Connecture News

At Connecture, we’ve worked with a number of academic institutions. From the University of Suffolk in Ipswich, to the Stratford School Academy in east London. 

Like so many organisations, educational establishments want to run more efficiently, more securely, and more sustainably. And the coronavirus pandemic has certainly accelerated the move towards remote learning and greater shared online resources.

But it’s ironic that while schools, colleges, and universities are where we encourage smart thinking from our next generation – many of the buildings themselves aren’t yet intelligent!

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY AN INTELLIGENT BUILDING?
Put simply, an intelligent building is where everything is integrated – so it’s more comfortable to be in, cheaper to run, safer to occupy, and kinder to the environment.

Building intelligence only happens when all your building services come together and operate over one, unified physical infrastructure.

And when we say ‘building services’ – we mean your lights, communications devices, security cameras, doors, and heating etc. Everything is run over a single structured cabling network and powered by ethernet.

The benefits of bringing it all together onto one platform, is that information from each building service can be viewed and managed centrally. Also, each service starts to speak to one other and data flows between them.

For example, if a video camera detects motion in a classroom – despite the fact it’s during the school holidays – an alert can be sent to a facilities manager’s smart phone. That person can then view the footage from wherever they are, in real-time, and respond accordingly.

Intelligent buildings also react to the staff and students within them. For example, by automatically switching on lights in halls of residence where students may be walking alone at night.

THE 5 NEEDS THAT INTELLIGENT BUILDINGS CAN SATISFY
Everything within an intelligent building – lights, communications devices, doors, heating – can be connected through a structured cabling network and powered by ethernet.

From working with schools, colleges, and universities across the UK, we’ve listened to what their needs are. We’ve also witnessed key trends in education that corroborate the case for more intelligent buildings in this sector.

Academic institutions tell us they want:

1. Simplicity
Teaching staff and facilities managers aren’t always – and don’t want to be – technical experts.

So, any new technology that’s introduced needs to be easy for all to manage. Especially when students can sometimes be more tech-savvy than their teachers!

Give me example of how intelligent building solutions could help!
When you integrate all your building services onto one, cloud-based platform, staff can quickly and easily – view and manage – everything from one portal, using any device. From accessing security video footage, to remotely controlling heating levels – it becomes simple to do at the touch of a few buttons.

2. To safeguard access and information
Security (hardware, software, network, and cloud) and controlling access to restricted information has never been so important.

The COVID-19 lockdowns and periods of self-isolation – for both staff and students – has meant that learning no longer takes place exclusively on school or college premises.

Staff, students, and parents have had to collaborate online and share resources. This has placed greater responsibility on schools to control who gets to see what.

Give me an example of how intelligent building solutions could help!
Security updates – that help to protect data – are delivered automatically within an intelligent building solution. Additionally, security warnings can be sent to authorised users, to allow them to respond immediately to data breaches. For example, if somebody is trying to access something they shouldn’t.

3. Smarter security surveillance
The security needs of academic institutions need to be kept under constant review. When buildings lay sparsely occupied during Covid-19, this was especially important.

Perimeters, main site entrances, car parking areas, doors and windows – plus the IT equipment inside – all need to be secure to protect staff and students.

Give me an example of how intelligent building solutions could help!
With video security moving away from CCTV systems and instead moving towards cloud-based solutions, sites can be managed remotely from any device, by any authorised user. Alerts can be triggered in real-time when incidents happen. Footage is high quality and images are easier to find and share.

4. Bigger savings
Budgets in the education sector are tight. And so, any capital outlay must show a healthy ROI – and quickly!

According to the Association of Colleges (AoC), there’ll be 90,000 more young people in education by 2024-25 and a further 100,000 in the second half of the 2020s. The cost of funding these additional students in 2024-25 is £500 million.

Give me an example of how intelligent building solutions could help!
When your building services are integrated and operate from a cloud-based platform – updates, additions, and fixes can be done remotely and seamlessly. Manual repairs and upgrades are a thing of the past, reducing future installation and maintenance costs.

5. A better sustainability performance

Schools, colleges and universities are just like every other organisation. They want to operate in a more sustainable way, and are also under pressure to do so. Whether it’s reducing their energy consumption, or making better purchasing decisions – there’s a need for educational establishments to play their part in limiting their impact on the environment.

Give me an example of how intelligent building solutions could help!
Intelligent buildings respond to the occupants within them. For example, lights automatically turn off when students leave a classroom. Or, heating levels adjust based on the weather outside. This all helps to reduce energy bills.

IT’S SMART TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT SUPPLIER
When designing and executing intelligent solutions for an academic building, you need a technology partner that has experience in the education sector, so they’re sensitive to the needs of academic institutions.

Why? Because there are additional challenges to navigate around.

For example:

• Being able to work irregular hours and tight deadlines to accommodate term-times
• Working in older buildings that are often steeped in history that need to be respected
• Making sure contractors have the required checks to be able to work around children and vulnerable adults
• Being able to help schools and colleges to maximise on tight budgets and get a healthy ROI

IN SUMMARY
The education sector houses some of the biggest brains in Britain, and yet the buildings they learn in are often anything but intelligent!

With the right physical network of smart devices, the education sector could simplify, save, and secure their operations in a way that’s more sustainable.

With the right supplier of course!

About Connecture
Connecture are UK-wide experts in designing and delivering, large-scale cable infrastructure projects – as well as state-of-the-art intelligent connected building technologies.