Safety science specialist UL and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) have launched the SPIRE Smart Building Verified Assessment.
SPIRE is a comprehensive evaluation for smart buildings that provides an overall UL Verified SPIRE Smart Building Rating, as well as a road map for recommended performance improvements, the partners said in a release.
To receive a UL’s Verified SPIRE Smart Building Rating, UL experts conduct an in-depth, on-site audit assessment of technologies and processes and follow-up with virtual meetings. The process focuses on six key, industry-driven building criteria categories that define the full scope of smart building performance. These include power and energy, health and well-being, life and property safety, connectivity, cybersecurity and sustainability. After a successful assessment, a building receives a UL Verified SPIRE Smart Building Rating and a plaque that displays the overall building performance score, based on the building’s performance across the six criteria categories of the SPIRE smart building assessment framework.
The SPIRE Smart Building Verified Assessment complements the existing SPIRE Self-Assessment, which empowers users to input building data in a secure browser-based application to gain insights into the current state of their building ecosystem. For both the Self-Assessment and the Verified Assessment and Rating, the SPIRE Smart Building Program provides an assessment of connected technologies within buildings, delivering insights, benchmarks and road maps to help the building owner or operator lower costs, mitigate risks, create brand differentiation and enhance overall asset value.
“The bottom line is that a smart building improves the value of the property and at its core is designed in comprehensive connectivity,” said David Stehlin, CEO of TIA. “By assessing, validating and rating key building elements that take into consideration the entirety of a smart building, SPIRE can simultaneously help improve asset performance, ROI and tenant relations.”
SPIRE was originally part of an overall initiative between TIA and UL to share commercial, technical and standardization insights to further their work in the smart buildings ecosystem. The SPIRE Smart Building Program includes assessment criteria input from the TIA Smart Buildings Program Industry Working Group of more than 60 leading commercial real estate, real estate investment trust, asset management, technology and telecommunications industry leaders.
“As employees return to workplaces, operators overseeing smart building assets are looking for guidance to help better align new smart building technology adoption, performance strategies and operational efficiencies,” said Sudhi Sinha, vice president of Ecosystems and Service Development and SPIRE Smart Building Program lead at UL. “The SPIRE Smart Building Program does just that by providing insight to smart building technologies and outcomes while helping to empower informed decisions about where to focus technology, building enhancements and business optimizations.”
