Smart Buildings Consultancy

The future of buildings is smart.

JHA is already at the forefront of this exciting area and believes that all buildings, old and new, have the potential to become smart buildings. 

Modern buildings are already filled with technologies designed to make our lives easier, more comfortable, and more connected. Building automation and control technologies that are commonly in use today, such as lighting control and HVAC automation work quite well on their own.

A smart building, however, converges all of these technologies onto a single, unified system through simplified networking, cloud computing, and information-rich controls and analytics. Smart building technology unlocks a wealth of potential, from gathering unparalleled business intelligence; to maximising energy efficiency; to increasing physical and virtual security; to reducing laborious maintenance tasks.

JHA’s approach to smart buildings is not to simply provide another layer of design documentation. Instead, we guide you through a strategy that supports a building’s lifecycle from conception through to operation, across all building services disciplines. Doing so will unlock the power of data to create better performing, vastly more sustainable places.

JHA’s smart building experts service projects all across Australia and the world. Smart buildings are a true multi-disciplinary effort, and our team is supported by talented engineers across all disciplines across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Download our Capability Statement here.

 

All buildings can be smart buildings.

There’s no one way to develop a smart building. Reuse, refurbishment or extension of existing building stock make up an increasing amount of JHA’s projects in the urban space. While this is a boon for ecological sustainability, it also provides an opportunity to realise the benefits of smart buildings technology.

The barrier for entry is lower than you might think. JHA can assess your existing building services systems and advise on inexpensive methods to derive and utilise building data, upgrade existing separated systems to integrated communications networks, and design new methods of automating building functionality.

Interested in finding out more?

Read our latest article: Three ways you can turn your existing building into a Smart Building.

Smart Buildings are the Smart Money.

Incorporating smart building technology does not need to increase the project’s complexity, nor its cost. In fact, correct implementation of smart buildings technology will actually reduce a project’s cost.

Here’s why.

Modern building services, such as access control, air conditioning or vertical transport, are computerised systems and use networks to communicate. The more services a building has, the more networks are required. Typically, this introduces more maintenance, more computer systems that could fail or be subject to cyber-attacks, and more cabling infrastructure. However, if we converged these systems on a singular platform, we reduce the physical installation cost and the ongoing costs of maintenance and software updates, all the while making it easier to upgrade infrastructure down the track.

 

Building Digital Buildings.

Today’s businesses are built on data-driven decision making. You wouldn’t operate a successful business without clear accounting, marketing and time management statistics. So why should your built assets stand in the way of gathering critical data about its very purpose?

This is why smart buildings go hand in hand with digital delivery and multi-dimensional construction methodologies.

Digital buildings are representations of the whole building, or parts of the building, in cyberspace, filled with real-time data about the building’s current state. Some applications of digital buildings include:

  • Asset tagging and cataloguing;
  • Real-time monitoring of equipment status, structural integrity, energy consumption, room occupancy, energy consumption, or even Wi-Fi network performance;
  • Intelligent room booking and timetabling;
  • Flythroughs, walkarounds, and 3D/VR/AR experiences; and
  • Digital wayfinding.

Find out more about our BIM & Digital Delivery Capabilities

JHA lives and breathes digital building design. It’s what we do and it’s what our clients love.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) & Digital Delivery Services

Smart Buildings are the Key to becoming Carbon-Neutral

For more ways JHA is helping our clients transition to a carbon-neutral future, read our Carbon Neutral Pathways case study.

Carbon neutral pathways for building portfolios to reduce carbon emissions