Presentation of the Data Handler

The Sensible Building Data Handler is the 4RinEU answer to the need to gather, organise and prepare for analysis the large amount of data that is needed in the various phases of a deep renovation project.

As a first step in a deep renovation process, the auditor goes on-site to collect basic information on the status of the building as-is, to be able to get an accurate baseline of the building’s performance ahead of the deep renovation design. This as-is data collection is an important step, as often the technical drawings available are obsolete and only portray the original construction design version of the building, which may have changed during construction, and then in-use. Thus, the auditor needs to make note, for example, of the actual location of the heating vents; or perhaps, record the actual make and model of the boiler, which has been substituted in the years since construction.

The amount of data that an auditor collects in this phase can easily become significantly large and difficult to manage; this results in inefficient auditing, as well as the risk of the auditor losing relevant information along the way.  The 4RinEU solution to this common issue is the Auditing App, included in the Data Handler. Developed by IES with user friendliness in mind, this Android app allows to create and manage multiple auditing projects, acting as a digital notebook for the auditor on-site. Users can load available technical drawings in the app, and then add pins with photos and notes on the drawings to keep track of all their notes in context. For each project, users can also create project specific checklists to keep track of tasks onsite, and of key steps and data points required for  specific auditing processes. This feature in particular will allow the app to integrate with the 4RinEU auditing protocol that ADERMA is developing within the project. In the upcoming months, IES, R2M and SINTEF will work together on defining the best format to structure the collected data into a report to showcase the results of the auditing process.

Another major aspect of deep renovation data is the collection of monitoring data, both for the pre-renovation state of the building and the post-renovation performance. This data can be used in the dynamic modelling of the deep renovation project to ensure that the virtual behaviour of the building represents correctly its real status, but also to evaluate the efficacy of the renovation after it’s completed.

While the Auditing App is best suited for single information points, managing monitoring data requires secure cloud solutions. For this, ADERMA and Eurac Research have deployed a monitoring infrastructure in the 4RinEU pilots which collects all data (pre- and post-retrofit) into a single database. This database is connected to the IES cloud, and will be displayed through custom dashboards to the users. These will be developed according to the specific requirements of each Demo-Case, to provide the information that they need; for example, visualise the energy and comfort performance of the building in a clear and graphically appealing way.