Building intelligence, together

Canopy Tools Group
2 hours ago
9 min read

Introduction

The built environment is undergoing a fundamental shift. Buildings must perform better, consume less energy, report their health in real time, and adapt to the evolving expectations of occupants, regulators, and investors. This is not a distant aspiration. It is happening now.

We believe achieving this vision requires the right partnerships. We embed our capabilities within the organisations already responsible for the day to day stewardship of buildings. We call this our partner first approach.

This paper explores how that philosophy is being brought to life through Acutro's partnership with BGIS. Under the leadership of Gary Bullen, President of BGIS UK and Europe, and Nick Spearman, Senior Vice President of BGIS UK and Europe, BGIS has taken a decisive position on smart buildings and the role technology must play in the future of FM. Together, we are redefining what intelligent, performance driven building operations look like at scale.

A changing tide at the contract level

For years, maintenance strategies in facilities management were largely reactive or planned on fixed time intervals. Equipment was serviced on schedule regardless of condition. Faults were addressed after they occurred. Data, where it existed, was siloed in spreadsheets or legacy systems offering limited insight.

That landscape is changing rapidly. Clients are now embedding performance based maintenance strategies directly into their contract specifications. The conversation has shifted from simply keeping the lights on to proving the building is performing. Building owners and occupiers want measurable outcomes, transparency around energy consumption and equipment health, and maintenance activity driven by data rather than calendar dates.

BGIS recognised this shift early. Rather than waiting for the market to move around them, the BGIS UK and EMEA leadership team actively sought out the technology partnerships and operational models needed to meet these new expectations head on. That decisiveness has given them a genuine competitive advantage and positioned them as one of the most progressive FM providers in the market today.

Why a Partner First Approach Matters

Acutro was founded on the principle that technology has the greatest impact when delivered through the people and organisations closest to the building. We are the engine behind their smart buildings capability.

When an FM provider like BGIS wins a new contract with a performance based specification, they do not need to build a smart buildings operation from scratch. Acutro brings a proven framework that can be stood up quickly and tailored to the specific requirements of the site, the client, and the contract.

The FM provider has the relationship with the client and the operational knowledge of the building. That should be enhanced, not bypassed. Technology should serve the engineer on the ground as much as it serves the boardroom. BGIS understood this from day one and has embraced the model with the kind of strategic clarity that sets them apart.

BGIS and Acutro in practice

BGIS is a global leader in facility management whose tagline, enabling innovation, is not a slogan but an operating principle. Much of that innovation DNA originates from their established Canadian operations, where BGIS has pioneered technology led FM delivery for over two decades. That heritage has directly shaped the ambition of the UK and EMEA business under Gary Bullen and Nick Spearman, who have built on those Canadian foundations to create one of the most forward thinking FM operations in the European market.

Through our partnership, BGIS is leveraging Acutro’s platform to stand up smart buildings operations across key contracts. This is not a trial. It is a live, operational deployment where Acutro’s technology is integrated into the way BGIS manages buildings on behalf of their clients. Today, 43 buildings are connected and online across six client accounts, each with its own performance targets, asset profile, and contractual requirements. The breadth of that footprint is growing and the results are compelling.

Across these connected buildings, the partnership is delivering significant and sustained improvements. Planned preventive maintenance labour is being optimised by more than 30%, freeing up thousands of engineer hours annually. Energy consumption reductions consistently exceed 6% against baseline, translating into hundreds of thousands of pounds in annual savings and measurable carbon reductions. First time fix ratios have risen from a traditional industry range of 55 to 65% to consistently above 85%, driven by advanced fault detection that equips engineers with root cause intelligence before they arrive on site.

When extrapolated across the full 43 building footprint, the combined annual value of labour optimisation, energy savings, reactive cost avoidance, and extended asset lifecycles is projected to comfortably exceed seven figures. While the precise value varies by portfolio depending on asset density, building age, and system complexity, returns are consistently being realised within the first 12 months of each deployment.

These are not projections built on assumptions. They are grounded in verified operational data from live buildings, validated by BGIS engineering teams.

The building performance team

Central to this work is the Building Performance team, a dedicated function supported by Acutro’s platform that monitors building health, identifies performance anomalies, and translates data into engineering action. It operates as a bridge between the data layer and the operational teams on site, ensuring insights are acted upon quickly and effectively.

The team does not replace the existing engineering capability within BGIS. It amplifies it. Engineers receive prioritised, contextualised information that helps them focus on what matters most. Across live deployments, hundreds of potential reactive calls have been either prevented entirely or resolved on first visit, with mean resolution times more than halving compared to traditional approaches.

AMI (Artificial maintenance intelligence)

A key example of the partner first model is AMI, or Artificial Maintenance Intelligence. AMI is BGIS’s own customised, white label version of Acutro Core. By white labelling the platform, BGIS has taken ownership of a fully branded solution that integrates seamlessly into their service delivery and client reporting, while benefiting from the continuous development Acutro invests in the underlying technology.

AMI aggregates millions of data points per week from building management systems, IoT sensors, metering infrastructure, and maintenance records to build a real time view of asset and building performance. It employs advanced fault detection and diagnostics, condition based monitoring, and predictive analytics to move maintenance from calendar driven schedules to genuinely data led strategies.

The remote command centre

The Remote Command Centre, or RCC, is a BGIS led initiative built directly on the proven success of the BGIS Canada RCC model, a cornerstone of their North American smart buildings operation. For the UK deployment, that model has been updated with greater analysis, intelligence, and logic capabilities powered by Acutro’s platform. The transfer of methodology from BGIS Canada to the UK demonstrates how the global BGIS network creates advantage for every region it operates in.

In the UK, the Building Performance teams and the RCC are led by Chris Howlett, Building Performance Director at BGIS UK. Under Chris’s leadership, the RCC enables continuous oversight of building systems, with trained analysts monitoring data, triaging alerts, and coordinating responses with on site teams. For BGIS, it means every building under their management benefits from round the clock intelligence, regardless of size or complexity.

Getting the building online

One of the most significant challenges in smart building operations is the initial onboarding. Getting a building online, connected, and producing meaningful data requires deep technical expertise and a structured methodology.

BGIS has proven to be an exceptionally capable partner in this process, working closely with Acutro’s platform engineers to ensure the data captured from each building’s infrastructure, control systems, and metering arrangements is accurate, relevant, and actionable.

The speed of adoption has been remarkable. Buildings are consistently brought online and delivering measurable value within weeks of mobilisation. Across six accounts now live, BGIS has demonstrated they can replicate the onboarding process at pace without compromising on data quality or engineering rigour. That consistency reflects the depth of commitment from their leadership.

Upskilling engineering teams for the digital era

Technology alone does not transform an FM operation. People do. The shift from calendar based maintenance to data led strategies requires engineers to interpret dashboards, act on prioritised alerts, and engage with building performance data in ways that were never part of traditional training pathways.

BGIS has recognised this and invested accordingly. Through the partnership with Acutro, engineering teams are being upskilled and reskilled to operate in a digital first environment. This is not about replacing engineers with technology. It is about giving experienced professionals new tools and capabilities that make them more effective and more valued. The result is a workforce ready for the future of FM, not left behind by it.

Data-led maintenance and the performance dividend

Data led maintenance, or DLM, is not a buzzword at Acutro. It is a discipline. DLM means every maintenance decision is informed by data, understanding not just what has failed but why, what is likely to fail next, and how a building’s performance profile is evolving over time.

For BGIS and their clients, DLM is delivering a measurable performance dividend at scale. Across 43 connected buildings, planned maintenance optimisation above 30% is freeing up thousands of engineer hours each year. Energy reductions consistently exceeding 6% are delivering substantial annual savings and meaningful carbon reductions. When projected across the full connected footprint, cumulative energy savings alone are expected to avoid well over a thousand tonnes of CO2e annually.

Reactive maintenance expenditure is reducing significantly across every account, driven by early fault detection and accurate root cause diagnosis. Component lifecycles are being extended by 15 to 25% through avoiding unnecessary disassembly and premature replacement.

Perhaps most importantly, DLM changes the conversation between FM provider and building owner. Rather than reporting on work completed, BGIS can report on outcomes achieved. This is the performance based approach clients are now writing into their contracts, and it is exactly what the partnership delivers.

Looking ahead

The partnership between Acutro and BGIS is not standing still. With 43 buildings now connected across six accounts, the foundations are proven and the model is ready to scale. Both organisations share an ambition to grow the connected footprint significantly over the coming years, bringing new client accounts online across the UK and expanding into the broader EMEA region. The opportunity is substantial. Every building that connects to the platform strengthens the intelligence available to every other building already online. The predictive models sharpen, the benchmarking becomes richer, and the value delivered to each client compounds. Scale is not just a commercial objective. It is a technical accelerant.

Scaling the Connected Footprint

BGIS is well positioned to lead that growth. Their existing client relationships, combined with the proven results now being delivered across live portfolios, create a compelling proposition for building owners and occupiers who are actively seeking performance based FM partners. As contract specifications continue to shift towards data led maintenance and measurable outcomes, the BGIS and Acutro partnership offers a ready made, proven capability that can be mobilised at pace. The ambition is to grow the connected portfolio into the hundreds of buildings, spanning commercial offices, mixed use developments, and critical infrastructure across multiple geographies.

Evolving the Remote Command Centre

The RCC is already transforming how BGIS monitors and manages building performance. But the vision extends well beyond monitoring and alert triage. The next phase of evolution will see the RCC move towards a true 24/7 intelligent operations capability, with deeper integration into building control systems and the capacity to execute autonomous interventions where safe and appropriate to do so. This means the platform will not only detect a fault and alert an engineer. It will, in defined scenarios, take corrective action automatically, adjusting setpoints, rebalancing loads, or isolating underperforming equipment before the impact is felt by the building occupant.

That progression from monitoring to autonomous response represents the frontier of smart building operations, and BGIS is actively working with Acutro to define the roadmap that will take them there.

Learning from BGIS Canada

A significant advantage for BGIS UK and EMEA is the depth of operational knowledge and proven innovation within the wider BGIS group, particularly from BGIS Canada. The Canadian business has been at the forefront of technology led FM for years, and the knowledge transfer pipeline between Canada and the UK is an ongoing source of strategic value. As BGIS Canada continues to develop and refine new operating models, those learnings flow directly into the UK operation, accelerating adoption and reducing the risk of innovation. It is a global capability being applied with local precision, and it gives BGIS UK a head start that few competitors can match.

Co Development and New Products

Conclusion

The smart buildings revolution is here. The clients who fund, own, and occupy buildings are demanding better performance, greater transparency, and maintenance strategies grounded in data rather than tradition. FM service providers who can meet these demands will thrive.

BGIS, under the leadership of Gary Bullen and Nick Spearman, has shown what it looks like when an FM provider commits fully to intelligent building operations. With 43 buildings connected across six accounts and growing, they are delivering maintenance optimisation above 30%, energy reductions exceeding 6%, first time fix rates above 85%, and combined annual value projected well into seven figures. These outcomes are live, auditable, and accelerating.

Acutro is proud to be the technology partner behind that success. Our partner first approach exists because of organisations like BGIS, organisations that understand technology is the single greatest enabler of better service, better outcomes, and better buildings. Together, we look forward to what we will build next.