Shaping Smart Solutions with Tech and Innovation
With more than half of Singapore’s buildings turning 30 years or older by 2025, there is now greater demand for efficient solutions that can improve communications, lessen response time, reduce costs and manpower, and raise productivity in building management.
Smart Facilities Management (FM), which integrates systems, processes, technologies, and personnel to enhance the management of a building’s facilities, has been successfully adopted in the form of mobile and desktop applications to improve building management and energy efficiency in the sector.
Streamlining Building Management
In January 2019, Yale-NUS College rolled out a pilot of a mobile application called MyInfra FM App, created with Smart Facilities Management (FM) technologies that allows users to conveniently and immediately request for support or report building defects to the campus’ infrastructure team.
The Yale-NUS College houses three residential colleges where students live and study alongside their professors and peers. Its Infrastructure, Safety & Security Office receives 6,000 feedback requests a year ranging from event support or technical issues in the building, and staff would take an average time of 14 days to resolve cases.
Through the app, users can take photos of the reported issue, categorise their feedback into common categories and input details to aid contractors who can also use the app to track the status of issues. The introduction of the app streamlined and optimised incident reporting and closure process, reducing turnaround time down to under a day and enabling the office to promptly manage building issues before they escalate.
Using Data to Power Energy and Cost Efficient Buildings
Aside from better building management, adopting Smart FM solutions can also contribute to energy efficient buildings in Singapore.
First launched in 2016, the Green Buildings Innovation Cluster (GBIC) Programme is an integrated research development and demonstration (RD&D) hub that aims to accelerate the development and adoption of energy efficient technologies and solutions for building development in Singapore.
Under the programme, Certis Technology Singapore developed a Smart FM platform that leverages Building Information Modelling (BIM), IoT devices, cloud, big data and artificial intelligence to maximise energy savings and improve operational performance and maintenance in a building.
A digital twin of BCA Academy’s Academic Tower was developed in the programme, and served as a dynamic virtual representation. The system is powered by real-time data to depict building operations and uses big data analysis to automate manual processes, reducing cost and complexity to manage the facility.
Tap on Smart FM Solutions Today
The use of Smart FM technologies will be key in helping the Built Environment stay future-ready. Processes and people must be considered to fully harness the potential of Smart FM technologies in supporting data-driven decisions, creating change, and improving management outcomes for Singapore’s buildings and facilities. Read more about how the FM sector is driving transformation through Smart FM technologies here.
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