Smart technology is still perceived by many to be the remit of luxury and ultra-modern buildings, but Oliver Iltisberger, Managing Director of ABB’s Smart Buildings business outlines how specifiers and installers can make established and historical buildings intelligent through smart technology.
Some of the key misconceptions surrounding smart building automation is that the technology costs too much and it is too complicated to install. But with growing demand in the retrofit arena we continue to promote the message that older buildings around the world can quite easily – and also cost effectively – be made more intelligent, without impacting the basic fabric and historical elements.
Blending the old and the new – so that we can protect with several protection devices, enhance with automation solutions, and improve energy efficiency in established buildings with heating and lighting management – puts control back in the hands of the facilities manager.
A central driver for smart technology is the desire for building operators to make greater use of automation. If you take the hospitality sector, the market for retrofitting automation into established hotels is much bigger than installing automation technology into new hotels.
A decade ago, the cost of automating a three-star hotel chain was prohibitively high. Yet hotel operators today are seeking to use building automation to not only boost all-important energy efficiency and regulatory compliance, but also enhance the comfort of their guests and differentiate their brands from those of other hotel chains.
Oliver Iltisberger. Managing Director of ABB’s Smart Buildings business
When retrofitting into an established hotel chain, there isn’t necessarily the need to automate every single room either. One might start in the lobby and the conference rooms or some meeting rooms, which can be done very cost efficiently.
For example, the owners of the 17th Century Grand Hotel Palace Ancona in Italy commissioned a major refurbishment program, delivering a balance between preserving the heritage of the building while adding the latest technology, so they chose ABB i-bus® KNX smart building automation to improve customer comfort and improve the running of the hotel.
Installing the latest in-room technology, from automatic lighting scenes to controllable heating and entertainment, together with a sophisticated, easy to operate central control system, gave the hotel a new lease of life.
Modernisation programmes through smart technology adoption at public utility facilities are also generating quick and measurable results too.
A school complex in Stara Łubianka, Poland, has installed a building automation control system which has seen improvements in the comfort and safety of users while reducing CO2 emissions, energy consumption and operating costs.
Built-in motion and temperature sensors at the school allow for on-site and remote control of lighting and optimization of heating across 17 classrooms – with savings of up to 25 percent. Apart from switching lights on and off when unoccupied, they can also detect intruders at night and set temperatures lower after detecting absence for at least 30 minutes.
Safety is another top priority in public buildings and especially historic monuments with heavy wooden construction and dated installations. At a town hall in Dordrecht, Netherlands, built in 1383, ABB supported the electrical refurbishment of the building to protect against arc faults. The new smart system also facilitates the operation of everything inside and around – from Wi-Fi in the council hall, the audio in the wedding hall, through to the lighting of the six-century-old prison cells in the attic.
The detection of arc faults is mandatory in certain countries with over 30 percent of fires caused by faults in the electrical installation, which rises considerably in older wooden constructions. Cutting edge Arc Fault Detection Devices can be implemented as an essential protective measure, in addition to MCBs and RCDs.
All said, the regulatory environment on sustainability is now impacting the retrofit building sector too and having an energy efficient older building is less an option and more essential. Improving running costs and saving energy through smarter technology control is key to ensuring that we can not only preserve and protect our historical buildings but enable them to be used for future generations.
