The future challenges of smart buildings

Supporting changes in working methods

The development of remote working raises questions about the future of office property. How can we rethink spaces that are no longer intended to accommodate employees on a daily basis, but which are becoming occasional meeting places? Offices are changing from being work spaces to being community spaces. The smart building already makes it possible to integrate this modular dimension. These "new generation" offices also meet the aspirations of young employees entering the job market: their vision of office use is less compartmentalised, like coworking spaces that combine workstations, collective creativity spaces, rest areas, spaces dedicated to sports, etc.

Faced with this new situation, companies and office real estate players must adapt their offers, with smaller surface areas but a very high density of technologies per m2. EQUANS is supporting this development by connecting all the components of a building to facilitate its operation and the reversibility of its uses, as in the case of THE LINK Tower, the future headquarters of the Total Group in Paris, for which EQUANS is carrying out BIM management, technical and architectural synthesis, HVAC and plumbing automation and building management systems (BMS).

Enhancing the energy performance and accelerating the decarbonisation of buildings

The energy performance of buildings is a key global issue. According to the Climate Tracker of the Global Alliance for Building and Construction (Globalabc), for the building sector to achieve net zero carbon by 2050, all actors in the building value chain would need to increase their decarbonisation actions and impact fivefold. In addition to the quest for thermal comfort - coolness and warmth - in offices, compatible with the requirements of decarbonisation, there is now a health constraint. Indeed, there is a need to meet increased expectations in terms of air quality and a search for additional performance in this area, which has been made more sensitive by the Covid 19 pandemic.

As a world leader in multi-technical services and with a strong energy culture, EQUANS is fully aware of the challenge of decarbonisation. For example, EQUANS has automated the 54 air handling units used for ventilation and air conditioning in the 49,000 m2 Saint-Gobain Tower in Paris La Défense. The intelligence of EQUANS as an integrator enables it to intervene across the entire energy performance value chain, thus meeting a strong market demand.