Q. IF“ SMARTNESS” ISN’ T THE PRIMARY GOAL, HOW DO YOU REDEFINE A“ FUTURE-READY” BUILDING?
» It is not that smartness is not important. Quite the opposite. The challenge is that sometimes the industry measures smartness by the amount of technology inside a building rather than the outcomes that technology enables.
For me, a future-ready building is one where smart technologies are working together to help the building adapt and respond to change.
A building can have thousands of sensors, connected systems and streams of data. But if it cannot adapt to changing occupancy patterns, evolving energy demands, new regulations or shifting tenant expectations, I would question how future-ready it really is. The most successful buildings use technology as an enabler, not an endpoint. When I think about adaptability, I look at questions such as:
• Can the building respond intelligently to changing energy prices and grid conditions?
• Can systems be upgraded and expanded without replacing everything that’ s already there?
• Can spaces evolve as tenant and occupant needs change?
• Can operators turn data into decisions without adding complexity?
Those are the outcomes that matter. The purpose of a smart building is not simply to collect more data or connect more devices. It is to help the building perform better over time, whatever changes come next.
82 September 2026