SPIRE™ is a solution developed by industry leaders to educate and empower end users & business owners to identify, prioritize and promote smart building performance.

 

Is Your Building Smarter than the Average Intelligent Building?

June 24, 2021


Picture this: You’re a system designer and you’ve designed the network for an intelligent building following the most recent industry standards. In the design stage you collaborated with suppliers and contractors who specialize in integrating building applications to form an ecosystem.  As a result, you and your team installed an efficient cabling infrastructure to support all the integrated network applications for today and for the future.  So now, the big next step is how to measure the benefits gained by investing in implementing a smart building infrastructure?

The answer is a new assessment and rating program developed by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and UL.  Through the collaboration with key leading organizations, such as Legrand, TIA and UL have defined a new “gold standard” assessment rating aimed at identifying smart building performance.  The tool, called SPIRE™ Smart Building Verified Assessment and Rating, is the world’s first and only comprehensive objective rating program for smart buildings.  It is an easy-to-navigate online tool to provide insight into the intelligent building criteria and benefits which providing a logical roadmap for futureproofing.

Although COVID in 2020 greatly affected the building construction industry, it didn’t stop the building owners, associations, manufacturers and system designers from looking at how facilities would need to adapt to a “new normal” once workers returned to the offices and factories and students returned to schools.  Social distancing, sensors, hands-free control of applications such as HVAC, lighting, access control and other building services became important considerations in the design and re-design of buildings. TIA, UL and their core partners, including Legrand, identified the essential components that define a smart building and developed the comprehensive SPIRE assessment and rating system.
 

Get Smart

SPIRE becomes the world’s first objective smart building assessment tool. It is a solution developed by industry leaders to educate and empower end users and business owners to identify, prioritize and promote smart building performance. As it was being developed by subject matter experts through many virtual meetings in 2020 it sustained several rounds of honing in on the specific criteria resulting in a systematic rating system. Collaboratively, the working group grew to 60+ leading and iconic brands across the industry to develop this new gold-standard assessment system aimed at improving smart building performance and occupant experience.

The framework of SPIRE was developed by specific TIA member organizations, such as Legrand, and UL to evaluate building intelligence based on six key building criteria. These define the full scope of smart building performance and are identified as the following:
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1. Connectivity/Infrastructure  
    
2. Power and energy
    
3. Life and property safety
    
4. Health and well-being
    
5. Security/Cybersecurity
    
6. Sustainability

Legrand was the program’s thought leader for the connectivity criteria.  “Coming up with the rating system for connectivity was quite an extensive process because we wanted to consider every aspect of the cabling and connectivity infrastructure to formulate a comprehensive point system,” states Jason Finnegan, product manager for copper products for Legrand North America.  “Obviously one of the biggest components is the media type and associated connectivity which covers copper, fiber, hybrid and wireless.  In addition, there is a section that addresses physical coverage to make sure there are enough sensors and that the cabling can connect reliability to all devices and provide enough bandwidth. Other important considerations include rating the security of the cabling and associated cable management to include the physical and logical protection of the equipment and spaces, such as telecom rooms. Lastly, we wanted to make sure to take into account futureproofing and rate the ability of the infrastructure to expand, as well rate building resilience, which is the building’s ability to adapt and maintain critical operations of the smart building in the case of any unforeseen event,” Jason further explains.
 

Get InSPIREd

The SPIRE program consists of two key components: an online self-assessment through the Website (https://spiresmartbuildings.ul.com/) and a verified rating through an in-depth audit by UL, based on an objective, evidence-based assessment for each of the six criteria. The  SPIRE tool provides users with a dashboard that measures each building’s ratings against meaningful metrics.  After completion of the audit, each building is provided with the results through a performance score based on several factors in each of the criteria.  If the  performance score is deemed successful, it earns the  UL Verified Mark along with a plaque to be displayed and a listing on the SPIRE website.
   
​​​​​​​The pandemic has introduced new challenges, but tough times offer a catalyst for change.  The SPIRE program, which was formulated during the pandemic is a gamechanger for the progress of implementing Intelligent Building/Smart City initiatives.  This new program provides a methodical roadmap for future and will raise the bar for the design, installation and implementation for future building construction.