Head of Building Technologies in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain
is our team,” he observes. “We have a very creative and talented team of people who can explain to our customers how they can benefit from our technologies and what sets our solutions apart. This is the key to our success. “You can buy fire detectors, thermostats and security cameras from anywhere in the market, but it’s how our team explain the benefit of these technologies and adapt it as per customer needs, so it works for you, is what makes us unique. “It’s this human element,” he continues. “You need good communicators who can showcase the technology to the customers. It’s about the usage of the technology and ensuring that our customers can use their technology and be successful on their own.” As one of the divisions within Siemens, Europe’s largest conglomerate, Siemens Building Technologies can also tap into the company’s cross-industry knowledge across sectors like healthcare (Siemens Healthineers), transport (Siemens Mobility) and computer
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software (Siemens PLM Software). It is this cross-industry knowledge which means the firm can uniquely provide endto-end building technology solutions for its customers. “Siemens is uniquely positioned as the only company in the market who can provide end-to-end solutions,” Manzoor notes. “We can leverage this breadth of knowledge across Siemens and bring it together with our technologies to create solutions that are useful for our customers.” This wide-reaching expertise is helping the company create incredible projects ranging from industrial facilities, educational buildings, office spaces and even cinemas, but perhaps the firm’s most notable contribution has been in its creation of smart cities. The global smart city market has mushroomed in recent years and it’s an industry which Siemens Building Technologies is already tapping in. Market researchers at Navigant Research have estimated that by 2023, global income from smart
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technologies will have tripled from its 2013 level – from $8.8bn to $27.5bn. With the latest industry knowhow and end-to-end solutions, it seems Siemens Building Technologies is readying itself for this fast-growing trend. “We have a unique position in smart cities,” Manzoor explains. “If you think about what constitutes a smart city, especially in the Middle East, you need three things: smart mobility, a smart grid, and smart buildings. Smart buildings play an immense role with over 70% of energy being consumed by buildings for cooling in the hot summer months.” In today’s ever-evolving technology sector, the company’s competitive edge hasn’t gone unnoticed by the business world. Last year, the German firm took a top spot on Forbes’s list of the World’s Top Regarded Companies, an achievement which Manzoor credits to the innovative, free-thinking work culture that is nurtured at Siemens. “We are lucky we are seen as
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Ahmad Farrakh Manzoor Head of Building Technologies in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain
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Siemens Solution Partner
With a broad range of systems, indepth application know-how and highly experienced engineering experts, we design, install and maintain your fire protetion system to ensure life safety, protect valuable assets and business continuity.
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Certified Siemens Solution Partner for over 20 years for advanced fire detection and Fire suppression systems Amongst top 3 Siemens Solution Partners world-wide in terms of annual business revenue Capability to design, supply, install and test fire alarm and fighting systems. ISO 9001:2015 certified HCISS(CLU) approved contractor Specialised in fire detection and protection solutions to oil, gas, petrochemical and power projects
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an employer of choice,” explains Manzoor. “The company’s reputation greatly helps to attract and retain the very best talent and expertise in the region. “The company’s work culture has also been key,” he continues. “We’ve created a progressive, forwardthinking environment where there’s no such thing as a bad idea, because even if someone has an idea which isn’t that great, you can challenge each other, and have discussions which could inspire someone else.” Heading up the Building Technologies Division’s operations in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, Manzoor believes that the Middle East is a particularly promising region for innovation and technology. “I wouldn’t say the market is changing fast, I would say it’s disrupting fast,” he observes. “If you look at the demographics, the region is unique because of its young, tech-savvy population and high social media penetration. Therefore, it complements our digital offering and smart city business.” As more and more technologies
enter the fray, Siemens Building Technologies has kept pace, if not led the way, when it comes to digital disruption. “I like to think that buildings can talk, we just need to listen,” explains Manzoor. “Just like human beings or robots, buildings can talk. We just need to open our ears and listen to them. This is what we do in Building Technologies. We see the data they generate, run analytics on this, and can better predict what’s going to happen in the future. “So, for instance, we’ve been tapping into artificial intelligence to see how buildings can learn from the occupancy patterns of rooms,” he notes. “By using sensors, you can see which rooms are being occupied every day and which are not. Then, using artificial intelligence we can predict when it will be occupied in the future and you can adapt the air conditioning, for instance, to suit this. You can also make the building owners more aware which rooms and spaces they can free up and reuse across their portfolio.
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“The building can automatically cool up the room if it predicts there’s going to be a conference. By doing this, you’re not only making the building smarter, you can also save electricity, improve productivity, and make it more comfortable.”
Finding the right balance between comfort, building performance and sustainability is a task which Siemens has mastered over the years. According to the firm, buildings represent 40% of the world’s primary energy use and so
creating energy-efficient buildings is more important than ever. As such, Siemens has set itself an ambitious goal to become the world’s first major industrial company to be completely carbon neutral by 2030. To achieve this, it is investing in technologies such as
energy management systems and automation system for buildings. This commitment isn’t just good for corporate citizenship, it’s also good business, says Manzoor. “The company plans to cut its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in half by 2020 and then to be
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completely carbon neutral by 2030. This requires a lot of funding so we are investing around €100mn ($118.75mn) in improving our energy efficiency so we can make our planet better. We like to walk the talk.” In conjunction with its high sustainability standards, Siemens has also led the way as a strong champion of high safety and security protocols. “We’ve seen many safety and security incidents across the world and so our mission is to create perfect places for everybody which are, most importantly, very safe and secure; but don’t just ask us, ask our customers,” Manzoor says. “Most mission critical facilities in Saudi Arabia use Siemens’ Building Technologies, whether it’s the oil and gas industry or hospitals. Now, the one of the very first cinema complex has opened its doors in
Saudi Arabia and guess who they chose to implement fire detection within those cinemas? Siemens. “We’re very excited and, of course, we’re very proud that the Cineplex is using our technology,” he adds. “There are around 350 cinemas with more than 2,500 screens planned to open in Saudi Arabia by 2030. The Kingdom has a vibrant society and is investing heavily in entertainment. It’s a promising, emerging market for us and we’re very excited about it.” Whether creating cinemas or shopping malls, museums or university lecture halls, Siemens has earned its stripes as a leading building technology provider. As Manzoor highlights, buildings can talk and if you have the right tools and analytics, and it’s clear that Siemens Building Technologies is there to listen.
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early 80% of new homes in the US today are built by National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) members, which include single-family and multifamily homes. The NAHB has over 700 state and local associations, and 140,000 members. Roughly a third of members are homebuilders and remodelers. The NAHB provides educational opportunities, and hosts a student competition every year at the International Builders’ Show (IBS), which is the world’s largest residential and light commercial construction trade show that brings 60,000 visitors from 100 countries to see the newest and best products in the industry. The NAHB offers many opportunities to get people involved in the industry and make connections with industry leaders early on. Becoming an NAHB member has many benefits including discounts online, in stores, at car dealerships, credit card companies, hotels, and car rentals. Member benefits also include access to student scholarships, classes, and trainings in different
areas such as design-build, building safety, project management, risk management, green building, and The Builder Assessment Review (BAR). Building safety has always been a primary concern in the construction industry. In order to raise public awareness on this issue, the NAHB has started a campaign called Safety 365 to provide information and resources to the public to keep construction workers safe, and eliminate preventable accidents, injuries, and deaths. The Safety 365 campaign highlights different aspects of construction safety each month, and also promotes safety outside of the job. The NAHB offers classes, safety training materials, and news updates to educate employers and workers on safety and health hazards in the industry and on the jobsite to comply with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements. The NAHB also supports the increase in sustainable or green building in response to rising energy costs, the need to improve air quality,
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Chantal Contreras, NAHB President at CSULB
ensuring clean water, and conserving water usage. The goal of sustainable buildings is high performance through construction and development techniques, materials, and designs that minimize the home’s impact on the environment and conservation natural resources. Sustainable buildings are moving towards using more efficient systems; some of the energy conservation systems include
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high-performance windows, energyefficient appliances, lighting, better insulation, and HVAC systems. Another important factor that contributes to green building is water conserving systems such as waterefficient appliances, fixtures, filtration systems, and low-maintenance landscaping and irrigation systems. Using better resources like high performance engineered wood, wood
alternatives, allergen-free materials, and recycled building materials also aid in sustainable building. Lastly, using effective HVAC equipment, formaldehyde-free finishes, and products with minimum off-gassing or low-VOCs will ultimately better the home’s indoor air quality. Sustainable buildings not only encourage environmental awareness and more efficient uses of scarce resources, but also result in an improved living environment and lower utility bills. The NAHB continues to follow current issues that arise in the industry. Some of the hottest topics in the industry right now are that design build is on the rise, as
design-bid-build seems to be winding down, collaborative approaches are becoming more and more common for projects. Cyber risks are an enormous issue nowadays, as the rise of technology becomes more advanced, the exposure to information is put at risk for many companies and digitally collaborative programs including building information modeling (BIM). The rise of robotics in the construction industry in projected to make construction sites virtually human-free by 2050 by using drones to monitor site status, smart sensors to track people on-site, and radiofrequency identification to track site equipment and materials.
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Residential construction is governed by building codes and standards set by local and state laws. These codes often reflect local construction practices, climate, and geography. Most US communities have adopted the International Code Council’s I-Codes. The I-Codes address all aspects of single-family
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and multifamily construction, including structural and MEP, and energy conservation requirements. The codes protect public health and safety, and have now turned to energy efficiency, sustainability, and property protection. But some of these energy code changes are benefiting specific product manufacturers and
take away consumer flexibility. The ICC codes are updated every three years, and the NAHB analyzes their impact on new and existing buildings. Their role is to ensure that the ICC evaluates all proposals objectively and that any changes or additional code requirements that are adopted are necessary and cost-effective. Through
NAHB efforts, the International Code Council’s Board of Directors now requires cost impact information. If that information is not included, the proposed change will be rejected. If you are interested in learning more about the NAHB or becoming a member, please visit our website at www.NAHB.org.
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The Precision Cancer Medicine Building A purposeful building with leading facilities management
Delivering industry-leading clinical treatment and worldclass research, the University of California, San Francisco is set to revolutionise the healthcare sector once more with its state-of-the-art Precision Cancer Medicine Building Written by Laura Mullan Produced by Tom Venturo
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
The UCSF Health recently was named among the nation’s premier medical institutions for the 17th consecutive year, ranking as the fifth best hospital in the country and the top-ranked hospital in California, according to US News & World Report
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lobally recognised for its world-class research and patient care, the University of California, San Francisco, (UCSF) is set to continue its legacy as a leading healthcare provider with its state-ofthe-art facility for cancer treatment. Located at UCSF Health Mission Bay, the Precision Cancer Medicine Building (PCMB) is an unprecedented advance for people with cancer.
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Championing personalised evidence-based treatments, the 180,000 square foot, seven-story facility aims to place patients and their families at the centre of efforts to ensure that care is carefully tailored to each individual’s biology and life circumstances. This year, the American Cancer Society, predicts that approximately 1.7mn people will be diagnosed
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with cancer across the country. Bruce Mace, Director of Facilities Management at UCSF Health, believes that this state-of-the-art facility not only signals a new chapter for the institution, but will also change the way we treat the disease. “The Precision Cancer Medicine Building is a new way of looking at cancer treatment,” explains Mace. “It speaks to utilising different
modalities of treatment – whether it may be chemotherapy, radiation or holistic treatment, for instance – and mixing those modalities to target the individual’s needs because all cancers are different at a genetic level. The Precision Cancer Medicine Building is a facility which is going to allow the further development of the precision cancer treatment option.” Consistently topping the
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leader-board rankings, UCSF Health has earned a strong reputation for its medical outpatient care and academic research.
the university’s industry-leading clinical practices and world-class research capability to transform the way we approach cancer care.
Combining leading research and clinical practice UCSF Health was recently named among the nation’s premier medical institutions for the 17th consecutive year, ranking as the fifth best hospital in the country and the top-ranked hospital in California, according to US News & World Report. Meanwhile, its academic offering has also received worldwide recognition, being rated among the best universities in the world, according to another ranking by US News & World Report. Just a few steps away from the Benioff Children’s Hospital, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Research Building and UCSF Bakar Cancer Hospital, the LEED-certified Precision Cancer Medicine Building aims to connect the University’s Mission Bay and Mount Zion practices into one location. In doing so, it hopes to marry
A multi-modal approach to cancer treatment “UCSF Health has different cancer treatments that take place at different locations so the knowledge that is learned, the treatments that are utilised, and the services that are provided to our range of cancer patients is spread across our campuses,” says Mace. “The Precision Cancer Medicine Building aims to become the very core of our cancer program. “UCSF’s educational side – all the research, research buildings, and the educational components – are close to our Mission Bay Hospital, and so PCMB aims to take the knowledge that’s gained to the bedside in a very short pipeline,” he adds. “The learning and treatment cycle is very small and it’s always spinning, which will ensure that we provide the finest care to our patients.” Set to open its doors in mid-2019,
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the Precision Cancer Medicine Building is notable not just because of its poignant mission and ethos. It’s also being brought to life through an innovative approach to construction and facilities management. Emphasising facilities management With a background in construction, architecture, planning and design, Mace has been Director of Facilities Management at UCSF for the past eight years. He says that although facilities management can sometimes be viewed as an afterthought in the construction sector, facilities management has been involved front and centre in the Precision Cancer Medicine Building’s vision. “Facilities management is about the environment of care,” explains Mace. “It’s all the infrastructure systems that directly support patient care throughout our hospital system. “Today, we have roughly 120 buildings and four hospitals. In the case of Mission Bay Hospital and the Precision Cancer Medicine Building,
we are a tertiary and quaternary acute care treatment enterprise. We get some of the most difficult, most acute cases here so it’s hypercritical that we deliver a stable, safe environment for the care of that segment of our patient population.” During the construction phase, Mace has tried to make facilities management a key consideration by harnessing the latest cutting-edge technologies. Championing collaboration between people, systems, and business structures, UCSF Health has taken an integrated project delivery (IPD) approach to the building delivery which has been consolidated by its use of a Building Information Modeling for Facilities Management (BIM4FM) system. Integrating technologies IBM Maximo and Autodesk Revit (BIM360), Mace and his team have created what he describes as a “living as-operated model of the building that we can utilise on a daily basis”. Leveraging this state-of-the-art computerised maintenance management system (CMMS), UCSF
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has created an in-depth, meticulous and functional model of the Precision Cancer Medicine Building that won’t just be used during construction; it will also be used for facility management operational purposes. Technological ingenuity Responsible for serving acute care of patients with cancer, 100% uptime will be critical at the Precision Cancer Medicine Building.
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Mace believes that the university’s latest BIM4FM system goes the extra mile to ensure the facility runs smoothly and that facilities management remains a priority. “IBM Maximo is a computerised maintenance management system, so it manipulates work orders and preventative maintenance and it also tracks the work history and the repair history,” he explains. “It’s all the information surrounding the about
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60,000 assets that we are responsible for on a daily basis. So, medical gas delivery, electricity, air handlers and each piece of equipment – you name it. They’re all found within this system. “This information is illustrated in a detailed 3D model through Autodesk Revit, integrated within IBM Maximo utilising the Autodesk Large Model Forge Viewer, so if I look at my screen and touch an eye wash, for example, it will give me
the work order history, repair history and I can also open a work order to start the management cycle.” Value-adding BIM4FM With such a substantial investment, Mace believes that the system will truly add value to day-to-day operations, championing best in class practices. “What’s the value of the BIM4FM system?” reflects Mace. “Well, for example, if we have a leak on a pipe
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The university’s BIM4FM system ensures the facility’s operations run smoothly
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system, we can touch that leak in the model and it will identify where the upstream isolation valve is, i.e., how we can turn it off immediately. It will also tell us the downstream areas that will be impacted by loss of water, and it’ll give us all the information on the system itself – pipe size, flow, materials - all the things we need to know to repair it. “One particular case which really opened my eyes up to the possibilities of the system was an incident in the middle of the night where we had a leak somewhere within a 7-story firerated encased structural steel column chase and the engineers couldn’t identify and isolate where the water was coming from,” reflects Mace. “They called both the Chief Engineer
Chris Shirar and myself, and for the first time ever, instead of going to look at reams of 2D paper plan sets, we ran for the electronic model and asked building engineers to turn off the necessary systems one at a time as we worked our way through the model. We had it diagnosed, isolated and repaired by the next morning when, in the past, that kind of a leak could’ve taken two or three days to completely diagnose, isolate, contain and repair, costing us valuable patient care hours as well as revenue. This system is going to save us huge amounts of time and I think that’s the most critical added value.” Through this scrupulous BIM4FM model, UCSF Health can explore every individual asset in the building,
“That’s sort of the magic sauce, that facilities management is a key focus and is a contributing driver in the project” – Bruce Mace, Director of Facilities Management
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“I think the learning experience here is what’s tremendously exciting” – Bruce Mace, Director of Facilities Management
whether its eye washes or pipes, at the touch of a button. All the data is in one place so the system reduces the need for paper, quickens the speed of repairs and ensures the best practice in facilities management. “What really changed is we’re facilities management. We’re responsible for the operation of the building at the end of the cycle, yet, for the first time ever, our department was invited by VP and Senior Capital Project Architect Stuart Eckblad to submit a BIM Execution Plan (BEP) and a Data Dictionary for inclusion in writing the specification requirements of the “best-value” contract,” observes Mace. “That’s sort of the magic sauce, that facilities management is a key focus and is a contributing driver in the project.” Harnessing big data Unlike traditional BIM models, UCSF Health’s model for the Precision Cancer Medicine Building uses much more data to deliver a more detailed model, despite using just 5% of the mammoth data it has acquired. “There’s a lot of data that goes into
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UCSF has 120 buildings and four hospitals
building a BIM building,” notes Mace. “The Level of Development (LOD) can be, and typically in construction, is about LOD 300. We currently use 5% of the huge volume of data we have that relates directly to fire and life safety, regulatory, patient care and environment of care and we have a LOD of 400 or 500. The added level of detail for these specific items is more granular and that’s critical.” The implementation of this cutting-edge integration has been a true learning experience for the
team at UCSF Health, but thanks to its close collaboration with the builders, the tradesmen, the programmers and all those involved, UCSF Health has pioneered a new way of going about construction and facilities management. Working alongside experts from Stantec, Cupertino, Southland, CRTKL, VueOps, Honeywell and Rudolph & Sletten required the expansion of “working session” collaboration and a quantum leap in work process
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for this data output demand. “This hasn’t been done before,” says Mace candidly. “It’s forced us to be very collaborative. We want to be. It’s a very big change for the university and the industry. I think it’s helping us bring about cultural industry change.” A changing culture Looking to the future, the Precision Cancer Medicine Building is set to open next year and will undoubtedly deliver the world-class care UCSF Health is known for. However, its innovative BIM4FM platform isn’t just confined to this ongoing project. Mace and his team are already implementing this electronic operations model to the Mission Bay Hospital and the Gateway Medical Building over the coming months. “In the future, all of our buildings as we build them new will be to this standard,” he says. “We also want to take the data and integrate it not just with new builds but also connect it with already-built projects. With regard to use cases and system-wide benefits, the UCSF
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Health BIM4FM team has partnered with the University of California Office of the President to participate in a “Construction/Procurement Center of Excellence” to support shared development of a focused effort to connect real-time construction and
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life-cycle data with other downstream users. Program manager Dylan Paul indicates that the timely and accurate collection of such data during construction has the potential to save the UC system over $70mn annually. “The learning experience here
is what’s tremendously exciting,” concludes Mace. “I think we’re making huge headway on our milestones approach and the myriad benefits of harnessing the data output of object-based architecture keep coming into view.”
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