Creating a Healthy and Safer Environment for its Shoppers and Tenants while Increasing Energy-Efficiency.

NEX, the largest suburban mall in the northeast region of Singapore, partnered with UnaBiz, Massive IoT service provider and integrator, to enable data-driven ventilation in the shopping mall.

By integrating indoor air quality (IAQ) monitoring with the mall’s heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system to optimise airflow and energy consumption.

The main purpose of HVAC systems are to help maintain comfort and a stable temperature. A data-driven HVAC system helps ensure good air quality for shoppers and tenants wellness, while a high energy-efficiency system helps optimise energy consumption and reduce carbon emissions.

“As part of our strategic move to align our business operations with the company’s ESG goals, NEX has initiated numerous green initiatives in the running of the shopping mall. With UnaBiz’s IoT solution, we measure the IAQ of the mall every minute, which is equivalent to 1440 data points throughout the mall on a daily basis. The data is then seamlessly integrated into our local building management system managed by Honeywell. The smart control system automatically adjusts the air-conditioning to optimise thermal comfort for users, the air quality indoor, and the energy consumption of the HVAC system live. Facility managers can now take immediate actions to improve circulation of air, such as increasing the airflow within the mall, as traffic in the mall increases during peak hours, to create a healthier and safer environment for our shoppers, tenants, and staff,” said Eugene Toh, Senior Manager, Operations of NEX.

NEX is a seven-storey shopping mall strategically located at the Northeast Line and the Circle Line Mass Rapid Transit line rail network intersect and is fully integrated with the air-conditioned Serangoon Bus Interchange. Positioned as the vibrant, social, and recreational hub for the North-East community, the shopping mall receives an average of 3 million shoppers each month within the 635,000 square foot mall daily.

In 2021, NEX achieved the Green Mark Goldplus certification from the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) on the back of enhancements to their e-waste recycling programme, green procurement policies, and the implementation of smart water management system together with its tenants. IAQ monitoring is one of its latest initiatives to improve “Health and Well-Being”, the 3rd goal under the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG).

Mr Jonathan Tan, Managing Director of UnaBiz Singapore said, “The pandemic has highlighted the importance of IAQ in protecting people as we spend a good amount of our time indoors. UnaBiz is proud to support NEX on their journey to provide a better environment for their shoppers and tenants. By leveraging data collected from our LoRaWAN IAQ sensors, building managers of NEX can implement data-driven ventilation to monitor air quality, calibrate the fresh air intake, and balance the need to maintain tenant comfort while optimising energy consumption. In the longer term, data intelligence will allow NEX to formulate ventilation strategies that balances the need of good indoor air quality and the need to be energy-efficient in order to reach their ESG targets.”

Mr Aw Bing Chia, Singapore Service Sales Leader of Honeywell Building Solutions Southeast Asia says, “Honeywell is pleased to collaborate with UnaBiz to support efforts to help maintain tenant well-being and enhance energy efficiency. The data captured by UnaBiz’s IoT sensors, seamlessly integrated into our building management system, allowing us to proactively control and adjust the HVAC system, creating an optima indoor environment while meeting NEX property’s sustainability benchmarks.”

Jonathan added:

“UnaBiz is happy to share another tangible outcome of its Technology Convergence strategy rolling out LoRaWAN solutions for our customers together with Honeywell. We hope to be the go-to partner for facility managers in Asia and and beyond, to monitor, track, and optimise the health and well-being of people and buildings.”

NEX is owned and managed by Gold Ridge Pte Ltd, and PGIM Real Estate is the asset manager for the property. “The strategic improvements completed at NEX, geared toward furthering the sustainability of the asset, are demonstrative of PGIM Real Estate’s broader commitment to incorporating ESG principles across our global portfolio,” said Mr Benett Theseira, PGIM Real Estate’s Head of Asia Pacific.

UnaBiz was accredited by the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) in 2021 affirming its position as one of the digital champions to contribute to Singapore’s Digital Economy vision. The scale up has deployed Smart Facility Management solutions across a hybrid of low-power wide-area (LPWA) technologies such as Sigfox 0G, LTE-M, NB-IoT and LoRa in over 70 sites in Singapore.

According to the Guidelines for Good Indoor Air Quality in Office Premises produced by Building and Construction Authority (BCA) with The National Environment Agency (NEA), IAQ monitoring is taking center stage in the Singapore build environment. The Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Ms Grace Fu recently launched the Industry Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality with the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC), and the Alliance for Action (AfA) on Sustainable Spaces to raise public awareness on the importance of good indoor air quality. Supported by BCA and NEA, the AfA also aims to help solution providers and adopters seize opportunities in the green economy and support the Singapore Green Plan 2030.

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