Deploying digital maintenance

Matt Hellicar, Director of Operations & Energy, Platinum Facilities outlines the benefits of digitising the maintenance process to enhance energy efficiency in buildings

Understanding asset hierarchy and the maintenance regimes that are applied is essential when deploying digital maintenance practices and energy management strategies within buildings.

Many organisations are slow to modernise and optimise their building maintenance. Recent research by SFG20, the industry standard for maintenance specifications, revealed that just one in five businesses have ‘wholeheartedly’ embraced digital/ data-led maintenance, while nearly two-thirds (60 per cent) are still using paper-based guidance.

These findings highlight a concerning gap, but they also signal a huge opportunity for transformation in our industry. Traditional approaches to maintenance are stymied by a lack of both real-time and contextual data. Often, this has led to the service being too reactive – engineers fix assets only after they have failed, resulting in expensive emergency repairs, higher labour costs, extended downtime, and unwelcome disruption to business operations. Meanwhile, assets on the brink of failure are likely to have been running inefficiently for some time.

When a preventative maintenance programme is in place, a fixed schedule will ensure compliance with industry regulations and alignment with the manufacturers’ recommended inspection frequencies. However, a lack of real-time data means there is no insight into factors such as the load on a specific asset or its condition, increasing the risk of engineers over-servicing perfectly healthy assets.

IT’S ALL IN THE DATA

By digitalising maintenance, businesses can adopt a more data-led, proactive approach that not only enhances operational efficiency but also reduces carbon footprints and energy costs. This transformation involves integrating real-time monitoring, data analytics, and automation into asset management. Using smart sensors, predictive analytics, and automated alerts, organisations can track asset health continuously and respond to inefficiencies immediately – preventing unnecessary downtime, improving asset lifespan, and ensuring optimal energy performance.

At Platinum, we recognised the need to start this journey more than a decade ago, which is why we aligned with ISO 55001, the international standard for asset management. This accreditation ensures we follow a structured process to assess an asset’s performance, condition, criticality, and service impact before conducting a risk assessment.

BENEFITS OF A DIGITAL APPROACH

A chiller may appear to be in good condition, but its failure would have catastrophic consequences for the building’s operations. Take for example the laboratories of a life sciences building, where vital medicine must be stored at a specific temperature, or a data centre handling critical information. These are assigned a higher risk rating and based on this risk assessment, we can then recommend digital enhancements. These may include real-time current monitoring via IoT (Internet of Things), hardwired CT sensors (Current Transformer sensors) which measure alternating current (AC). We may also use vibration analysis applications which help to predict failures before they occur. This approach enables us to intervene proactively, reducing the likelihood of unexpected breakdowns.

On one customer site, we assessed critical assets using the ISO 55001 guidelines and identified that the chillers and pumps were essential to operations. From here, we implemented vibration analysis and current monitoring on the electrical supply to a chiller compressor. By putting this in place, we learned that the maximum current demand for the compressor was 200 amps. Now, if the system detects the current exceeding this threshold, an alert is sent immediately to both our team and the client, allowing engineers to investigate before equipment fails.

A 360 VIEW

This approach is made possible through 360 energy audits. These follow a continuous cycle of assessment, monitoring, and reporting. In the initial audit, we’ll assess energy performance, identify inefficiencies, and provide recommendations. Next, we will deploy digital solutions and monitor energy usage and asset performance in real-time. Our contract managers and service desk receive critical alarms through our DLM (Dynamic Line Management networks) and are provided with monthly reports to track progress and savings. At the end of the year, we re-audit the site to ensure ongoing optimisation completing the 360 review.

While applying this process on another site, we discovered that a customer’s fan coil units were running from 4 am to 7 pm daily, even though building occupants didn’t arrive until 7 am. By simply adjusting the schedules, we delivered three hours of daily energy savings with no impact on comfort.

However, with so much noise surrounding new technologies entering the market, it can be difficult for facilities managers to determine which technology is most suitable for their operations and which delivers the largest returns on investment. Technology should never be used for technology’s sake. A data-led approach, backed by ISO 55001, ensures any digitalisation prioritises each client’s unique needs and is as efficient as possible. In some cases, especially where assets are identified as low priority, we might recommend not investing in digital monitoring. Instead, we can reallocate resources to higher-priority or higher-value activities elsewhere.

The shift towards digital maintenance is no longer a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’. As energy costs rise and carbon reduction targets become stricter, organisations must move beyond traditional maintenance strategies. By leveraging real-time monitoring, predictive analytics, and automation, businesses can reduce costs, eliminate energy waste, and accelerate their decarbonisation journey – all while improving asset reliability and operational efficiency.