The FirstPort Group, the UK’s leading provider of residential property management services, is pleased to announce the pilot launch of its own AI-powered Smart Buildings Platform, which will monitor the functionality, safety and energy efficiency of complex properties, and trouble-shoot issues in real time.
The cloud-based Platform integrates Internet of Things (“IoT”) devices, Building Management Systems (“BMS”) and Energy Management Systems (“EMS”) to enable more proactive solutions to optimise energy use, leverage predictive analytics, and drive a data-led sustainable approach.
The Smart Buildings Platform will be key in enabling FirstPort to fully meet the requirements of the Energy Act 2023, which is intended to enhance the energy efficiency of buildings and provide enhanced consumer protections.
One of the most immediate benefits of the Smart Buildings Platform is improved energy efficiency. Residential buildings consume substantial energy, and inefficiencies lead to high operational costs. The Platform will optimise energy consumption through:
- analysing historical and real-time energy usage to optimise heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems;
- detecting abnormal energy consumption patterns in Heat Interface Units, identifying overuse or inefficiencies;
- enable long-term cost savings, sustainability enhancements, and compliance with the Government’s new Heat Network Technical Assurance Scheme.
The Platform will also prove vital in ensuring efficient maintenance, repairs, and replacements by monitoring the functioning of infrastructure and safety systems against a range of expected parameters, alerting FirstPort’s property management teams when an asset strays out of the normal range. For example, decreasing functionality in a lift can be flagged and fixed before the lift actually breaks down, thus saving residents from hazard and inconvenience, and enabling the issue to be resolved with significant cost savings.
Martin King, Managing Director of FirstPort, said: “The property management industry is embarking on a journey of unprecedented change, as AI revolutionises our approach to the design, operations and maintenance of residential buildings throughout their life cycle. The unique Smart Buildings Platform which we have built and are piloting, places us at the vanguard of this journey. It will enable us to be increasingly responsive, addressing the underperformance of utilities and infrastructure and fixing it, well before our residents even notice a problem. Not only will this enable us to meet the expectations set by the Energy Act 2023 and ESG reporting requirements, but over time, it will result in most cost-efficient services and improved functionality and energy security across the complex properties we manage.”
The Platform has been trialled at a large FirstPort development in London to monitor the performance and condition of the building’s essential equipment, such as boiler plants and lift systems. Over a four-month period following the launch of the pilot, there was a 16% reduction in energy consumption across the site compared to the previous year.
Speaking about the positive impact of the AI platform, FirstPort Development Manager Juan Garcia said: “The platform offers excellent insight into our plant room and systems. It provides visibility of faults before they cause a service disruption, and it helps us manage energy consumption more effectively whilst offering savings to homeowners. From noticing an unusual consumption pattern in one apartment and being able to fix the issue to resolving a heating issue before residents were impacted, we have noticed a positive improvement to the service offered to residents.”
