Brian Turner, CEO of OTI says that integration is vital for a building to be smart.
In the race to digitise commercial real estate, many buildings have ended up “smart” in name only. Packed full of every sensor under the sun, analytics platforms, and even automated coffee machines; they risk creating more complexity than clarity. Heating and cooling systems compete, dashboards produce data but few actionable insights, and occupants remain uncomfortable despite heavy tech investment.
OTI, a Master Systems Integrator specialising in unifying building technologies onto a single coordinated platform, knows these challenges well. Its headquarters in Pleasant Hill, California, was no exception. Despite having smart systems in place, the building suffered from inconsistent temperatures, conflicting heating and cooling operations, and unnecessary energy use. A textbook example of how well equipped buildings fall short due to a lack of integration enabling smart technologies to work in harmony.
The challenge: Achieving optimal office temperature
Like many commercial buildings, OTI’s Pleasant Hill HQ was operating with heating and cooling Air Handling Units (AHUs) that functioned independently and, at times, simultaneously. This lack of coordination created hot and cold areas throughout the building, leading to employee discomfort and increased energy consumption. Despite having a target indoor temperature of 70 °F, the office rarely ever achieved it. Data gathered before the project showed frequent drops as low as 62 °F, with fluctuations between 62–69 °F.
This challenge is far from unique. Across offices and mixed‑use buildings, owners are struggling with the same problem: an increase in disconnected systems that generate fragmented data, reduce efficiency, and undermine operational performance and energy goals.
Integration in action
Instead of undertaking an expensive HVAC overhaul, OTI decided to make its existing technologies work together more effectively. It partnered with Smartwatt, a specialist in AI‑powered HVAC optimisation, to deploy software that interprets live building and climate data to automatically adjust heating and cooling for maximum comfort and efficiency. At the same time, Novant, a specialist in creating structured, usable building data, implemented a platform to unify information from different HVAC and indoor air quality (IAQ) systems into a single, structured data layer, accessible through a dashboard.
To support these improvements, new Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and IAQ sensors were also installed, providing real‑time monitoring and automated control. These upgrades turned the building’s previously disconnected heating and cooling systems into a single, integrated platform, providing operators with one central dashboard to monitor and control performance across the entire building.
What integration delivered
The impact of these measures was immediate and clear. Following Smartwatt’s installation and calibration, temperatures stabilised within the target comfort range of 70–74 °F, delivering steady, balanced conditions across the office.
For employees, this meant the elimination of hot and cold spots and a more comfortable working environment. For operations, it meant eliminating the inefficiencies caused by heating and cooling systems working against each other. These changes also supported energy efficiency, cutting waste and improving performance without the need for invasive construction or significant capital investment.
A blueprint for smarter buildings
This project highlights a critical insight for the industry: smart buildings don’t always need more technology, they need better coordination of the existing systems. AI, sensors, and connected devices only create real value when their data is properly structured and unified across systems.
By unifying systems, OTI not only improved comfort and efficiency at its headquarters but also demonstrated a scalable approach for owners looking to enhance building performance, meet regulatory requirements, and reduce energy consumption. It serves as a blueprint for transforming complex, fragmented buildings into genuinely “smart” spaces, without the cost or disruption of starting from scratch.