Smart Retrofitting: A digital workflow process for building asset management

This project makes a cost-effective, accurate, and replicable digital workflow for retrofit projects.

The project will combine the LIDAR (light detection and ranging) survey with time-series indoor and outdoor environmental monitoring and create a BIM-style performance model based on precisely determining the building geometry and physics. It can test and rank performance improvement options based on a scientific determination of the building but at a fraction of the cost of current onsite approaches and far more accurately than remote 'big data' approaches.

LIDAR sensors can detect the distance to various points on an image, enabling a building survey in a few hours instead of a few days or weeks using conventional methods. It will reduce the cost and improve the accuracy of a building survey to create a replicable digital workflow for retrofit projects comparable across building portfolios.

The headline aim of this competition is to accelerate the shift to a net zero economy by developing and testing scalable service propositions. The shift to net zero requires improving building performance outcomes by reducing the energy needed to make a space fit for purpose. This project combines environmental monitoring and LIDAR to give powerful insights into the links between energy, carbon, and indoor air quality (IAQ). IAQ is integral to reducing energy demand and creating scalable solutions to net zero.

The initial project focuses on schools, creating tools to save energy, reduce costs, and improve performance outcomes in the education sector. The approach is scalable and generalisable to all building types.