Digital platforms to support commercial retrofit

Problem Addressed
With commercial buildings in the UK responsible for 23% of built environment carbon emissions, urgent action must be taken to retrofit these buildings at scale. In addition to the climate impact, commercial retrofit will be required to meet the growing demand for sustainable office space in the UK.
In commercial real estate there is also lack of data-driven insights which makes it difficult for informed decisions to be made around retrofit. Many commercial buildings are unsophisticated and understanding the feasibility of different retrofit options can be expensive and complex.
The table below includes information about many of the solutions in this area with information provided by the solution provider. Please click on the company names to see more information about each solution.
Company name | Building type | Target customer and real estate process | Business edge / prescribed methods | Output format | Output information | Implementation | Stage of development |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Perse Technology | Commercial (Residential available from Q2 2024) | B2B (shortly extended to B2C) – Looking to provide instant costs and payback of installing low carbon tech | Uses actual energy (electricity and gas) consumption data and costs. Also use industry methodologies for costs of low carbon technologies installation | PDF or API | Current asset performance, carbon footprint of energy supply, EPC data, building fabric data, building size and building use data, retrofit recommendations (by payback, time, cost, and impact), future impact of improvements | Links clients directly to installers of low carbon technologies | Solution is live to a number of clients |
Optiml | Commercial, Residential, and Light Industrial | Fits in between ESG reporting and Tender & Execution. B2B (Real estate asset managers and consultants) – Provide strategy optimisation to action planning relating to CapEx, OpEx, Energy, Valuation/ROI, and Policy aspects. | Optimises large portfolios to detailed assets with proprietary, science-based AI connecting finance and engineering. Optimisation & energy simulation models, AI data enrichment to enhance low quality data, and include a UI/UX platform for decision-making and target achievement | PDF, API, Excel, or Web-based platform | Current asset performance, future EPC, retrofit recommendations (to component and system level), ROI and Valuation of asset strategies, alignment to target, sensitivity analysis and risk | Partners with consultancies and real estate management softwares who support in implementation | Solution is live in DACH + UK for full-scale implementation already with reference clients. Already conducted over 30 pilots across Europe and US) |
MapMortar | All commercially owned and managed assets | B2B – Retrofit planning and management across large portfolios | Whole-building simulation technology, enriched by AI, estimated to triple the speed and double the accuracy of processes compared to the status quo | PDF, API, Excel, or Web-based Dashboard and Platform | Current asset performance, future EPC, retrofit recommendations, impact on valuation, different scenarios across portfolio (buy, sell, hold), transition risk | Platform available to both property owners and property advisors | Ready for pilot |
SkenarioLabs | All assets | B2B – Banking / Real Estate: Provide green mortgage/finance analysis, compliance and reporting data, and climate resilience analysis. Government / Public Sector: provide Net Zero Neighbourhood analysis and general decarbonisation analysis at scale. Insurance: provide reconstruction cost analysis and climate resilience analysis for portfolios | Minimal data requirements. Building modelling, (not just EPC modelling) for more detailed assessments. Models how the main elements (value, performance, risk) impact each other. Can work at large scales, including whole portfolios, cities, and regions. Uses advances ML including gradient boosting algorithms and convolutional neural networks | PDF, API, Excel, Frontends (custom or whitelabelled) | Data enrichment, market valuation, insurance / reconstruction valuation, value-at-risk calculations, current asset performance, retrofitting modelling and costing, retrofit optimisation modelling to cost/carbon/other factors, financial / regulatory compliance risk, current climate / physical risk, future climate/physical risk | Platform can integrate to other solutions in the supply/decision making chain | Ready for pilot and /or full-scale commercial implementation |
Lookthrough | Multifamily homes, office buildings, logistics buildings | Portfolio owners and managers looking to decide on the most critical buildings and renovation actions in their portfolios. | Platform-based model with a questionnaire using network effects to quickly gather the data required. AI Scenario modelling quickly identifies the most efficient way to achieve efficiency improvements. There are a range of parameters that can be chosen from including Co2 downscaling, planning the cost of energetic property renovation, identifying buildings with biggest impact. minimising transition risks, making buildings more energy efficient, etc. | Excel, Web-based dashboard, API (by request) | Cost per sqm Emission per sqm Which building elements need upgrading Retrofit recommendations (fabric, heating systems, technologies, lighting systems etc) | Once the recommendations have been made the information is then passed onto architects / engineers for delivery, but impacts continue to be tracked through the platform | Have been operating for the last 2 years approx., and currently have 40,000+ buildings on the platform. |
Building Atlas | Any building, but focus on non-residential | B2B – net zero plans and retrofit recommendations across portfolios – offered to asset owners, tenants and consultancies supporting them.. | Modelling large portfolios using minimal data, using new AI methods to recommend the fastest, most cost-effective path to net zero. | PDF, API, Excel, or Web-based Dashboard and Platform. | Metrics on your buildings, including building physics and energy usage; net zero plans and retrofit scenario modelling, current and future asset performance – energy usage intensity, EPC rating and more. | Platform is available to asset owners and consultancies who support implementation of net zero plans. Also open to custom interfaces to client systems as needed. | Ready for pilots and full commercial delivery. |
This page presents data, evidence, and solutions that are provided by our partners and members and should therefore not be attributed to UKGBC. While we showcase these solutions for inspiration, to build consensus, and create momentum for climate action, UKGBC does not offer commercial endorsement of individual solutions. If you would like to quote something from this page, or more information, please contact our Communications team at media@ukgbc.org.
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