Page 28 - U4SSC Factsheet Ålesund, Norway, June 2020

Buildings

Category KPI Result Performance to Benchmark SDG

Public Building
Sustainability 13.70 %

Integrated Building
Management Systems in 100.00 %
Public Buildings

While integrated building management systems are routinely utilized in Ålesund, not so many of
the region’s public buildings are certified sustainable. The sustainability of human activities in urban
areas cannot be addressed without taking into consideration the building, which is the most basic
unit that makes up a city. It is recommended, therefore, that the region should investigate the use of
sustainability certification programmes for ongoing building operations, as these programmes provide
a standardized method for optimizing the environmental performance of existing and new building
stock. It should also adopt energy and water efficiency standards for new buildings (particularly in
commercial projects) to decrease their life cycle environmental impact.

Optimizing building services: Ålesund should also consider implementing Recommendation ITU-T
L.1370 (ex. L.SIB) ‘Sustainable and Intelligent Building Services’. This Recommendation sets the minimal
requirements for the efficient and sustainable management of the building as a unit. It also defines the
services enabled by the sustainable and intelligent building (SIB) concept, the way it contributes to the
goals of sustainability, its features, its different possible functioning modes, or its internal architecture
and requirements with the IoT node at its core.

Interoperability is mentioned among these requirements and specifications, as most of the added
value that the SIB provides comes into action when it interacts with other parts of the building, other
buildings, city elements, or with the city itself. Protocols, semantics and normalization are key as a part
of this interaction, and the SIB with its IoT node is required to be compliant with all of them.

Extensibility is another key feature for the SIB and the IoT node. The technology behind smart and
sustainable cities is currently evolving very quickly. This is why one of the most important architectural
patterns to take into consideration is to design a SIB and an IoT node that supports not only upgrading,
but also the capacity to accommodate new technologies, protocols, services and applications that may
be relevant for the industry in the future.

Furthermore, ITU-T Study Group 5: ‘Environment, Climate Change and Circular Economy’ is working
on a draft Recommendation ITU-T L.SP_OB: ‘A methodology for improving, assessing and scoring the
sustainability performance of office buildings’ which will provide a framework critically assess ten key
areas of environmental performance and management: Energy, Water, Air, Comfort, Health & Wellness,
Purchasing, Custodial, Waste, Site, and Stakeholders.

22 U4SSC Factsheet | Ålesund, Norway | June 2020