Speaking at Facilities Show in May, co-located with IFSEC International, Ozge Celik Russell, Senior Analyst, Omdia, presented on how the smart building market is moving forwards since a pause in investment in the pandemic, adding that security will play a significant part in its evolution. Julian Hall reports. For clarity, Ozge opened up the presentation by defining the term ‘smart buildings’ – being those that deliver building services through control systems that manage building operations, known as Building Management Systems (BMS). A BMS is a single, centralised or distributed platform that acts as the building’s artificial intelligence. These systems aggregate data from equipment and sensors across many building domains and identify trends in building use and operations, acting upon the data through programmed sequential algorithms in order to reduce energy consumption, provide security and improve occupant comfort.