Comfort you really feel – How data-driven BMSs support well-being in the workplace
Comfort you really feel – How data-driven BMSs support well-being in the workplace
Le Corbusier called a house “a machine for living in”, an idea that got lost in translation for decades. Instead, commercial buildings have been traditionally optimised for systems to ensure greater efficiency and compliant designs. People adapted to the building, not the other way around.
Today, however, expectations are quite different. Buildings are expected to work for people, responding to the way they are actually used rather than sticking to a static routine.
Ensuring that occupants are comfortable takes more than a temperature setpoint or a one-off HVAC design choice. That will just result in a ‘Goldilocks’ experience: not too hot, not too cold, not too stale, not too bright… Most modern buildings already generate the data required to deliver a much more nuanced experience, whether it’s indoor air data, temperature readings, occupancy patterns, energy use or and equipment status. The challenge is not collecting data. It’s how to use it to maintain a steady yet responsive environment that is comfortable to live in.
Building Management Systems (BMSs) are one of the most practical tools for delivering that kind of well-being. They connect building systems together so that they can monitor changes and make the necessary adjustments in real time. The impact is simple and tangible: fewer complaints and fewer distractions—spaces that always feel “just right”.
- Occupant comfort can be measured through things like air conditions and lighting, and it depends more on stability than perfection.
- A BMS can improve comfort by using data from around the building to make timely adjustments and prevent recurring issues.
- Comfort and energy performance don’t have to compete with one another. Responsive controls often improve both.
- The best results come from continuous improvement: observe, learn, fine-tune and repeat.
Why the digital layer matters more than you might think
Given what we’ve learnt so far, it’s clear that comfort is as much a data challenge as an engineering one. To have an effective BMS, you need to be able to connect building systems (OT) with digital platforms (IT) in a secure, scalable way.
In practice, this digital layer helps to:
- Centralise and consolidate data from multiple building systems
- Produce visual displays of performance through dashboards and hypervision
- Understand inefficiencies and opportunities through advanced analytics powered by AI
- Implement targeted measures based on actual building usage, gathering data from the IoT and sensor monitoring
This layer also makes it easier to cater for more hybrid-work habits. For example, connected services and intuitive touchpoints can make the environment more responsive as a whole, and occupancy sensors and reactive HVAC can be used to ensure that rooms remain pleasantly comfortable at all times, regardless of how they are being used.
Comfort is a moving target
Workplaces are dynamic spaces. Meeting rooms fill quickly but often sit empty for long periods. Meanwhile, open areas and perimeter spaces near windows will react differently than closed rooms. All this means that even a well-designed building can feel off if it is operated on a one-size-fits-all model.
This is why indoor environment standards normally describe comfort in terms of a set of parameters (such as thermal conditions or lighting) that should be kept within a certain acceptable range. Ultimately, complains about building comfort normally sound something like:
- “The meeting room gets stuffy after 20 minutes.”
- “This corner is always cold in the morning.”
- “There’s too much glare on my screen after lunch.”
This is where a BMS can help highlight these patterns and do something about them. Using data, it can make targeted adjustments to each room or area, based on the time of day, rather than making sweeping adjustments that just create new discomfort elsewhere.
Three ways a BMS can improve occupant comfort
Air quality is one of the quickest ways to make people instantly feel more comfortable, especially in a cramped meeting room. If the air gets stuffy, people will immediately start to lose focus and start wanting to open a window or even leave.
A BMS can adjust ventilation to match occupancy instead of sticking to a fixed timetable. It can do this by using CO₂ levels as a useful proxy to make sure that fresh air is suitably replenished as the room fills up.
- After the pandemic, Wakefield Council needed to ensure a safe return to their 15,000 m² headquarters and help people feel reassured once more indoors. To do this, 75 air quality sensors were deployed to monitor CO₂, H₂ and O₂, with readings connected through BMS integration and space management so the building could respond as occupancy changed. As a result, meeting rooms were less stuffy and there were fewer manual adjustments. Spaces felt fresher and healthier to work in, even during the busiest periods of the day.
When people complain about the indoor temperature, it’s rarely just about the setpoint. Instead, people normally complain about instability or the temperature change as they move from one zone to another. This often happens because temperature controls don’t respond to real usage. On top of this, factors like air movement and heat from equipment can also play a role.
The fundamental role of a BMS is to improve how the building is controlled, managing spaces according to how they’re actually used rather than a pre-programmed schedule. By gaining more precise control in this way, you can improve comfort for all building occupants instead of applying a broad-brush approach across an entire floor.
- At the Mogador Theatre, an ageing BMS was upgraded to maintain stable conditions for the audience whilst preserving operational continuity. First, an audit and “discomfort mapping” exercise were carried out. Then, wireless sensors were installed in the auditorium to measure temperatures under real-life conditions. The new upgraded system allows the thermal and lighting controls to be regulated automatically, leading to a 15% reduction in energy consumption without having to sacrifice availability.
Lighting can make all the difference in the workplace. Screen glare or incorrect lighting can cause tiredness and eye-strain even when the air and temperature conditions are fine.
When lighting controls form part of a wider BMS and digital layer, you can adjust lighting to suit real occupancy and usage patterns. This idea is not to automate everything, rather it’s to make the environment easier to work in while avoiding wasting energy on empty spaces.
- At Danone’s 26,000 m² headquarters, a “hub of services” app was introduced for occupants and building managers. One of its features allowed building occupants to adjust lighting and heating themselves through the BMS. They can also report any comfort issues through the maintenance system, so recurring problems are tracked and resolved rather than handled case by case. This means they have more control over their immediate environment. It also means that when something isn’t working, it can be easily reported and fewer issues come back in the future.
Well-being in the workplace starts with getting rid of everyday friction
The most effective workplace well-being solutions are those that address the “small annoyances”, those little, repeated irritations that distract people, such as not enough ventilation or unexpected temperature swings.
With a BMS, you can get on top of these issues by making the building proactive instead of reactive. Instead of addressing complaints one by one, you can identify patterns and fix the root cause. Where do people feel uncomfortable? When? What changed? What can be done to stop it happening again?
That is how comfort becomes a continuous improvement loop—gather the data, see what’s happening, identify the pattern and solve it.
Comfort and energy performance don’t need to be a trade-off
It’s a common misconception that you need to consume more energy to ensure greater comfort. In reality, discomfort is often a sign of inefficiency, where ventilation is running hard in empty rooms or the programmed schedules simply don’t match the way the workplace is actually used today.
A responsive BMS can help deliver the right conditions, in the right place, at the right time, and this will ensure your occupants feel comfortable whilst the system simultaneously improves building energy performance. At CHRSM hospital in Belgium, this approach delivered €300,000 in annual energy savings, as well as 1,100 tonnes of avoided CO₂ emissions.
Cut energy waste with advanced monitoring and hypervision.
A people-first building needs a smarter backbone
At Equans, we see BMSs as the digital backbone of user-centric buildings. Our specialists help clients move from reactive building management to continuous improvement. We do this by connecting building systems with secure digital platforms so data isn’t just numbers but structured intelligence you can see and use.
This ultimately leads to long-term returns. Indoor conditions stay comfortable even as usage changes, and issues are resolved at the source rather than repeatedly subjected to sticking-plaster solutions. It also becomes easier to improve and sustain performance, whether it’s in terms of cost, energy emissions or occupant well-being. Instead of being difficult to manage, the building becomes a reliable asset that delivers for the people who use it.
Turn building data into better occupant experiences.
