BRICKS, BYTES

WHY PROPERTY DATA MUST BE UNDER ONE ROOF FOR PROPTECH TO DELIVER. HAIDER-MORANIS,

The union between big data, analytics and property management, aptly called proptech, holds great promise for sustainable building operations and maintenance.

Data and technology are fast becoming available to realize a tech-driven future, but two challenges remain. First, sensor-generated data are often held proprietarily by independent vendors, preventing building managers from capturing a complete picture. Second, the human capital needed to turn sensor data into insights is in short supply.

For proptech to succeed and deliver safe and sustainable work environments, building data must be brought under one roof for building managers to generate and implement actionable insights.

Proptech is essentially a cross between the bricksand-mortar and bits-andbytes worlds. The age-old stereotype of building managers walking the floors with a tool belt hanging from the waist will be replaced by a new generation of tech-savvy managers armed with analytics and sensors.

Yet, unlike the automotive sector or finance, the real estate industry has so far been slow to embrace technology. The demand for innovation and the supply of solutions have been provided by tech entrepreneurs not necessarily associated with the real estate sector.

For example, the Wi-Fienabled smart thermostats that optimize indoor climates using machine learning algorithms have their roots in communication and information technologies.

The quest to capture consumer data in all its manifestations means that data-centric businesses will likely lead the way in devising solutions for residential and commercial properties, hoping to gain even more insights about existing and potential new customers. The quest for data is why companies such as Alphabet Inc. (Google's parent company) are increasingly acquiring proptech companies.

Numerous technology vendors offer software and tools for better building maintenance, promising tons in savings and efficiencies. But having an abundance of choices has its problems. Large landlords and building operators require expert evaluation of competing technologies before settling on one. Furthermore, landlords will need help implementing a suite of technologies that are likely to be sourced from several vendors.

The demand to integrate technology into property maintenance has increased even more so during COVID-19. What a building must do to stay operational during the pandemic is what concerns landlords the most.

For instance, commercial building operators are aggressively searching for tools to improve and monitor airflow with advanced filtering technology. Proptech can enable merging sensor and other machine-generated data to deliver healthy and safer working environments.

New buildings are ready for automation. Managers are, if they haven't already, transitioning to tech-driven building automation. Older buildings have little choice. Either their systems are upgraded and converted to digital from analog or demand and rents will decline as telework re-sets the spatial equilibrium in cities and beyond.

Rycom Corp., which specializes in bringing smart tech to the real estate sector by advising clients on technology, is already operating in buildings occupied by the federal government in Ottawa and leveraging data and analytics to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions.

Building operations generate roughly 28 per cent of the annual global GHG emissions. Improving efficiencies has a tremendous potential to improve the environment and address climate change.

“The new generation of property owners and managers must be trained on the use of smart technologies and operating models,” said Casey Witkowitz, Rycom's CEO.

In other words, smart tech needs smart workers, but there exists a skills gap in building maintenance where boomers are retiring in large numbers.

The skills gap exists because of a lack of building management career training for the digital age. Career-focused higher education institutions, especially polytechnical colleges, are uniquely positioned to develop new programs in partnership with proptech companies to train the next generation of technology-driven building maintenance staff and managers.

Landlords and building managers must work with vendors to integrate all of a building's data in one nerve centre to harness proptech's true potential. Data fragmentation implies that heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) data might not speak with air quality data that is not integrated with occupancy data generated by cameras and other sensors. Partial data will only generate partial truths.

With integrated data, advanced algorithms, and smart building operators, work environments can be made safe again to re-attract workers once the pandemic is over.

COLE BURSTON / BLOOMBERG FILES The pandemic has caused home prices to soar across the developed world, as significant numbers of people decide to leave downtown urban cores and the low borrowing costs employed to stimulate locked-down economies also increase property buyers' budgets.