Insight
Intro to Digital Transformation of the Built Environment
The built environment is finally coming online.
In the mid-20th century, technicians played a crucial role in laying the foundation for cable television, telephone, and later, internet services.
By wiring up buildings and homes, they revolutionized the way we communicate, consume media, and connect with the world.
This transformation enabled homeowners, tenants, and business owners to enjoy the benefits of a first-wave of digitization—which has paved the way to the present.
Similarly, building digitization is a game-changing innovation that lays the digital foundations that fundamentally transforms how how see, share, quantify, and report on our buildings.
We're still in the first inning of this transformation. So, definitions are loose. The digitization of a building generally refers to the creation and maintenance of a digital twin. The details of how a digital twin is created, maintained, and viewed, however, is still very much evolving. For some a digital twin refers to virtual tours, to others a 3D model.
Integrated Projects' digitization process creates a dimensionally-accurate digital twin of a building's architectural, mechanical, and furniture systems by strategically combining advanced 3D site surveying and software, unlocking numerous possibilities and benefits for owner-operators.
So, in response to digital transformation of buildings across the world, we launched IPX.
IPX, Integrated Projects Exchange, is a groundbreaking platform designed to facilitate this transformation, providing a seamless and cost-effective solution for the management and use of digitized real estate data.
This article explores the value of IPX as a tool for landlords and showcases how it can benefit various departments, including leasing, acquisition, design and engineering, procurement, and facilities.
First, let's start where we are today.
The Costs of Not Knowing Your (Accurate) Building Data
The main challenge owner-operators face when their buildings have not been digitized is the lack of access to accurate and up-to-date building data.
Without an IPX Building Profile, building data is typically stored in disparate systems, files, spreadsheets, or even on paper, making it difficult to access and share with stakeholders across the organization.
This can result in a number of challenges for owner-operators, including:
- Increased maintenance and repair costs: Without accurate and up-to-date building data, you may not be able to identify and address maintenance and repair issues in a timely manner. This can lead to increased costs over time as small issues become bigger and more costly to fix.
- Lost revenue opportunities: If you don't have a clear understanding of your building's capacity and potential, you may miss out on revenue-generating opportunities such as leasing unused space or renting out space for events.
- Regulatory compliance issues: Many regulations and compliance requirements for buildings require accurate data on various aspects of the building, such as energy consumption and environmental impact. Without this data, you may be at risk of non-compliance and potentially face fines or other penalties.
- Inefficient operations: Without accurate building data, your operations may be less efficient, as you may not have the necessary insights to optimize processes, reduce waste, or identify opportunities for improvement.
- Reduced asset value: Finally, not knowing your building data can result in a reduced asset value, as potential buyers or investors may view your property as less attractive or valuable due to the lack of information available.
- Future-proofing your buildings: Without digitized building data, owner-operators may struggle to take advantage of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices that can help optimize building performance and operations.
- Reduced competitiveness: As more and more buildings are digitized, those that are not may become less competitive in the marketplace. Digitized buildings can offer a range of benefits, including improved energy efficiency, better collaboration, and more efficient processes, making them more attractive to tenants and investors.
Why Now
In addition to the operational efficiencies gained from digitization, an IPX Building Profile enables owners to proactively address macro-economic, environmental, and societal challenges. Today, business are at the center of scrutiny—accounting for over 40% of all harmful CO2 emissions, a severely low housing stock, and record breaking vacancies across abandoned office spaces.
This rapidly evolving real estate landscape presents new challenges for owner-operators that span outside of their own organizations. As a result, an owner's ability to report on what their footprint "is," puts them in the driver's seat to efficiently determine what it "should be." This is particularly true as new regulations force owner's to upgrade their building's systems in order to remain compliant with environmental benchmarks.
Carbon emissions reporting and new tax credit incentives from cost segregation highlight some of the most recent legislation passed that greatly impact an owner-operator’s potential fines and revenues a building may generate.
IPX not only addresses these challenges but also offers a timely and effective solution to meet the demands of the modern real estate market.
The IPX Factor
IPX provides a comprehensive and user-friendly digitization platform. It enables landlords to digitize their real estate assets—of any type, any size, anywhere—using emerging technologies such as 3D LiDAR scans and BIM (Building Information Modeling).
By consolidating this data on the IPX platform, landlords can streamline their operations, improve decision-making, and enhance the overall efficiency of their real estate management processes.
