The Smart Building industry is on the brink of….. Exploding! - Thanks to COVID, buildings and their ventilation performance are on the forefront of billions of dollars in federal funds for public buildings.

Scott Cochrane, President & CEO,  Cochrane Supply & Engineering  Contributing Editor

Exploding! - Thanks to COVID, buildings and their ventilation performance are on the forefront of billions of dollars in federal funds for public buildings. Because of the slow nature of design and construction, only a fraction of the available funds has been spent. The acceleration of these massive retro fit projects is increasing rapidly as groups get their plans finalized... and YES BAS (Building Automation Systems) is required to control and verify ventilation requirements. Not only are public buildings getting a boost, but private buildings are also being repurposed in every type of building we serve. It could be a combustion engine plant transforming into a EV (Electric Vehicle) plant, or office areas becoming apartments. Change is happening to many buildings and making them smarter in the process has become a priority for most, bringin

Newer trends like ESG (Environmental Social Governance) will require BAS in more buildings that currently run on broken, non-reporting, or controlling BAS systems that are a huge waste of fossil fuels. Local, State, Provencal and Federal governments  are all starting initiatives to make buildings accountable for how much energy they use. Monitoring and controlling the energy assets of a building are and will be a priority for a long time. 

The BAS industry is on the brink of…….

Imploding! – Lack of talent and technology investments are a huge issue. BAS is a tough field and requires dedicated people and companies who continue to evolve with the innovative technology requirements of society. But it seems with BAS providers, the bigger the company, the slower they move towards better technology. As a industry, we lack many new requirements such as cyber security and managed IT service products. The BAS industry limps through the new IP requirements and provides little support for success, but we continue to learn... just much slower than other industries.

The BAS industry is not cool, we do not tell the modern public our story very well, and we are not recruiting enough quality people into our little niche world. Not only are we not attracting enough quality people, we are working the people we have up to the day they quit or inevitably retire. Without a pipeline of candidates and lack of proper training and mentoring, life continues to get more difficult for many companies in the BAS field.

Looking over the edge?  It’s to late, we are already in free fall, no time to waste reading this article, now GET BACK TO WORK…