The environmental and social impact from digitization in buildings : A case study of the transformation and current conditions on the University hospital of Northern Sweden

Abstract: To improve sustainability, social, environmental and economic aspects needs to be considered. The most optimal result appears when all three aspects are balanced equally, this is however often overseen by private investors, who focuses only on reaching economic sustainability at the expense of social and environmental sustainability. Building digitization is one way to potentially improve the sustainability of a building socially, environmentally and economically. Focusing on the aspects that often are neglected, this thesis aims to investigate if digitizing a building improves social and environmental sustainability. The investigation is made by evaluating the implementation of a digital building automation tool from selected social and environmental sustainability criteria at the University hospital of Northern Sweden. This by performing an interview survey with the maintenance organisation and the tenants in the building, as well as performing CO2-e calculations on emissions connected to energy usage, transportation and production of HVAC-products. The evaluation indicated that the implementation had resulted in improved sustainability in the studied building, both socially and environmentally. Showing that digitizing a building improves social and environmental sustainability. The social sustainability had been positively affected from increased efficiency and effectiveness of the maintenance work in the building and improved well-being of the maintenance staff. However, the tenants were not completely satisfied when asked if reported errors were being solved, but on the other hand had the maintenance organisation experienced an improvement in satisfaction among the tenants since the implementation of the digital building automation tool. Furthermore, the tenants were generally more satisfied than dissatisfied with the indoor climate, except for experienced low temperatures in the winter and dry air. The environmental sustainability had been improved from a reduction in emitted CO2-e, generated from less energy usage and minimized transportation connected to maintenance operations. Furthermore, an estimation on increased technical lifetime of HVAC-products demonstrated on a potential further reduction in emitted CO2-e during the building's whole life span. Finally, the evaluation identified two combined effects between social and environmental sustainability. First, the increased efficiency and effectiveness of the maintenance work was one direct factor for the decrease in CO2-e emissions connected to transportation. Second, the tenants in the building expressed that they would feel prouder of their choice of employer if their employer focused more on reducing their climate impact, which motivates to work with environmental sustainability to achieve satisfaction and moreover an improved social sustainability.  The results of this case study indicate that digital building automation improves the social and environmental sustainability of a building, strengthening the statement on potential sustainability improvements from building digitization. For property owners wanting to increase their building's sustainability, digital building automation is therefore a proposed course of action. However, the performance on sustainability and the balance between the different aspects should continuously be evaluated, as the study showed that further improvements on the social and environmental sustainability still could be made. Property owners working towards an improved sustainability through digitization will both see long term positive effects on people's health, as well as help fulfilling the climate goals in the Paris agreement, resulting in a more sustainable world for present and future generations.