Condition monitoring: SPIE digitalises technical facility management for VALUES Real Estate in Germany

Berlin, 28 September 2023 – In 2022, SPIE – the independent European leader in multi-technical services in the areas of energy and communications – implemented sensor-based condition monitoring as part of technical facility management at a high-end property of VALUES Real Estate in the heart of Berlin. This digital solution, which was developed by SPIE, improves the level of service provided by the multi-technical service provider because any potential technical faults can be detected at an early stage and remedied with pinpoint precision. This increases energy efficiency and ensures long-term system functionality. Condition monitoring helps VALUES Real Estate to fulfil its own ESG strategy of running the properties in its portfolio with minimal emissions. Thanks to its successful roll-out, the solution will be implemented in additional VALUES Real Estate properties.

Digitalisation for enhanced technical facility management 

Back in 2021, SPIE was commissioned by VALUES Real Estate to handle technical facility management for a new building in the centre of Berlin. Its services encompass routine maintenance and inspection of technical equipment such as the heating and cooling facilities, the escalators, but also includes on-call duty. The tasks here proved to be especially challenging, which required specialists from a range of different operational divisions of SPIE to come up with a whole new solution:  

“We wanted to be able to receive fault notifications as quickly as possible and rectify them directly and in a targeted manner, even without building control systems or a designated facility manager on-site.” says Thomas Jedtke, Head of Sales in Berlin-Brandenburg for the Efficient Facilities operational division of SPIE Deutschland & Zentraleuropa. “So, in keeping with the spirit of ONE SPIE, we collaborated with a team from the SPIE’s operational division, Information & Communication Services, to develop a digital, sensor-based condition monitoring solution.” The energy self-sufficient sensors can be positioned wherever you need and monitor things like the operation of automatic doors, lifting systems and escalators as well as room temperatures and the condition of parts and components. Faults are recorded immediately and forwarded to a dashboard, where the object team’s operational personnel can see and rectify the causes of faults instantly and thus ensure smooth, energy-conserving system operation.

“We at SPIE are striving continuously to further enhance our services through digitalisation. IoT solutions such as condition monitoring have proved in practice to be an outstanding basis for the services provided by the Efficient Facilities division. We are very excited about this,” says Dan Fischer, who heads the IoT Centre of Competence in the Information & Communication Services operational division of SPIE Deutschland & Zentraleuropa.

ESG at a glance: sustainable and resource-conserving operations 

Condition monitoring is a preventive system that allows potential faults in technical systems to be detected even before they start to cause any noticeable problems. This ensures smooth, energy-efficient and resource-conserving system operation over the long term. “It’s important to us not only to develop technology with minimal utilisation of resources but also to make our asset management portfolio as resource- and energy-efficient as possible. The solution developed by SPIE helps us to achieve this. We are so happy with the way it works that we are now implementing it in more properties. Condition monitoring helps us to achieve our ESG targets and run our properties with the lowest level of emissions possible,” says Dr Thorsten Bischoff, Managing Partner of VALUES Real Estate.