Intelligent Buildings can boost Workforce Performance

Commercial buildings in the Middle East need to be more ‘intelligent’ in order to save costs, boost employee productivity and give businesses a competitive edge, a leading construction industry expert has told visitors to a trade exhibition taking place in Dubai.

Pantelis Kouzis, of the Cyprus-based construction specialists EKA Group, said ‘Intelligent Buildings’ could boost workforce productivity by up to 5% by enhancing office lighting and ensuring a comfortable internal temperature, while performance could increase by as much as 7% if workers could control the temperature around their individual workstations.

Kouzis, the company’s Overseas Business Development Manager, was speaking at FM EXPO, a showcase event for the facilities management industry, which opened at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre on Sunday. He said that the value of these employee productivity increases was roughly equivalent to the entire capital and operational costs of a building over its life-cycle.

EKA Group has more than 12 years experience in the field of ‘Intelligent Buildings’ and has recently formed a specialised company in Dubai, EKA Building Systems LLC.

“Buildings form our architectural landscape and they, and the environment they generate, should uplift the soul and spirits of people within them as well as those passing by,” said Kouzis. “An ‘Intelligent Building’ is capable of recognising and responding to changing circumstances to allow a more efficient use of resources and improve the comfort of its occupants. An increase in staff productivity through less absenteeism, increased output and less disruption to workflow is the key to a building’s success.”

Kouzis’ presentation was part of the three-day FM EXPO’s seminar programme, which has attracted an impressive line-up of international speakers generating debates on major issues affecting the FM industry.

Facilities management advocates an integrated approach to managing the built environment effectively and, while it is still an emerging concept in the Middle East, is predicted to eventually outstrip the region’s booming construction industry.

Kouzis described how an ‘Intelligent Building’ could cut operational costs by using freely available energy sources. Heating bills can be slashed by using solar cells to collect solar heat while, in hot climates, solar insulation can cut heat gain. Ventilation can be improved by using the ‘chimney effect’, which allows hot air in the building to rise and escape through ducts, and lighting bills can be dramatically reduced by installing light shelves to reflect daylight deep into the building.

Technological advances such as underfloor air conditioning allow employees to control the temperature in their immediate work area, unlike the traditional ceiling-based AC systems. ‘Intelligent Buildings’ also cut maintenance costs by using sophisticated monitoring technology to alert occupiers to imminent faults, while their design allows them to be adapted easily and cost-effectively over the course of their life cycle to suit tenants’ differing needs as businesses and management styles change.

“Modern commercial buildings must be designed from the beginning to economically and gracefully accommodate whatever the future might bring,” said Kouzis. “If a building has the flexibility and the capacity to accommodate its future economically, then it will be able to forestall obsolescence and retain its market value throughout its life cycle.”

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