GPT Partners With Envizi To Boost Performance Of Premium Real …€¦ · Building managers under pressure to improve operational efficiency and increase the value of property portfolios

GPT Partners With Envizi To Boost

Performance Of Premium Real Estate

JUNE 2 0 1 6

W W W . V E R D A N T I X . C O M

GPT Partners With Envizi To Boost Performance Of Premium Real Estate

Building owners have the opportunity to work with an ever-increasing amount of data from the proliferation of

smarter equipment, software and sensors that can be deployed to measure facility and equipment operations.

Building managers under pressure to improve operational efficiency and increase the value of property

portfolios can turn to these data points to identify improvements. Australia-based GPT Group works with Envizi

to enable it to efficiently utilize the data from its portfolio properties to drive a successful implementation of its

energy, facility and sustainability optimization plan. This report helps property managers understand how the

GPT Group has successfully tackled its building data challenge and integrated energy data management into a

comprehensive facility management strategy to achieve its commercial objectives.

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

GPT Partners With Envizi To Boost Performance Of Premium Real Estate ………………………….…………………….. 3

GPT Identified Data Management And Operational Challenges As Barriers To A Successful Facility Strategy

GPT Group Uses A Data-Driven Approach To Meet Facility Performance Challenges

A Data-Driven Approach To Facility Optimization Enables GPT To Unlock Portfolio Value

GPT Group Leverages Envizi Partnership To Deliver Its Strategy

T A B L E O F F I G U R E S

Figure 1. Five Steps For Real Estate Firms To Uncover Additional Portfolio Value ……..…………………..……………….. 9

O R G A N I Z AT I O N S M E N T I O N E D

Dow Jones, Envizi, EY, Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), GPT Group, International

Organization for Standardization (ISO), National Australia Bank, Norton Rose, UBS, The World Green Building

Council

GPT PAR T NER S WI TH E NVI ZI TO BO O ST P ER FO R M AN CE O F PR EM IUM R EA L ESTA TE

C O P Y R I G H T © V E R D A N T I X L T D 2 0 0 7 - 2 0 1 6 . L I C E N S E D C O N T E N T , R E P R O D U C T I O N P R O H I B I T E D

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GPT Partners With Envizi To Boost Performance Of Premium Real

Estate

Building owners have the opportunity to work with an ever-increasing amount of data from the proliferation of

smarter equipment, software and sensors that can be deployed to measure facility and equipment operations.

Building managers under pressure to improve operational efficiency and increase the value of property

portfolios can turn to these data to identify improvements. This report helps property managers understand

how the GPT Group (GPT) has successfully tackled its building data challenge and integrated energy data

management into a comprehensive facility management strategy to achieve its commercial objectives. To

understand GPT Group’s strategy, Verdantix spoke to Bruce Precious, National Manager of Sustainability and

Property Services at GPT and Steve Ford, National Manager, Energy Performance at GPT. The GPT Group:

Runs one of the largest commercial property portfolios in Australia.

GPT is a publicly listed Australian real estate investment trust (REIT). GPT develops, owns and manages a

diverse portfolio of commercial retail, office and logistics buildings predominantly across Australia’s

eastern seaboard. Tenants of GPT’s properties include global consultancy EY, the National Australia Bank,

international law firm Norton Rose and UBS. GPT’s property portfolio contains AUS$18 billion ($13

billion) in assets under management.

Receives international recognition for its sustainability achievements.

Over the past 10 years the GPT Group has implemented a sustainability strategy aimed at reducing the

carbon footprint of its building portfolio and positively impacting water, waste and biodiversity concerns.

Improving the energy efficiency of its property portfolio to support a net zero carbon footprint is a

primary goal of the Group, which has improved its National Australian Built Environment Rating System

(NABERS) score from an average of 3 stars to an average of 4.8 stars since 2005. In addition, over the past

seven years, GPT has held either the top or second position on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the

global real estate sector and is also ranked as a regional leader in the Global Real Estate Sustainability

Benchmark (GRESB).

Pursues an integrated facility optimization strategy.

To achieve its operational and sustainability objectives, the Group has formulated a facility management

optimization strategy based on the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System. This strategy

integrates the optimization of building-level asset management, energy management, operational

efficiency, and waste and water management to enhance the performance of the buildings across GPT’s

portfolio. Since 2005, the firm has achieved a 44% reduction in water use intensity, 57% reduction in

carbon emissions intensity and improved its recycling of waste from 29% to 43%.

Implements a data-driven approach to energy and sustainability management.

To successfully replicate its strategy across its building portfolio, GPT relies on granular analysis of the

data provided by its network of smart meters, BMSs and building system sensors such as lighting and

occupancy. This approach enables the firm to understand the lifecycle benefits of decisions made across

its facilities. Understanding lifecycle benefits provides insight into which investments are the most

impactful given specific circumstances – so that facility teams can prioritize their efforts to maximize

energy and sustainability benefits, such as reduced carbon footprints and operational efficiency.

Partners with Envizi for technology and solution development.

GPT Group and Envizi have developed a collaborative partnership aimed at enabling GPT to realize its

sustainability and facility management objectives. Envizi and GPT have collaborated on the development



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of robust data management processes, analytical procedures for identification of efficiency opportunities

and solutions to implement opportunities. This process highlights the benefits of developing partnerships

with industry experts to tailor solutions to meet specific corporate requirements.

GPT Identified Data Management And Operational Challenges As Barriers To A

Successful Facility Strategy

Over the past 10 years the Group has addressed numerous challenges related to the implementation of its

facility management strategy. GPT has needed to deal with:

Bringing together data spread across different systems and in different formats. Before facility teams can analyse the treasure trove of data collected from across their buildings, they

have to make sense of the different data formats and protocols used by various manufacturers (see

Verdantix Energy Software Delves Deeper Into Asset Management). There is a risk that more time is spent

cleaning and organizing the data than running analyses to uncover opportunities. GPT’s facility managers

had to contend with extracting data from equipment from different manufacturers, made in different

years and to different specifications – all providing data across various formats – before they could start

focusing on how to optimize facility operations.

Identifying the most appropriate data for effective decision-making.

Once data from siloed building systems are aggregated and properly formatted for analysis, facility

managers are then faced with the decision of what to do. Building managers facing a continuous stream

of data from BMSs, elevators, HVAC, lighting and pumping systems may be plagued by questions such as

‘What data should I pay attention to?’ and ‘What do I do with this information – is it important?’ GPT has

approached this challenge by keeping focus on its overall corporate objective. GPT decisions are made

based on accomplishing the core objectives of its energy and sustainability strategy.

Overcoming limited insight into the breadth of energy consuming assets across its portfolio.

With billions of dollars of assets under management, keeping track of equipment locations and granular

performance data was a challenge at GPT. Tenant turnover and facilities upgrades mean that assets are

constantly changing and the paperwork did not always keep up. GPT uncovered instances where facility

documents had not been updated, after renovations, to show what equipment was connected where –

effectively blinding facility managers as to what equipment was operating under what schedules. Building

robust records of meter relationships and bringing together all equipment-related data into one single

system of record has been a fundamental step in addressing this issue.

Maintaining optimal performance of high-efficiency buildings.

Like other facility managers, GPT Group has to be continuously diligent in maintaining optimal

operations; it is easy for efficient buildings to revert back to inefficient operations if focus slips (see

Verdantix Business Case For Building Energy Management Software). For example, after installing a new

BMS in one of its properties, GPT witnessed a 30% increase in energy use – in a system that was

supposed to reduce energy consumption. The new system provided a higher level of control than the

previous BMS, turning on more equipment than facility managers anticipated. GPT’s facility team needed

to re-assess the operational performance of its building and iterate its optimization strategy to achieve

savings of 10%-15% over the energy use before the new BMS was installed.



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Consolidating systems to shift focus from individual asset management to portfolio optimization.

GPT’s data management challenges resulted in buildings being managed individually with little

consideration of the benefits applicable across its portfolio. Implementing a single platform for its entire

portfolio enabled insights to be shared among facility teams. The portfolio benchmarking that is possible

with a single enterprise-wide platform provides executives with insights into which buildings are lagging

behind in performance and which investments are most successful and are appropriate for a broader

roll-out. Envizi’s platform enables GPT to benchmark its portfolio’s energy use against specific corporate

KPIs and external benchmarks such as NABERS or Energy Star.

GPT Group Uses A Data-Driven Approach To Meet Facility Performance

Challenges

Commercial real estate management brings a whole slew of energy management challenges to GPT Group. In

tackling these challenges, the firm consolidated management systems and adopted a data -driven approach to

optimizing the operation of its facilities. GPT uses its data-driven approach to facility management to:

Reduce the complexity of its utility billing apparatus.

GPT implemented a major project to to consolidate hundreds of electric utility contracts from across its

portfolio with a single utility. This reduced the number of tariff structures and billing processes that

needed to be tracked and managed. Now, monthly electric utility bills are automatically sent to Envizi in a

standard format and electronically distributed to individual properties – enabling operations teams to

focus on identifying efficiency opportunities instead of deciphering billing statements.

“We’ve been able to automate so much of that [utility] data collection now, which creates eff iciencies,

eliminates errors, and allows us to focus on the analytics rather than just getting the data right.”

Explore alternative approaches to data collection.

To avoid the installation costs of smart meters and provide more granular access to data, GPT and Envizi

have collaborated to leverage technology to collect data available through deployed BMSs. In a pilot

programme recently conducted at one of GPT’s properties, a BACnet gateway was used to access

equipment-level data to calculate facility energy profiles and to perform equipment fault detection. This

enables GPT facility managers to analyse building performance at a more granular level and to diagnose

and quickly make incremental changes to operating parameters when performance anomalies occur.

“When we pull metrics like variable speed, latest load and loading capacity through the BMS to calculate

energy profiles for equipment, we can provide interval meter data at a fraction of the cost of installing sub-

meters. We also get a more insightful view into the performance of our chillers, air handlers, pumps and

other equipment”

Use analytics to identify opportunities for facility improvement projects.

Verdantix research has identified analytics for energy efficiency identification as a top priority among

users of energy management software (see Verdantix Green Quadrant Building Energy Management

Software 2015 (Global)). Analytics to identify energy efficiency opportunities rely on facility operational

data (including meter relationships and appliance registers), budgets, asset performance and energy

performance to optimize the value achieved from investments across an asset’s life cycle. GPT’s facilities

managers have all of this data on the same platform, accessed through the same user interface. The data,

coupled with analytics, helps facilities managers substantiate the business case for facility efficiency

investments with confidence.



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“We need to substantiate business cases with the best possible information. Being able to delve down into

that sub-meter data helps us right size equipment and understand the savings opportunity.”

Deploy a strategy based on continuous monitoring and optimization.

To maintain facility performance after efficiency upgrades have been completed, GPT has implemented a

continuous improvement process for building automation and control equipment. This is achieved

through integration of Envizi’s energy and performance monitoring platform with BMSs and installed

smart meters to enable constant monitoring and analysis of equipment use.

”It’s about using just the right amount of energy at the right time in the right appliances so there’s this

continuous improvement programme from a technology perspective.”

Enrich standard processes to enable all team members to deliver results.

GPT has developed an operational framework to enable each employee to contribute to the continued

success of its optimization strategy – regardless of where they are across the organization. This

framework integrates corporate policy, procedures, platform use, stakeholder feedback, performance

feedback, planning iterations and progress tracking to help teams across the organization meet the

challenge of maintaining and improving upon energy efficiency achievements. GPT uses Envizi to

promote accountability through dashboards that provide transparency among teams and enable issue

tracking through to resolution.

“You need to provide people with a framework and pathways to help them integrate [energy, sustainability

and facility] optimization into their day to day work.”

A Data-Driven Approach To Facility Optimization Enables GPT To Unlock

Portfolio Value

Effective data management has enabled GPT to deploy a facility optimization strategy based on continuous

monitoring and optimization of energy use. This has led to a better understanding of equipment lifecycle

management and improved maintenance scheduling. The benefits of facility optimization have enabled the firm

to:

Save AUS$24 million on energy costs in 2015.

Since the inception of its facility optimization strategy in 2005, GPT has reduced the energy intensity of

its building portfolio by 39%, from 571 MJ/m2 to 349 MJ/m2. This reduction in normalized energy use

enabled the firm to save AUS$24 million ($18 million) on utility energy costs in 2015. The Group uses

green leases to enlist tenants to help it maintain efficiency gains (see Verdantix Green Leases Become A

Practical Option For The Willing). These leases include tenant and GPT obligations to achieve the best

possible building performance. Some leases provide sharing of savings with tenants as an incentive.

“Our common leases across the portfolio all include green commitments and obligations on both the tenant

and owner to collaborate to extract the best performance from the property.”

Maximize building tenancy occupancy rates. The proliferation of voluntary sustainability reporting has led to increased scrutiny of corporate energy

consumption. Firms with publicly stated targets are paying closer attention to energy use reduction

targets. Growth in the use of building rating systems such as BREEAM, Energy Star, LEED and NABERS

have enabled firms to objectively compare building performance when choosing leasing options. In



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Australia, GPT has been able to attract clients such as the National Australian Bank, in part based on the

NABERS rating of its facilities. NABERS ratings can cover building energy, water, waste and indoor

environmental conditions.

“Many tenants tell us they are looking for office space with at least a 4.5 star NABERS rating, we need to be

sure our buildings are at the top of their list.”

Grow asset valuations across their property portfolio. In 2015, GPT received an external portfolio revaluation which increased the value of its asset base by

AUS$432 million ($320 million). There are various factors which contribute to facility valuations, such as

local property markets, building location, utility subsidies and typical rents. The World Green Building

Council also notes that higher sustainability certifications are associated with premium building

valuations. For NABERS, this premium can be up to 21%, when compared to the local property market.

Operational attributes such as higher rents and lease rates and lower operating expenses contribute to

the premium attached to buildings with higher sustainability ratings.

“Once you get savings rolling there’s a snowball effect. The more efficient lights have less maintenance, so

you can transfer maintenance effort to optimizing water use and create more savings.”

Implement energy efficiency technologies based on data-led business cases.

Eighty-eight per cent of decision-makers responsible for energy management highlighted

implementation of energy efficiency technologies as their primary priority in 2015 (see Verdantix Global

Energy Leaders Survey 2015: Budgets and Priorities). Across its portfolio, GPT has invested in energy

efficiency technologies such as smart meters, advanced BMSs and LED lighting to help it monitor systems

and identify when and where to improve building controls and legacy technologies. GPT has achieved up

to 75% energy savings through the replacement of older technology lighting with LEDs – replacements

that were financed through operational budgets, required no upfront costs and provided tenant savings

from day one.

“It’s about smart business. What is the most effic ient, most productive way of achieving that end goal? Get

some good policies behind you that support it with a bigger picture. If I do save energy, what are we

actually achieving? Give people the why.”

GPT Group Leverages Envizi Partnership To Deliver Its Strategy

Through effective implementation of its energy and facility management strategy, GPT has reduced energy use

across its portfolio and achieved multi-million dollar energy savings. Industry partnerships enabled the firm to

implement its strategy effectively to accomplish its objectives. GPT chose to partner with software provider

Envizi. The Group:

Sought out a partner that understood its challenges.

In interviews with Verdantix, buyers of energy management software have highlighted the importance of

a vendor’s specific industry knowledge when making a purchasing decision. GPT chose to partner with

Envizi initially for carbon and energy reporting – areas Verdantix has highlighted as strengths of the firm’s

platform in our Green Quadrant benchmarks (see Verdantix Green Quadrant Building Energy

Management Software 2015 (Global)). GPT prioritized Envizi’s understanding of tariff structures,

greenhouse coefficients and data management across a portfolio that spanned several jurisdictions and

requirements that changed yearly.



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“Right from the get go, it’s not been just about the product, but about the people who are able to apply the

product to meet our needs…the Envizi guys really showed they had their head wrapped well around issues

and they demonstrated great responsiveness in meeting our specific needs.”

Needed a robust data management platform.

Data management is a top-three priority of global energy managers (see Verdantix Global Energy

Leaders Survey 2015: Budgets and Priorities). The Envizi platform accepts thousands of data points a day

from BMSs and smart meters from across GPT’s portfolio. The data captured include feeds for electricity,

water and waste. Envizi’s data management capabilities have enabled GPT to devise facility optimization

strategies for its diverse building portfolio, as well as improve its capabilities to report on progress

towards its carbon and energy goals – and receive assurance, provided by EY, on the data provided.

“Envizi brings all the information into one system and helps us interpret the information so that we can

rationalize and understand what the sub-meter data is conveying to us much more easily.”

Wanted a vendor that would work with it to meet the firm’s objectives.

GPT’s 10-year implementation of its facility optimization strategy is an iterative process. The firm runs

pilot projects to understand the benefits of efficiency upgrades before rolling the investments out across

its portfolio. Envizi has collaborated with GPT in workshops to identify efficiency opportunities and to

develop and pilot software solutions to maximize outcomes. The collaboration between the two firms has

resulted in a set of best practices for delivering additional value to a property portfolio (see Figure 1).

“Turning individual discrete data sets into a suite of information and knowledge for the operations teams

are critical components [of our strategy] and the expansion of the Envizi platform to incorporate these

strategies is at the core of the partnership we’ve had together.”



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Data-driven performance management processes and appropriate partnerships will enable property managers

to efficiently address the complexity of modern building operations. Given the pressures to continuously im-

prove operational efficiency and manage costs, property managers are well advised to leverage the benefits of

a comprehensive energy and facility optimization strategy. Property managers seeking to replicate GPT’s suc-

cesses need to:

Set the foundations for success with the right policies and systems.

A strategy focused on facilities optimization will impact an entire organization and so requires support at

the leadership level. GPT’s leadership completely supports its facilities optimization strategy and has set

policies, targets and systems of accountability and management that ensure its facilities management

efforts are aligned with and support the goals of the entire organization.

Develop a strategy for reducing the lifecycle costs of facilities.

Through implementation of its optimization strategy, GPT has avoided AUS$129 million ($95 million) in

costs associated with electricity, gas and water use. GPT considers the impact of lifecycle costs when de-

ciding on facility investments. This analysis includes the impact of maintenance and refurbishment activi-

ties, operational costs such as utility expenses and equipment purchase versus disposal costs. This holis-

tic decision-making approach seeks to devise the most appropriate strategy to capture building value

while maintaining occupant comfort and the core objectives of the particular building type.

Select appropriate tools and partnerships.

GPT and Envizi have collaborated to help extend the capabilities of each other through the development

of solutions such as Envizi’s Building Energy Performance Analytics (BEPA) module. This tool enables GPT

facility teams to interpret the stream of data available to them and then react to changing building con-

ditions. Selecting the appropriate partner to help firms tackle an optimization strategy across a diverse

building portfolio can dramatically improve the odds of a successful strategy implementation.

Use data-driven analysis to validate facility management decisions.

Facility management budgets are not seeing high growth rates. Verdantix interviews with energy manag-

ers across the globe find that most managers are not expecting budget increases. Building managers

need to be strategic in the projects they select to implement – to minimize upfront costs while maximiz-

ing overall benefits. GPT analysis incorporates data beyond energy consumption to include maintenance,

operational efficiency and asset performance across the life cycle of the buildings in its portfolio. Use of

the Envizi platform to model facility energy use enabled GPT facility managers to fully understand their

building’s operating parameters and to substantiate the business case for efficiency investments.

Improve facility operational management to maintain achieved efficiencies.

Achieving building efficiency objectives is only the first part of the battle for facility teams. Maintaining

optimum efficiency levels is the second – and arguably harder – part of the challenge. Implementing the

appropriate maintenance strategy is a large component of maintaining achieved efficiencies. GPT has

worked with Envizi to develop the BEPA module to identify when the performance of equipment is out-

side of expected parameters. This enables building engineers to identify equipment behaviour before it

becomes critical – maintaining optimal operational performance and minimizing equipment downtime.

Five Steps For Real Estate Firms To Uncover Additional Portfolio Value

F I GURE 1

Source: Verdantix, GPT Group

Documents

GPT Partners With Envizi To Boost Performance Of Premium Real …€¦ · Building managers under pressure to improve operational efficiency and increase the value of property portfolios