Welcome back to part two of this week show. And the previous episode, we had insightful discussions with Laurie Gilmer, President and COO at Facility Engineering Associates, and Paul Cartwright, Deputy Director at the NHS along with Kas Mohammed Vice President for Digital Energy in the UK and Ireland at Schneider Electric. Together they shared their journeys towards achieving net zero and highlighted the importance of involving stakeholders and adopting, cutting edge technology. In this episode, we dive deeper into the topic, focusing on the significance of digitizing building data to make performance visible and centralizing it for well-informed decision-making. Our experts also explore the fascinating concept of digital twinning and discuss key steps towards successful decarbonization.
Welcome back to part two of this week show. And the previous episode, we had insightful discussions with Laurie Gilmer, President and COO at Facility Engineering Associates, and Paul Cartwright, Deputy Director at the NHS along with Kas Mohammed Vice President for Digital Energy in the UK and Ireland at Schneider Electric.
Together they shared their journeys towards achieving net zero and highlighted the importance of involving stakeholders and adopting, cutting edge technology. In this episode, we dive deeper into the topic, focusing on the significance of digitizing building data to make performance visible and centralizing it for well-informed decision-making. Our experts also explore the fascinating concept of digital twinning and discuss key steps towards successful decarbonization.
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Kas Mohammed: [00:00:00] It's the most important because we can do all the strategy and planning in the world. Set our goals and targets. We can then start to make the invisible visible and start to understand where the inefficiencies lie, where the opportunities to improve.
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org to get started. Welcome back to part two of this week's show. In the previous episode, we had insightful discussions with Laurie Gilmer, president and COO at Facility Engineering Associates, and Paul Cartwright, deputy director at the NHS, along with Gilmer Mohammed, vice president for digital energy in the UK and Ireland at Schneider Electric.
Together, they shared their journeys towards achieving net zero and highlighted the [00:01:00] importance of involving stakeholders in adopting cutting edge technology. In this episode, we dive deeper into the topic, focusing on the significance of digitizing building data to make performance visible and centralizing it for well informed decision making.
Our experts also explore the fascinating concept of digital twinning and discuss key steps towards successful decarbonization. Now let's get into it.
Laurie Gilmer: We have our digitized phase. [00:01:30] What are the most relevant actions for our audience?
Kas Mohammed: I think there's a couple of aspects to a digital piece. So firstly, we talk about, you know, how a building is performing. If you think about it as, you know, do you know what's the night load? Do you know what the weekend load is?
Do you know what the normal occupancy is on a Monday? Do you know what it looks like in the middle of the week? I think these are, are questions that a lot of building owners and, and building maintainers are out trying to ask and understand of their own building. So [00:02:00] we talk a lot about making that invisible, understanding more visible, so digitally connecting, putting in the relevant data to our data points to, to collect on and understand what that looks like.
I think we, we talk a lot about how we can centralize some of them data points so that you end up with one version of the truth. Because invariably, actually we've got some customers, some people we work with and they've developed [00:02:30] different systems, different methods over time, and then they have discrepancies in data and they have missing points.
And it's about actually getting that in a way, which is quality that you can rely upon and that you've got some actual, you can challenge on that data point and say. I believe this is how we're performing, you know, within a tolerance and you can make some decisions off the back of that. So we've done a lot of work where we put in cloud based systems to ultimately help with the commute computing power that's needed often in this case.
But also allows you to make [00:03:00] that data easily visible to the lots of different users within a space team. And then finally, I think you with all of that data and connectability, there's a lot now that is available around kind of digital twinning. So here we're moving into a space where actually if you have all of that performance data, it's in a granular form.
You're able to now actually see how a building should be performed. You should see how the asset should be performing it with the right digital twinning [00:03:30] tools. It will tell you when it's not performing well, right. And by what degree it's not performing and what that looks like, where is it on that particular asset?
And even down to a level of what type of skilled engineer do you need to go and send out to that piece of kit to have a look at it? Is it mechanical issue? Is it an IT issue? Is it a, an electrical issue, et cetera. So we're moving more into that space and this is really helping our customers not just be more efficient with their energy and the building performance, [00:04:00] but also their workforces as well going forward.
And. I think it starts to put some possibilities in our minds as Paul's talking about what the future plans are, but just what does that look like if you've got that level of insights interacting with your labor force? Is there then maybe a space where we actually move into a more of an AI type environment in the future?
Laurie Gilmer: Absolutely. And Paul, I saw you nodding your head earlier. I know you've got some things to share. How did this play itself out, this particular step, digitize at the [00:04:30] hospital?
Paul Cartwright: I'll go back to, to the theater project that I mentioned earlier. And it's an example. Well, picking your targets at specification stage to achieve what you're aiming for.
But it's also an example of where. We were going to collect data in one aspect. We didn't know that we were going to use it all. So, so I'll come all to that in a moment. And what, what I say is the primary object [00:05:00] was to replace, I won't say antiquated, I'm not sure it would have turned up on antique roadshow over here, but it felt like it was some of museum, some of this world, and, you know, it's.
It needed replacement. So one of the first projects I did at the hospital was to create a specification to replace the plant. And we do validation of the air flows and that plant had always managed to, you know, meet his targets, [00:05:30] but the parameters changed and we wanted to get a much better, closer control, but not just how we were managing the plant, but also the outcomes, the products that are out of the plant.
And in theatres, we're constantly measuring flow and air change rates. So it's for infection purposes or infection control purposes. You know, we try not to infect people. It's about the control effect. And so, it was about that mission. And so, We came up with [00:06:00] a specification and it's all about control. And at the same time, we said, well, why don't we try and measure the actual electricity usage at the same time?
And that wasn't something that we would normally have done at that granular level, but we installed it at the time, a few years back now, and we started to see the benefits from that. And then that spanned a few other projects where we got to that level of granular detail. But, you know, going back to those theaters, When the energy crisis came along, you [00:06:30] know, we were able to suddenly look at this and go, do you know what, actually by tweaking this and tweaking that, you know, now that we really do need to be energy conscious, let's have a plan.
So, so that really helped, you know, with having that optimized control. And we were able to pull that data out and turn it into meaningful intelligence and do something with it. Again, it does need monitoring. And so that's the other thing, you've got to have a behavioral change as well, to a certain degree of [00:07:00] a mindset that you want to monitor this.
So we've done that in the first instance. We were then getting the reports now, but we were actively working our way through it. One of the things that we started to notice actually with some of the graduate detail was it was in correlation to where some of our maintenance asks were going. Sorry. That was what we started to do.
We started to look at it and we put another meter on the fan motors and then just started to notice that it was drawing slight [00:07:30] current. Okay. Is there a problem somewhere? And therefore you start to get into old school world of condition based maintenance. And suddenly the plant is telling you when to go and have a look at it.
When the filters are starting to get blocked because pressures are starting to build up a little bit. And then You know, that really, for us, sort of turned a leaf and said that Let's use that noise screens on the wall for it to come and tell us when to go to work. So, I think that's probably [00:08:00] where I'll leave it, but I think for me the most important thing is suddenly pick your targets at specification stage, try and overachieve.
So don't go under.
Laurie Gilmer: Taz, moving on to the decarbonize, the decarbonize step. Just a quick minute or two on the most relevant actions for that.
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Kas Mohammed: Yeah, I think this is a vital step. Actually, it's the [00:09:00] most important because we can do All the strategy and planning in the will set our goals and targets. We can then start to make the the invisible visible and start to understand where then inefficiencies lie and where the opportunities to improve light.
But this is really the action stage. This is about actually making them steps as Paul's kind of touched upon there actually as well in terms of understanding that. It's where the performance lied, this was the best performing area. And actually then there's an opportunity on the other [00:09:30] areas to go, why aren't they as, as well performing?
Can we make the tweaks? Can we make the adjustments? I think it's further than that though, as well, where we start to go, okay, is there an opportunity to link various systems together if we aren't digitizing things and we're connecting things? So in the new landscape, am I able to understand how my space is being utilized and link my space and see to maybe the controls.
And also link that to the lighting and start to actually run that as a kind of singular system. That means ultimately I'm [00:10:00] not reliant on human behavior to turn lights on and off, to turn the air conditioning on and off, et cetera, et cetera. And actually now I'm driving another level of, of kind of hyper efficiency there.
I think when we start to get them into the maintenance world, all of the opportunities off the back of that are also there and relevant. So you see this possibility within the, uh, energy space and the efficiency space there, but also outside of that as well.
Laurie Gilmer: Thank you, Gilmer. And Paul, if you could share just a super brief example of what decarbonization [00:10:30] look like at your facility.
Paul Cartwright: What we've been doing more is just Placing it in a meaningful fashion that is going to give us our best bang for our buck. And, you know, recently we chose not to replace the gas boiler with a gas boiler. We did go electric, became slightly more capital. We saw that it was going to give us a much better target because we knew that we had to see [00:11:00] HPs in the background and this was an occasional use.
So I think it's really about. Understanding what your baseline is, looking at a measure, okay, and really trying to be most economical from a carbon perspective as well as a cost perspective. And just last slide, integration is key, echoing what Gilmer says, but linking as many systems as you can together to try and get you to a point where you've got rich data scenes that actually [00:11:30] mean something.
Laurie Gilmer: So seeing recommendations for facility professionals, that's, is very useful and helpful and relevant. Gilmer, what are your three takeaways from today?
Kas Mohammed: I think the, probably the three to condense it down is one about that kind of stakeholder engagement. So Paul's alluded to the CFO there, it might be the CFO in your organization, but others, but it's how do you kind of engage with a wider community around this topic and really get that support across an organization.
[00:12:00] I think the invisible, making the invisible visible is really important. And again, you know, Paul kind of touched upon some examples there where maybe you're going to be replacing some equipment just through standard kind of life cycling. Maybe it's just time to update it. Well, are you really considering the future when you take them steps?
Are you maybe incorporating some aspects of digitization for that particular asset, even without necessarily knowing how you're going to use that data kind of going forward. It's just incorporating that, which is much easier [00:12:30] to do on the outset. And I'd say, look, this is not just about short term gain.
This is about long term impact for the future. So going slowly initially to really understand how your building's performing, understand where them kind of spots are to, to kind of then go fast once you, you realize that.
Laurie Gilmer: Very good. Thank you so much, Gilmer. What skills do FMs need to address new technology with like digitization, automation, and [00:13:00] decarbonization?
Kas Mohammed: I think these topics can look quite scary on the outside. So I believe there's. Actually, just that curiosity to go and get embedded with it, go and see, you know, work with some of the manufacturers out there, the likes of ourselves, the likes of, you know, if may as well work with the people around you, some of the experts in the field to understand it and help them to demystify it.
Because really it is kind of a lot of it is about understanding exactly how your building is performing. A lot of it is just about connecting. Bits of [00:13:30] assets that you're probably going to know more about than anything else. And I think the opportunity here working in the sustainability kind of field, making that impact on our buildings and the future is actually a key attraction point for people kind of coming into the sector.
So there's a huge amount of people out there that want to make that difference and impact. And if you're doing something around this and it's meaningful and it's real. Then I believe you can bring in the right kind of people and the skills going forward.
Paul Cartwright: I would echo all of that, and I think it's also [00:14:00] about making it relevant.
And I think what I mean there is, when you've got a building that sits on a glass building as you're walking down the street, lots of people have no idea what goes on. within that environment. And I think that's the best thing that we need to, to, to get out to the wider audience. And then FM is, I think, underrepresented when, when, when it comes to, to schools and careers, et cetera, you know, we, we tend to think about heavy [00:14:30] engineering.
We tend to think about sciences, but actually mix the two of them together. You almost got FM, you know, you, you've got big clubs managing and running buildings and, you know, somebody to controlling it. And I think that's the message that we really do need to get out there is, don't just mention that it's scary.
It is scary to look at, but make it relevant. And I think if you make it relevant, you'll make it interesting. SONIA
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Laurie Gilmer: I've got another question, kind of pivoting a little bit on [00:15:00] that question. When we think about the FM industry, one of the challenges that we have right now is shortages of people coming in.
challenges with getting people educated up to a skill level that's needed for not just what we need today, but what we need tomorrow. And so as we think about net zero and decarbonization, those are big topics that we're needing to address. So how do we deal with the people shortages and the skill needed for this?
Transformation that we're talking about.
Kas Mohammed: Yeah, [00:15:30] I think it's definitely a challenge. No, no ways about it. And it was a challenge probably prior to COVID. I think it's just accelerated in the last kind of two, three years as well. So here, here at Schneider Electric, we're trying to look at it as not kind of one thing just to tackle in its own right.
We're tackling it from probably three or four different groups. You know, one is kind of going back to, you know, grassroots of how many people came into the industry, you know, 10, 20, 30 years ago, which was through very good [00:16:00] apprenticeship programs, making sure that they're relevant and that we're supported.
And we're seeing a lot more in that space, in both our space and across the industry. So it's really tapping into that. We're also looking at programs around kind of lateral hires as well. So. This is a really attractive space to work in, you know, working with the new technology with digital tools in a space where ultimately you can make an impact on the overall sustainability picture is attracting attention from those that might be in [00:16:30] work or they're in different fields.
And they're going to need that kind of support and step going forward. So manufacturers like ourselves and other large kind of organizations, I think need to reach out and understand what role they can play in kind of re skilling some of the resources that are out there, maybe from what they said.
Laurie Gilmer: Very good.
Hal, do you want to add to that?
Paul Cartwright: I would just suggest something like the shipping. So, my particular issue is pay [00:17:00] and, you know, competing as public sector organization with a private sector field. So, one of the things that we've explored is to utilize the expertise of people who are, you know, in an operational and to bring them and bring up.
The level of the personnel that we have got on site. And then by doing that partnership and approach, you've got access to the higher skill base, okay? But you're also growing [00:17:30] your own development team and all through to dimensions and then from that point, then you're also sort of offering them another route, they could potentially, if they're any good, you know, head off to the specialist world, or they may just become that bloody great rounds of the gift goals.
Okay. But it's, I think partnership in with those highly skilled technicians and that out there, I think is a really good way to try and bolster your own teams.
Laurie Gilmer: Excellent. We're going to go ahead and wrap it up. [00:18:00] As mentioned earlier, I'd like you to invite you to download the eGuide, the Retrofit for Sustainability of Facility Managers Guide for Net Zero Buildings.
In this white paper, you can find more details on today's topics, as well as some practical recommendations that you can implement. There's a operational checklist and things that you can help as you make your journey toward net zero. So thank you everyone for joining us today. We so appreciate your time and your attention and let's all be encouraged in this journey [00:18:30] on to net zero.
So thanks again. Have a great day.
Host: Thank you so much for listening. I hope you really enjoyed this episode and as always, please don't forget to rate, review and podcast for more incredible content.