Panel Discussion 1: Building Owner Perspectives – Building Analytics Event London 25
The first panel of Bueno’s Building Analytics Event London 25—Beyond Metering: Decarbonising Buildings at Scale with Analytics—brought together leading voices from the ownership side of commercial real estate. The discussion explored how investors, asset managers, and operators are making the business case for smart building analytics in an era of constrained budgets and growing decarbonisation pressure.
Moderated by Robbie Epsom, Independent ESG Consultant and former EMIA Head of Sustainability at CBRE Investment Management, the panel featured:
Raphael Amajuoyi, ESG Lead (Real Estate), AXA Investment Managers
Andrew Cowie, Head of Engineering, 40 Leadenhall (JLL)
Lee Stentiford, Director of Development Management, Nuveen
Together they examined how building analytics is shifting from a sustainability expense to a strategic asset that drives measurable returns, resilience, and investor confidence.
Reframing Decarbonisation – From Cost to Value
Epsom opened the Building Analytics Event London 25 by reframing decarbonisation not as a moral imperative but as a market inevitability.
“Decarbonisation is an economic certainty,” he said. “The only question is one of time and technology.”
This economic framing resonated strongly with the audience of owners and operators. As Epsom explained, the market is no longer asking why buildings should decarbonise, but how fast they can do so without eroding asset value. Smart building analytics, he argued, has become the data backbone that quantifies risk, verifies performance, and links sustainability directly to profitability.
For London’s commercial property investors, the insight was clear: analytics is now the operational bridge between environmental performance and financial value.
The Investment Lens – Translating Engineering into Economics
For Raphael Amajuoyi of AXA IM, the core challenge is translation—turning engineering outcomes into investment language.
“Most optimisation conversations are deeply technical,” he said. “Fund managers think in pounds and euros, not kilowatt-hours. If they can’t see ROI, the conversation ends there.”
Amajuoyi described how institutional fund structures make scaling analytics difficult. Each region defines “success” differently, and pilots often stall when early savings are intangible.
“What’s successful in France might not translate to the UK,” he explained. To build consensus, analytics providers must deliver evidence of financial uplift that holds across jurisdictions and asset types.
His point underscored one of the event’s key themes: Building Analytics Event London 25 was as much about communication as technology. Demonstrating measurable value—in energy savings, avoided maintenance, or improved asset yield—is what ultimately drives adoption across global portfolios.
Turning Data into Decisions
For Andrew Cowie, Head of Engineering at 40 Leadenhall, the real challenge isn’t gathering data—it’s acting on it.
“For years everyone wanted more data before knowing what to do with it,” he said. “Now we’re finally turning insight into action.”
Cowie described how Bueno’s analytics platform helps JLL’s on-site engineering team shift from reactive maintenance to predictive operation. Live data from the building management system highlights anomalies, allowing engineers to prioritise fixes that matter most.
“You can show a graph, but if people don’t understand what it means, nothing changes,” Cowie noted. “Educating engineers to interpret that insight—to sweat the asset—is where analytics delivers real value.”
At 40 Leadenhall, this new workflow has already extended asset life and reduced unnecessary servicing. Analytics is also fostering a cultural shift: engineers now see data as a decision-making tool, not an audit requirement.
The Owner’s View – Integrate Analytics Early
From Nuveen’s perspective, Lee Stentiford argued that the business case for analytics begins long before operations. Having delivered 40 Leadenhall from concept through handover, he recounted the difficulty of embedding analytics mid-project.
“We were already in contract with our main contractor when we introduced smart systems,” he said. “People panic when they can’t see what they’re buying—data isn’t tangible. But the earlier you embed it, the greater the value at handover.”
For Nuveen, integrating analytics early is now standard practice. Stentiford emphasised that even when direct energy savings flow to tenants, landlords still benefit indirectly. “Buildings that prove operational efficiency attract tenants faster and hold their value,” he said. “Analytics is a differentiator—it strengthens market position.”
Aligning Incentives – Who Really Benefits?
A recurring topic at the Building Analytics Event London 25 was incentive alignment. Under typical triple-net or FRI leases, landlords invest in performance technology while tenants enjoy lower bills.
Amajuoyi noted this imbalance can discourage uptake: “Do we invest in savings we can’t share? Only if we can clearly demonstrate mutual value.” He advocated for data-driven cost-sharing models where verified operational savings benefit both landlord and occupier.
Cowie added that owners gain longer-term value even when tenants capture the immediate savings. “Better-maintained assets last longer,” he said. “If analytics extends equipment life from ten to twenty years, that’s value creation—even if it doesn’t appear on next quarter’s statement.”
The Digital Future – Building Passports and Transparent Data
Looking ahead, Epsom introduced the idea of a digital building passport—a single, living record that tracks an asset’s operational performance throughout its lifecycle.
Stentiford endorsed the concept: “The technology is there—3D models, analytics, performance data. The challenge is consistency across funds. But a digital passport would make transactions faster and more transparent.”
Amajuoyi extended the idea further, envisioning blockchain-verified data trails. “Imagine a time-stamped history of every operational change from construction to sale,” he said. “That transparency will eventually influence valuation.”
For attendees at the Building Analytics Event London 25, these ideas reflected a wider industry ambition: to treat performance data as an asset in its own right.
Lessons from 40 Leadenhall
The discussion frequently returned to 40 Leadenhall as a live example of smart building analytics in action. Cowie highlighted how quickly Bueno’s system integrated with the building’s BMS. “It pulled the data within hours, organised the naming conventions, and immediately flagged actionable insights,” he said.
One early discovery involved water-flow anomalies that revealed closed isolation valves left from fit-outs. “We fixed it the same day,” Cowie added. “That’s the kind of operational intelligence you can’t achieve without analytics.”
These practical gains demonstrated that even newly commissioned buildings benefit from continuous optimisation. The message: analytics isn’t just about energy—it’s about maintaining performance assurance over time.
Key Takeaways – From Ambition to Execution
As the session concluded, all speakers agreed that analytics has moved from optional to essential. Stentiford confirmed Nuveen will embed analytics from the earliest design stages on future developments. Cowie summarised the operational view: “If I had a choice between a building with or without analytics, I’d take it with—every time.”
Epsom closed with a reflection that captured the sentiment of the entire Building Analytics Event London 25:
“This isn’t about ambition anymore—it’s about execution. The buildings that harness smart analytics today will be the most competitive assets of tomorrow.”
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