Making your building ‘smart’ from the very beginning
Residential developments are facing new challenges, with tenants expecting increased comfort and proven sustainability in the places where they live.
At Nuuka, we recognize that urban consolidation is increasing in our cities. Wherever you look around the world, the ‘home of the future’ is most often a multi-level residential apartment complex. We see this as a positive, as urban sprawl has seen cities creep into our natural environments, eroding natural capital and disturbing local ecosystems in the process. If we can’t protect natural spaces from development, then the climate crisis will only worsen.
People in these ever-denser urban environments are increasingly more aware of the environmental impacts of their lifestyles and consumption choices and are becoming more concerned with the types of energy they consume in their homes as well as the range of low-carbon services that are available to them from their front doors, such as bicycle paths, ride-sharing services, public transport and more.
The urban-dweller of the 21st century is also much more self-aware, and has more information and educational tools at their finger-tips than ever before. They are demanding that the homes where they live meet higher and higher environmental standards. This leads to residents wanting access to more data as well as confidence that the people managing their residential buildings will engage with them on how to reduce their environmental impact even more.
In the Jätkäsaari area of Helsinki, a smart, new residential apartment development is providing exactly this type of environmental performance and service to the conscious urban-dweller and we are helping the development achieve its environmental goals. People will soon have the opportunity to live and work in an urban environment in which they will enjoy easy access to a wide selection of services, as well as effective and clean public transportation and convenient bicycle routes. In addition to low impact residential dwellings, there will be spaces and services for social and sustainable living too.
For this new environmentally sustainable development, we provided a critical data-driven element. New home information systems for one of the three new residential apartment complexes in Jätkäsaari (145 apartments in total) were developed and delivered at the end of 2016. The other two buildings will be completed in 2017. These information systems will help inhabitants follow a sustainable lifestyle and be aware of their own carbon footprints in real time. The construction company responsible for the buildings is SRV Rakennus Oy.
Our Nuuka software platform is connected to the apartments and home automation systems via KNX technology from ABB, where it collects energy and water consumption data and indoor conditions on a daily basis.
New developments that have smart systems integrated from the very beginning are a huge opportunity for city planners and developers to meet environmental demands from increasingly eco-conscious urban-dwellers.
We see new ‘smart apartments’ like those being built in Jätkäsaari as critical to a sustainable urban future. In terms of where our technology solution fits, Nuuka can provide valuable sustainability information to urban living environments where sustainability issues are of high important to residents and where smart city requirements for land transfer terms demand it. Revisiting a building later to make it ‘smarter’ is quite common in urban development but ultimately comes at a higher cost to building owners. We think it is better to do it right the first time.
We also look forward to getting feedback from residents on our home data systems. We expect to receive some good development ideas, which we can make use of to further refine the system.
Nuuka’s solution for these smart residential apartments will deliver to consumers the environmental standards they are demanding. Residents want the knowledge and information in at their finger-tips so they can make better decision on how they live their lives each day.
A resident who understands their own impacts can make better decisions in the future. With our software in their hands, they will be the eco urban-dwellers the world needs.
This article is written by Joshua Kirkman, Nuuka Solutions.