The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has unveiled plans to adapt to the future of real estate with papers on deep tech in residential property and whole life carbon assessment for the built environment.
RICS are advocating data sharing across residential portfolios as the first step to the successful implementation of any technology in the space.
The two co-founders of Houzen Saurabh Saxena and Angelica Donati wrote the The Deep Tech Insights paper, which takes a strategic approach to the analysis of innovative technologies including big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence, computer vision and blockchain.
Saxena and Donati analysed the use of tech in other industries to assess the present state of the market and said: “Deep technologies will shape the future of all industries, including that of residential real estate. Real estate professionals cannot afford to ignore the seismic shifts some of these technologies will bring.
“What all stakeholders in the industry should ask themselves is not ‘should I care?’ but ‘’can I afford not to care?’ We hope our research will help real estate firms and professionals embrace deep technologies and implement them in the most value adding way for their businesses.”
Whole life carbon
Alongside this, RICS has released its first professional statement demanding its members to follow requirements for conducting whole life carbon assessments for construction projects.
The new standard sets out how RICS professionals should assess the carbon emissions arising from built projects throughout a building’s lifecycle. It addresses embodied emissions of all components making up a built asset over all life cycle stages: from extracting raw materials to any maintenance, repair, replacement and potential future demolition and disposal.
RICS worked at COP23 in Bonn last month to further the efforts in support of the commitments made under the Paris Agreement in 2015, along with governments and sector professionals.
Energy use in buildings and construction represent more than one-third of global energy consumption and contributes to nearly 25% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
The “Whole life carbon assessment for the built environment” will become mandatory for use in May 2018.
“By going beyond operational and including embodied emissions, this new standard will provide sector stakeholders with an improved understanding and consistent measurement of the whole life carbon emissions of built assets,” said Ursula Hartenberger, RICS global head of sustainability.
“This, in turn, will help with comparing of results, benchmarking and target setting, and ultimately it this standard will contribute to reducing carbon emissions.”
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