The Building Conservation Directory 2023

44 T H E B U I L D I N G C O N S E R VAT I O N D I R E C T O R Y 2 0 2 3 | C E L E B R AT I N G 3 0 Y E A R S C AT H E D R A L C O M M U N I C AT I O N S own management. Combined with user- friendly apps which display dashboards of monitoring data, this becomes something like Fitbit for historic buildings. Supplemented with any kind of information users care to share – from comfort levels to views on fitness for purpose – the potential to improve historic building management and energy efficiency through simple, ‘smart’ changes in occupants’ behaviour isn’t an unrealistic prospect. One example of how big data can be used has been demonstrated by the facilities management company Utopi, which provides IoT sensor systems for unmetered student accommodation. As residents’ energy bills are included in their fixed rent, building managers are provided with self-explanatory dashboards to account for utilities consumption. Their ‘U-bot’ AI searches for anomalies in the data and flags potential issues, and an app shows occupants their energy consumption. This system successfully prompts adjustments in behaviour to lower environmental impact. Another example demonstrates the use of more qualitative and direct user- generated information. In research carried out during the pandemic, AI-powered sentiment analysis was used to interpret tweets sent from the Peak District National Park. Although some adjustments were required as the algorithm was unable to detect sarcasm, the research demonstrated significant potential for big data approaches. By successfully identifying changes in visitor behaviour and their impact, the research helped managers to respond efficiently by engaging the public in conservation issues relating to their actions. A MATTER OF MANAGEMENT It’s not difficult to imagine how such capabilities could be used in a built heritage context. There are instances of well-resourced conservation projects and academic case studies which employ BIM in conjunction with a vast array of IoT, user-centric design and crowd-sourcing functions, with great impact. And access to these technologies will increase exponentially. As these capabilities continue to evolve, so should our ethical sensibilities and related standards. Though not the subject of this article, these issues are present across its themes. These range from GDPR to data hygiene, equal access to hardware, software and training, and issues around authorship, curatorship and even digital colonialism. Awareness around safeguarding our rights and privacy, and the integrity of our built heritage in connection with its digital footprint, is everyone’s responsibility. Highly accessible BIM and associated technologies guarantee improved collaboration between asset stakeholders, reduced duplication of effort and reduced risks of unnoticed mistakes. Such digital acuity and comprehensive information sharing will only compound the surge of IT adoption and upskilling that occurred in the heritage sector during the pandemic. Stakeholders, no matter how high-level their involvement in the practicalities of conservation, will find it impossible not to get swept up in this wave of affordable tech. And as Museums and Heritage Advisor also reported on the number of people who feared for the sector if a digitally driven approach was not adopted, 83 per cent of our decision makers are probably delighted. Recommended Reading BIM for Heritage: Developing a Historic Building Information Model , Historic England 2017 BIM for Heritage – Developing the Asset Information Model , Historic England 2019 https://historicengland.org.uk/images- books/publications/bim-for-heritage-aim/ KATIE STEELE is a former church buildings officer, latterly with the Baptist Union. She is Director of Cheribim Ltd (www. cheribimapp.com ), a technology company working to make tech accessible to historic building custodians. Her PhD research at Sheffield Hallam University is entitled Using BIM for church building conservation and focuses on the digital documentation of intangible values. Digital twins – physical assets, and the processes and people which interact with them, being represented virtually to give context to decisions affecting their real-world counterparts, have been around since NASA’s Apollo 13 simulation over 50 years ago. (Image: Katie Steele) Fitbit for historic buildings? IoT sensors which measure, for example, temperature and humidity, can connect physical objects to the internet with user-friendly apps which display dashboards of data, enabling custodians to understand thermal performance in conjunction with other metrics like comfort levels. (Image: Katie Steele)