Key Points
How to specify brand-neutral control systems: avoiding the pitfalls of vendor lock-in and how to write specifications that emphasize interoperability and future flexibility.
- Real-world examples or use cases showing systems using KNX, BACnet, EnOcean (or combinations thereof) working together to achieve energy savings, improved occupant comfort, reduced maintenance costs.
- Insight into how building regulations (UK/EU) are evolving around sustainability, energy performance, and digital infrastructure, and what this means for controls and networks in buildings.
- Guidance on ensuring systems are cybersecure, resilient (both in supply chain and operationally), and adaptable to future technological changes (e.g. IoT sensors, wireless, AI/analytics).
In an era where energy efficiency, regulatory change, and rapid technological evolution are no longer optional but essential, the question for building owners, designers and controls specialists is: how do we future-proof buildings so that they don’t become obsolete as regulations tighten, technologies evolve, and expectations for sustainability grow?
“Open Protocols – the key to sustainability” seeks to address this by showing how interoperable, open standards can unlock new possibilities in building performance, adaptability, and lifecycle.
Why Open Protocols Matter
- Sustainability: Building regulations shift, new technologies arrive, occupant demands change. Proprietary or closed systems risk being locked in, or worse still, loss of updates and support for out-of-date tech. Open protocols permit component upgrades, extensions, or replacements without the need for a complete refit, saving precious resources and increasing building life cycle.
- Interoperability: Multiple systems (sensors, HVAC, lighting, security, AV, occupancy) can communicate and coordinate, providing truly bespoke and intelligent building systems, avoiding wasteful duplication in design and installation time & costs. Interoperability also ensures endless choice to make buildings adapt to the needs of the owners and occupiers as changing needs are identified.
- Cybersecurity & supply chain resilience: Systems built on widely adopted, peer-reviewed protocols are better understood and tested. Open ecosystems also allow for a wider supplier base, helping to avoid single points of failure, whether from supply chain disruptions or vendor lock-in.
- Lifecycle sustainability & cost savings: The up-front investment in well‐specified, open systems tends to pay off by extending usable lifespan, reducing retrofit costs, lowering energy consumption, and easing maintenance.
- Choice & Innovation: Open protocols provide the incentive to manufacturers for ongoing research and development as each company strives for excellence and market share. The result is greater choice for the consumer, flexibility in design, cost and supply for the main contractor, and cutting-edge technology that will continue to adapt for future generations.
Why This Is Important Now
The demand for greener, smarter buildings is growing from many quarters: regulatory bodies, investors, occupiers. At the same time, new technologies (wireless, battery-less sensors, cloud analytics, AI) are changing the game. If a building owner or specifier gets the underlying control architecture wrong today, it can lead to unnecessary costs, inefficient operation, or early obsolescence.
Open protocols are not just a technical detail; they’re a planning, design, and investment decision that can have long-term environmental, economic, and social impacts.
In Summary
“Open Protocols – the key to sustainability” promises to be a timely, sharply focused session for anyone involved in specifying, designing, or managing smart building systems. Through the experiences of KNX, BACnet and EnOcean, attendees will see the case for interoperable controls and networks — systems that don’t have to be ripped out when technology or regulations shift, but can evolve, adapt, and continue delivering performance and sustainability.
Visit us at the Building Automation Pavilion, Stand A30 – Smart Buildings Show 25, or attend our free Seminar on 16th October at the show, see show programme here.
To find out more about KNX, browse our projects page, for inspiration, our training page for options starting from £0 – or contact us via email or phone
Images courtesy of KNX UK Members’ Projects – Tate Controls, B.E.G., Avinu, Zennio, Function Control, Capricorn, Newland Solutions,
