The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has published its Smart Building Overlay to the RIBA Plan of Work. 

This free resource will support anyone involved in the design of newbuild, retrofit or refurbishment projects to implement smart building technology. The Smart Building Overlay introduces smart building terminology and outlines the benefits of embedding smart building technology from the outset and its principles can be applied to projects of all scales and scopes. 

Commercially, smart building technology can support business activity, space versatility, and optimise management and maintenance regimes. For example, in an office building, a system that automatically adjusts lighting and heating in response to weather conditions and occupancy levels can reduce energy consumption and operational costs as well as providing user comfort. Smart building technology also supplies data on building performance, helping to evaluate and address operational energy usage, and mitigate safety risks.

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