Dr Shelley James, Age of Light Innovations had an illuminating conversation over a coffee at the Digital Construction Show with Ian Pierce and Linden Stephens of British Land's award-winning Smart Buildings Platform. Here are three insights from the conversation.

1. Write your own rules

Set ambitious standards, starting with clearly defining the use cases and operational requirements that are specific to the organisation and the building’s lifecycle, whether as an owner-operator or owner only. Embedding smart standards early in the development process ensures that delivery is aligned with operational needs from day one. It is far more effective to design for smart outcomes upfront than to retrofit later.

This is not about disruption for its own sake. Building control already exists as a foundational layer. The shift to cloud-based systems is an evolution—one that enables continuous, automated monitoring and intelligent correction. But this transformation depends on a robust data strategy: data must be consistent, deterministic and verifiable. Only then can we unlock the full potential of automation and raise the bar across the sector.

2. Stay in your lane

Focusing on your core business shouldn't be seen as a limitation, but as a framework for collaboration. Delivering resilient, responsive infrastructure is essential, but it should also empower occupiers and specialists to shape their own environments—whether for comfort, efficiency or brand experience.

This requires clarity of roles and responsibilities. MEP designers, BMS engineers and cloud specialists all bring unique expertise. Staying in our lanes means respecting those domains while working together towards a shared outcome. It is about interdisciplinary alignment, not silos.

3. Cut out the middleman

Ian and Linden actively support the principle of designing a bespoke platform for their specific use cases rather than off the shelf, and investing in open protocols and interoperability. This not only improves data access and system performance but also significantly reduces costs and improves return on investment, a key consideration for any long-term strategy.

System owners — OEMs, integrators and domain experts—are best placed to surface their own data. Introducing a third party to decouple and resend often adds unnecessary complexity and risk. Instead, they advocate for empowering experts to publish data in open, interoperable formats, governed by a shared data model. This approach preserves fidelity, accelerates deployment and ensures accountability.