Smart building technologies may increase costs at various places in the construction process. But owners' returns on investment will increase through system efficiencies. At the recent National Roof Contractors Association show, one of the topics was roof asset management using embedded chip technology. Imagine establishing baseline data on the original roof, any re-roofing, and maintenance, and then tracking climatic, standing water, and wind data. This shows smart building technology certainly will exceed Divisions 15 and 16.
Opportunities exist in many areas of building envelope design, construction, and maintenance.
Smart buildings give the industry a design consideration with a competitive edge. Paul R. Bertram, Jr., CSI, CDT, is president of PRB Design, which he established in 1978, and a member of The Construction Specifier Editorial Advisory Board. Mr. Bertram has worked with Internet technology for more than three years and with electronic information presentation over six years. He is a frequent contributor to the magazine as well as many other construction publications. The integrated design process allows construction team members an overall picture of how the different building components can work together intelligently.