Secom Science and Technology Foundation
Research Grant Report - Executive Summary
FY2007 to FY2010

Title: Development of Building Continuity Support System
For Office and Important Business Buildings

Yukihiro MASUDA
Associate Professor,
Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering
Toyohashi University of Technology

Summary
The “Building Continuity Support System” visualizes building information necessary
for maintaining building continuity (BC) as a support tool in implementing the“Business Continuity Plan (BCP)” and simultaneously records relevant information.
The central core of the system configuration is the new “building cockpit” to monitor thesafety of the building and the Building Security Recorder (BSR), which is theinformation recording device.
It is assumed that huge indirect damage may occur, together with direct damage, inthe event of a disaster at the center of the city, which will affect government andeconomic activity. In such cases, most of the indirect damage may be caused by building
insufficiency and functional loss. However, while attention has focused on various areas,such as organization management, IT systems, etc., very little thought has been given
to building systems except for the widely recognized importance of earthquake-proofing.
The necessity of building system measures is currently relatively overlooked, especiallyin important business and production areas. The prompt establishment of measures tocontrol buildings in the event of an emergency and crisis, and measures for verificationof building condition are required. Therefore, our research group is developing the newconcept of Building Continuity (BC).
How should we protect the function of a building to promote such Business Continuity
Plan? It is important to know the condition of the building in the event of an emergency
situation. Information is required, such as which parts of the building can be used, thedegree to which each area remains functional, the nature of any problems, if the spacecan or cannot be used, the causes of insufficiency, and what should be done to restore
function. However, in an emergency, it is presumed that necessary information will belacking, while large amounts of information will emerge, and the personnel handlingsuch situations may be overwhelmed. For buildings, it may be unclear whether
responsibility lies with the designer, owner, building manufacturer, facility manager, orgeneral affairs manager, which may cause delay in handling. Under such conditions, thedegree of damage to the building and the reasons for insufficiency cannot be determined
immediately, and it may take a great deal of time to resume business. Therefore,
measures of building management become increasingly important to ensure
implementation of Building Continuity even under such disrupted conditions.
The building continuity (BC) support system is regarded as a support service for theabove measures. If no measures are implemented, operation capacity decreases to zero
immediately in the event of a disaster, and it takes some time until functional

restoration. However, if measures are implemented for business continuity, operation
capacity will not decrease to zero even in the event of a disaster, and the time until
restoration of function can be reduced.
The building continuity support system is a newly developed system that utilizes
sensors and monitoring technology to provide appropriate support to staff by visualizing
and recording aggregated building information. The building continuity support system
is mainly composed of four information blocks. The first block collects information fromsensors and automated measuring instruments mounted at various locations in thebuilding. The second block collects information from seismographs in the building. The
third block collects instrumental information, such as electrical power, water supplyand drainage, and air conditioning. The fourth block collects fire prevention and crime
prevention information using monitoring cameras and security systems. Information
gathered here is sent to the “building cockpit” established in the building throughcommunication lines. Data in the building cockpit are recorded using Building Security
Recorder (BSR). The Building Security Recorder (BSR) records all information related
to the building in real-time, such as communications between the facility manager andonsite personnel, as well as the conditions of equipment, similar to an airplane flightrecorder.
As just described, it is very important to develop a process to enable prompt
implementation of emergency measures and recovery processes based on diagnosis of
the building availability, determination of the causes of insufficiency, and judgment offunctional recovery measures to contribute to safety and ease of use of the building, byaggregating and displaying important information regarding the building and allowingsuch information to be utilized by a competent person.

Research Organization
Building Continuity Support System and Building Security Recorder
Research Committee
Yukihiro MASUDA (Toyohashi University of Technology)
Toshio OJIMA(Waseda University)
Shinya KOBAYASHI(Waseda University)
Kozo NAKAJIMA(JES Project Room, Waseda University)
Eisuke HORI(Waseda University)
Shoich KOBAYASHI(Asian Institute of Urban Environment)
Motoyuki TAKABU(Asian Institute of Urban Environment)
Yasuhiro YOSHIKUNI(JES Project Room)Rei SHIBUTA(JES Project Room)
Takeshi OTA(JES Project Room)
Kanae TAKEDA(JES Project Room)Kiyohiro YAMAMOTO(YAMATAKE Corporation, Azbil)Hiroshi NAKAMURA(YAMATAKE Corporation, Azbil)
Yasushi NAGAO(YAMATAKE Corporation, Azbil)
Katsuji EBIHARA(YAMATAKE Corporation, Azbil)
Tsuyoshi YOSHIDA(YAMATAKE Corporation, Azbil)
Kazuaki SHIRANE(YAMATAKE Corporation, Azbil)
Kana MIZUTANI(YAMATAKE Corporation, Azbil)
Takumi TANAKA(YAMATAKE Corporation, Azbil)
Tomoharu TAKAISHI(YAMATAKE Corporation, Azbil)
Tatsumi ASANO(Nohmi Bosai LTD.)
Shinji KATO(Nohmi Bosai LTD.)Moriyasu NAKAMURA(Building Equipment Planning, Co., Ltd.)