Property investors could do more to embrace the 'Internet of Things'

Property owners can cut their costs by half and improve the quality of their stock by adopting the 'Internet of Things', says an executive of Honeywell Building Solutions which has equipment in more than 10 million buildings and 100 million houses around the world.

President John Rajchert told a Huawei Technologies-sponsored cloud computing conference the projected exponential increase in machine-to-machine connectivity, known as the Internet of Things offers productivity gains from a more efficient maintenance schedule to improving temperature control to analysing mobile movements to see where excess floor space can be discarded without encroaching on personal space.

"Huge productivity improvement allows us to get a 50% reduction in the cost of doing business and a threefold increase in quality," Mr Rajchert says. "What the Internet of Things has done is make buildings much smarter."

New Zealand property owners have been faster to adopt energy efficiency in their new builds, although Kiwi Property Group, the country's biggest listed landlord, says it has adopted new technology early where the economics stack up or it makes life easier for its tenants.

The Auckland-based property investor, which owns the Sylvia Park retail site, gave its facilities management staff mobile access to building controls, CCTV and security for several years, which chief executive Chris Gudgeon says "greatly helps" with after-hours responses and assists avoid business disruption for tenants.

"Kiwi Property has been an early adopter of technology where it makes good business sense or where we can improve the experience for our customers or tenants," Mr Gudgeon says. "We continually seek to find ways through technology to secure operational efficiencies, sustainability improvements and best in class experiences for our customers."

Other examples including the installation of a new Schindler elevator system in some office buildings to better manage transport flows, number plate recognition at the Vero Centre car park giving registered tenants cardless access, and allowing online booking for visitor parking.

Mr Gudgeon says the property investor is also rolling out wayfinding systems in shopping centre car parks, and is constantly improving the quality of its free wifi for customers.

(BusinessDesk)

(Paul McBeth travelled to Shanghai courtesy of Huawei Technologies.)

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