From RIBA to Reality – Deep Digital Twin to enable Human-Centric Buildings for a Carbon Neutral Future

"RIBA to Reality" is a transformative industrial research project to support the RIBA design process right through to delivery and operations of the next generation of Carbon Neutral Buildings. Using digital twining technology the programme will deliver a hollistic approach to proactive energy control, by elevating Building Information Models (BIM) so it is capable of tracking live or simulating both human building usage and energy demands. The project will also explore new methods of simulating and monitoring transport to and from the site to minimise and monitor its impact on external travel demand.

`RIBA to Reality' is uniquely centred around two university buildings as real world test-bed. 1) The Living Systems Institute (https://www.exeter.ac.uk/livingsystems/) which is built and in operation will provide real world data to trial and test the new technology and methods proposed, showing how digital planning assets can be aggregated to create an operational digital twin. 2) Project North Park (https://www.exeter.ac.uk/about/vision/capitalstrategy/featuredprojects/projectnorthpark/) , a £70M visionary capital investment, with the ambition to be carbon neutral over it's life time, is in early stages of design. This programme will explore, how the new technology can then be used to support design decisions at critical stages, in particular looking at how the building could exceed it's already ambitious energy targets by taking into account its wider footprint.