NEW FRONTIERS:
Focusing on technology in
facilities engineering and design
By Russell Clarke and Greg Powell
Special to North Carolina Construction News
The continued infiltration of tech-
nology into our daily lives has
brought with it advanced capabili-
ties, new efficiencies and greater
connectivity on many different lev-
els. It has also brought headaches
along the way. This same dynamic
(of technology advances causing
heightened expectations and com-
plexity) is occurring in today’s facili-
ties and buildings industry—driving
the need for skilled technology-fo-
cused engineers to design, inte-
grate, maintain and maximize the
increasingly complex, integrated and
connected systems.
Technology design and system in-
tegration expertise is developing into
a prerequisite for engineering firms
focused on vertical buildings, allow-
ing firms with strong system integra-
tion skill sets and user-friendly
analytical tools to capture a growing
market need.
Key benefits accrue to those
firms that can extend their techno-
logical expertise and capabilities
across a broader range of the facility
project life cycle—spanning the up-
front design, systems integration
and ongoing technical service
needs. This depth of expertise posi-
tions the provider as the first call for
new projects, as well as the trusted
advisor for future facility needs.
What Is driving the change?
Simply put, today’s buildings are
more complex and sophisticated
than in the past, and people have
higher expectations from their build-
ings. No longer are well-functioning
HVAC systems, smart lighting,
strong Wi-Fi, video-enabled meeting
rooms and classrooms, and easy
controls things that building stake-
holders want—these are now things
4 — Winter 2018 — The North Carolina Construction News
they have come to expect. New
buildings are designed and built with
the latest technology systems, and
owners are retrofitting older building
stock with new technologies. These
systems have made significant
strides from those even five years
ago, and now stakeholders expect
them to interact and function seam-
lessly as one.
Analysts predict there will be over
25 billion connected things in use in
2020, a major increase from the 4.9
billion in 2015. Sensors and systems
are interacting to deliver optimal
temperature, air quality, lighting lev-
els and security. As these tradition-
ally separate systems are integrated
and controlled as one, the ability to
enable effective inter- action is more
critical than ever before.
Garry Montgomery, vice-president
and head of technology at Dynamix
Engineering, states, “It is also the
most rapidly changing building sys-
tem. Technology systems impact
workflow, efficiency, expectations,
safety, communication, connectivity