Bridging Design and Operations
Are you designing your building with a focus on its most expensive aspect—operation?
Operating costs dominate a building's lifecycle expenses, often accounting for up to 90% over a 50-year lifespan. Yet, building operators are frequently excluded from the design process, leaving them to manage spaces they had no input in shaping.
Our holistic approach integrates operators’ perspectives to enhance efficiency and productivity. Our Intelligent Buildings team goes further by designing for adaptability and flexibility, enabling operators to leverage emerging technologies and sustain long-term productivity gains. This approach minimizes future retrofit and modernization costs while maximizing operational savings.
Building a Smarter Facility for a Fortune 500 Biotech Company
A Fortune 500 biotechnology company worked with our Intelligent Buildings Studio to design a new manufacturing and training facility. By involving key teams like Facilities, IT, and Cybersecurity early in the process, we created a system that improved day-to-day operations, reduced risks, and prepared the facility for future upgrades.
What We Did and Why It Matters
Brought Teams Together
- We made sure the operators—Facilities, IT, and Cybersecurity—were part of the design process from the start.
- Together, we set policies that would work across the company for years to come.
Simplified Operations with a Smart System
- Instead of using separate systems for HVAC, lighting, fire alarms, elevators, and other equipment, we designed a single platform to control everything in one place.
- This made the building easier to manage and reduced the risk of depending on just one vendor for repairs or upgrades.
Connected All Buildings in the Portfolio
- The smart system is designed to work across all of the company’s buildings.
- It helps gather data for reports, sustainability goals, and tracking performance—all from a single, centralized system.
Made the System Secure and Ready to Grow
- We built a secure, reliable system that can handle expansion as the facility grows.
- The design included extra capacity and redundancy to ensure it stays operational, even in critical situations.
Prepared for the Future with Advanced Features
- The system supports tools like Fault Detection and Diagnostics (FDD), which can predict problems and schedule maintenance before things break.
- While the company wasn’t ready for these tools at the start, we designed the system to make it easy to add them later without extra costs.
Saved Time and Money
- By planning for future upgrades during construction, we avoided costly rework.
- The design ensures the company can take advantage of new technologies without expensive retrofits.
The Big Picture
This project didn’t just create a smart building—it set the stage for smarter operations across the company’s entire portfolio. The result is a more efficient, flexible, and future-proof facility that saves money and resources over time.
How can we help you harness your data for sustainability?
Intelligent Buildings Studio Director
T (404)730-8528
E mshirley@newcomb-boyd.com