By Shrikant Sharma, Founder and CEO
Universities don’t need more buildings. We need better ones.
That might sound controversial coming from someone who’s spent 20 years in construction tech. But it’s true. And it’s the reason I founded SmartViz.
Today’s university estates teams are facing a wide range of challenges. These include frozen tuition fees, rising operational costs, higher energy costs and a growing reliance on international student income. Yet, when the pressure mounts, the default response is often the same: build more.
The problem is, this doesn’t always make sense.
Believe it or not, UK universities operate at an average of just 27% utilisation during a typical teaching week. That means 73% of your estate might be sitting empty or underused. You’re heating your buildings, lighting them, cleaning them, but nobody’s there.
So, rather than asking where and when we build, we need to ask a different question. What if we made better use of what we already have?
Why most “smart” buildings aren’t smart
Most modern buildings have smart elevators, automated HVAC and clever lighting sensors. But they ignore what matters most: people. They don’t know how many occupants are in the building, where they are, or what they’re doing. That’s why we set up SmartViz in March 2022.
Drawing on decades of expertise and AI-powered technology, we created a platform that puts people at the heart of building decisions.
With SmartViz, you can connect IoT sensors, timetabling systems and building management data to create a living digital twin of your estate. This means you get a real-time, dynamic view of how your spaces are really being used.
What the SmartViz platform can show you
When we started working with Cardiff Metropolitan University, people thought they needed more space. Student numbers were growing, it felt like they were running out of room and they had planned a multi-million-pound construction.
With our insights, they realised there was another, more cost-effective solution.
We applied sensors across the campus and used our platform to visualise the way people used the spaces. Within weeks, the university had clear evidence of which spaces were genuinely needed and which areas were underperforming.
Equipped with this information, the university was able to make more informed decisions.
How our insights created over £5m in savings
The result? The university saved £5.1 million by optimising existing buildings instead of building new ones and saved £102k a year on operational costs. They also identified 25% energy and water saving potential. And they were able to create healthier learning environments for their students.
As Rachael Langford, President and Vice Chancellor, put it: “this project [with SmartViz] proved that effective space management could yield substantial benefits without the need for extensive new buildings”.
How we’ve supported seven other major UK universities
Cardiff is just one example of the universities we’ve supported. During the pandemic, we worked with seven major UK and Irish universities to help more than 200,000 students return to campus safely.
At the University of Southampton, our platform helped optimise everything from classroom capacity to room booking and signage. Kevin Monaghan, Executive Director of Estates and Facilities, said that our “pioneering platform should pave the way for all universities to optimise their estates and tackle the serious challenges with performance in terms of space, energy and people.”
That work won us the Covid-19 Achievement Award from CIBSE (we were delighted about this). More importantly, it showed what’s possible when you combine data with human insight.
Evolving with a new SmartViz website
We’re achieved a lot in the last three years and we’ve grown a lot.
We began as a small innovation team. Now we’re a highly experienced group of data engineers, building analysts, strategists, data scientists and 3D visualisers. And we’re only just getting started!
As part of this evolution, we’ve launched our brand new website with fresh branding and refreshed messaging. We’ve grown up, so we thought our website should too.
Our mission is the same as the day we started: to make buildings work better for people and planet. But our ability to deliver has never been stronger.
Take a look at our site or book a demo to see how we can help your university.
