How can you optimize your building’s performance without major renovation?

Energy prices continue to fluctuate and the pressure to make buildings more energy-efficient, more comfortable and more future-proof is increasing. At the same time, many buildings already have significant optimisation potential within their existing technical installations. The challenge is therefore not only to invest in new technology, but above all to make existing systems work together more intelligently.

With Sweco Performance, we therefore focus on intelligent building control through Model Predictive Control (MPC). Using a digital twin of the building, this approach makes it possible to improve building performance quickly and effectively, without major renovations.

From digital twin to practical control

A digital twin is much more than a 3D model. It is a dynamic digital representation of a building or system, fed by current data from sensors, platforms and building management systems. This creates real-time insight into how a building is actually performing. When that digital layer is connected to MPC, you go one step further: you use that insight not only to monitor, but also to actively control and optimise. Sweco describes this digital twin as a “living model” that enables better decisions in energy, maintenance and use.

That is exactly where the strength lies in the combination of Sweco, Builtwins and digital control. Whereas traditional building management systems often work mainly in a reactive way, this approach makes it possible to manage far more proactively. Problems are detected earlier, maintenance becomes more predictable and installations operate closer to their optimum performance. Sweco explicitly describes this as a way to make maintenance more proactive, more cost-efficient and higher in quality.

Why this matters today

With the coming winters, stricter sustainability targets and continued attention to operational costs, building performance is becoming a strategic issue. Organisations want not only to reduce their consumption, but also to keep their buildings comfortable and reliable for the people who work or stay in them.

It is also important that the solution remains feasible. Not every building immediately requires a major renovation. In many cases, the greatest gains come from smarter control of what is already there. This makes MPC and digital twin technology particularly relevant for existing buildings that want to achieve faster results.

Practice also shows that this approach is scalable. In the project De Schipjes, Sweco, together with Builtwins and other partners, applied advanced control through MPC in a heritage context, with extensive monitoring and a focus on maximum energy efficiency without loss of comfort.

Sweco Performance: from data to better-performing buildings

Within Sweco Performance, we look at buildings throughout their full operational phase. It is not only the design that matters, but also how a building functions in practice, how installations work together and where there is room for optimisation. By combining expertise in building systems, data, digital twins and smart control, we help clients make their buildings more energy-efficient, more comfortable and more future-proof.

In this way, we turn data into decisions, and decisions into better performance.