How to Find the New Sustainable Business Models in Commercial Buildings?

Article written by Roar Smelhus at 6CST/Home Workspace and Tommy Hagenes Energy Control/Airthings in collaboration on Proptech Bergen

Over the last 10 years we have talked about the future and all the opportunities that exist, and the time has come to seize them. Now 10 years have passed, and new companies like WeWork, Unlock, Spacemaker, Parallelo, Pure Logic, Airthings, Disruptive Technologies, Yanzy, Dimension10 and Imerso have taken advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves. Not all succeeded, and some have become world leaders and taken great strides. A bit like when the IT bubble came — it did not take many years before people regretted not having jumped on the IT wave with their ideas. Not long after, one got the impression that there were no more good ideas left. We believe we are now in the middle of a mix of this. There is maturity, but still opportunities. Many have adapted, or developed new sustainable business models.

Covid-19 has shown us opportunities for change

There is a lot of technology we have not previously used. What Covid-19 has shown us is that technology is not the limitation — we humans are. We manage when we have to. How many people have not increased their use of video conferencing? Even when we can start travelling again? We have seen hotels adapting to new opportunities by offering office rental on a daily basis, as well as hotel stays for students for shorter or longer periods. We have the hospitality industry now using QR codes at tables for orders. Over the past year, we have completely changed how we move around the city, and although electric scooters receive criticism, they are both efficient and smart. They cannot be removed, but regulations, practices and next-generation technology must soon be put in place.

Smart cities

There are also large companies that have created smaller companies that, in our view, "disrupt" themselves. This has been the goal of both Hagenes and Smelhus with their companies from day one, including their joint venture at Proptech Bergen. We felt we needed to use new available technology. At the time we received a lot of criticism for using wireless technology, and just a year later this has become a given in the market. The result is that we now see buildings can be built simpler and less complex, even when using new available technology. Precisely because each technical component is an IoT device, the lines of responsibility are very clear. Especially because the buildings we build based on the technology have disrupted the BMS with integrations across the board. Through this development, the building has been transformed into an insight tool that is also part of the company's most important management tools. The result is that we are now positioned to supply the city with data from the buildings, so that we can together begin to talk about smart cities.

Large companies disrupt themselves for the benefit of customers

We think Sparebanken Vest is an example worth following. A relatively large, tech-savvy player made a very ambitious push by launching Bulder Bank as a "disruptor" of the entire human layer, and after switching banks, Hagenes is sold! This is something we can really learn from in other industries. Large, heavyweight organisations that see that change is difficult within their own organisation must dare to challenge themselves by starting up new companies that compete with the core of their own organisation. Why have none of the major facility management providers started operating with only sensors and algorithms, supplemented by grounds-keeping services?

Sustainable business models require something of us, and we must create more from less

When we move from consumption to reuse, from consumption to experiences, from analogue to digital, from dumb to smart, from products to services, and from large to smaller areas, from office to home office — it requires us to think differently about how we develop and manage real estate. Perhaps we should bring this learning into our own organisation, and perhaps we should dare to a greater extent to challenge the established, the comfortable, and how we have always done things. There are smarter solutions — we must start using them.

The Proptech Bergen players are happy to disrupt themselves

Hagenes and Smelhus are clear that even though they have "disrupted" themselves several times, it does not stop here. If we are to contribute to reaching the sustainability goals by 2030, it will not help to continue at the same pace as today — that simply is not enough. We must dare to challenge ourselves and those around us. If the only way to scale up is to develop a copy of ourselves, we are doing it wrong. Hagenes goes back to when he worked on large building automation projects where he managed to improve 10 large buildings per year. With Proptech, he managed to make 100 buildings per year smarter. How is he going to manage to help 1,000 buildings in 2021? We must dare to find out. Smelhus has the same mindset around sustainability and the companies he supports. Things I taught others in 2019 are self-evident today. In 2020, real sustainable business modelling is finally on the agenda of more and more companies, which is absolutely necessary.

We must find ways to scale up, faster than ever before, and in a sustainable way. What are you doing to be part of the solution and not the problem?

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