For decades, buildings have been treated like finished products: you design them, construct them, hand over the keys—and hope they perform as intended for years to come. But cities are changing faster than that model can keep up. Energy systems are decarbonising, prices are volatile, occupants’ needs are more dynamic, and digital technologies now make it possible to sense, predict, and optimise in real time. The result is a shift from static assets to dynamic services—from “a building” to Building-as-a-Service (BaaS).
BuildON embraces this shift with a simple promise: connect what buildings already have, add light-touch intelligence, and let automation do the heavy lifting—so people see lower bills and better comfort without major disruption. As partners in the project, we believe this is how smart cities will actually scale: practical, interoperable, and human-centered. See the project overview on the BuildON website
What “Building-as-a-Service” really means
BaaS reframes a building from a collection of devices into a platform that continuously delivers outcomes: comfort, air quality, energy efficiency, and flexibility. Instead of one-off retrofits and static schedules, services are provisioned, monitored, and improved over time—just like software.
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For occupants, that means spaces that quietly adapt: comfortable temperatures, healthy air, and intuitive controls that don’t demand constant attention.
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For owners and operators, it means predictable performance, lower operational costs, and the ability to adopt new capabilities without ripping out systems.
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For the energy system, it means buildings that modulate demand, support renewables, and provide grid flexibility—turning consumers into active participants in the energy transition.
Crucially, BaaS is not about filling buildings with flashy gadgets. It is about interoperability, automation, and usability—the foundations that make smart feel simple.
The BuildON approach: a smart toolbox, not a maze of tools
BuildON’s Smart Transformer Toolbox is the practical engine of this transformation. It brings together three complementary layers that turn buildings into service platforms:
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IoT Edge–Cloud interoperability framework
Fragmented devices and protocols are a core barrier in today’s building stock. BuildON addresses this with an edge domain controller, unified Data Access and Control, a BuildON Data Repository, and a Universal Building API. The goal is vendor-agnostic, standards-based data exchange and control—so new services can be added without bespoke integrations each time. You can find a concise description on CORDIS and the BuildON site. -
MAPO analytics and optimisation services
MAPO stands for Monitor, Assess, Predict, Optimise. These AI-powered services continuously analyse building data to spot inefficiencies, benchmark performance, detect faults, and recommend strategies. When agreed by users and operators, those strategies can run automatically, delivering savings and comfort consistently rather than occasionally. A broader narrative of this toolbox approach appears in recent project articles (e.g., BUILD-UP/CINEA features). -
Digital Twins
Digital Twins mirror the real building in a virtual model, enabling simulation and decision-testing. Before changing a control sequence or load-shifting strategy, the twin helps evaluate expected outcomes—reducing risk and accelerating learning. In a BaaS world, this is how services improve iteratively, not just once per commissioning cycle.
Together, these layers make the building extensible. New apps, dashboards, or optimisation routines can be deployed like software updates—without disrupting daily life or rewriting the whole integration stack.
People first: making smart feel effortless
Technology only succeeds when people trust it. BuildON starts local—mapping stakeholders, usage patterns, and constraints in each pilot—and then co-creates solutions with users. The aim is not to turn everyone into an energy expert, but to provide user-friendly tools that translate complexity into clear choices and, where appropriate, automate agreed actions in the background.
This low-disruption ethos matters in homes, offices, kindergartens, and public buildings alike. It respects different rhythms and capabilities, and it’s how we build confidence over time: demonstrate improvements, show before/after performance, invite feedback, and iterate.
From pilots to scale: proving the model across Europe
To validate the BaaS approach in real conditions, BuildON is testing in five European pilots, each with distinct climates, building types, and systems:
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Residential building in Valladolid (ES)
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Residential building in Helsinki (FI)
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Kindergarten in Gdynia (PL)
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Office building in Moret-Loing-et-Orvanne (FR)
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Commercial and office buildings in Athens and Volos (GR)
Pilot snapshots are publicly listed on the BuildON pilots page, with deeper dives such as the Athens & Volos pilot.
Why this variety? Because services must generalise across contexts. A toolbox that works only in one climate zone or one equipment brand is not a service; it’s a demo. By proving interoperability and value across these pilots, BuildON lays the groundwork for replicable, standards-aligned services that cities can adopt at scale.
Interoperability: the quiet hero of digital transformation
Digital transformation stalls when every integration is a bespoke project. That’s why BuildON’s emphasis on open interfaces and shared data models is so important. With a Universal Building API and consistent data handling, applications become portable, and vendors can compete on the quality of their algorithms and user experience not on locking in proprietary gateways.
This is also how we align with the EU’s policy direction. The recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) underscores buildings’ central role in the energy transition and the importance of smart-readiness. Learn more via the European Commission’s EPBD pages and the 2021 recast proposal.
Alongside EPBD, the Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) is emerging as a practical compass for digital maturity—rating how well buildings optimise energy, serve occupants, and respond to grid signals.
AI where it helps, not where it dazzles
AI in buildings should be like good lighting: you notice the effect, not the fixture. BuildON’s MAPO services use AI for forecasting, fault detection, and optimisation; areas where data patterns are complex and dynamic. That might look like:
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Predicting thermal behaviour to pre-heat or pre-cool efficiently.
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Detecting anomalies in HVAC performance before they become comfort issues or maintenance calls.
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Optimising control strategies to reduce peaks, shift loads, and take advantage of local renewables or favourable tariffs.
The key is explainability and oversight. Operators need clear rationales behind suggestions, and users must retain agency over automatic actions. BaaS does not mean surrendering control—it means codifying intentions (comfort targets, cost constraints, sustainability goals) so the building can uphold them consistently.
If you’d like a quick intro in video form, watch BuildON’s project interview featuring coordinator Sofía Mulero Palencia on YouTube.
From building to city: how BaaS fits the smart-city puzzle
Smart cities are systems of systems. When buildings operate as service platforms, they become better citizens in that ecosystem:
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Energy flexibility: Buildings can offer demand response or participate in local energy communities, smoothing the integration of renewable generation.
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Open innovation: A standardised building API enables local startups and service providers to create new value—analytics, wellness services, asset management—without reinventing the integration layer.
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Lifecycle value: Services support performance over time, not just at handover. That aligns incentives for investors, operators, and occupants and reduces performance drift.
In short, BaaS is how buildings plug into digital, low-carbon urban infrastructure without requiring a clean-sheet rebuild.
Why this matters now
Europe’s energy context demands lower demand, higher flexibility, and reduced dependence on imports-not in 2040, but today. The fastest path is to make the existing building stock smarter, step by step. BuildON’s low-cost sensors, interoperable control, and AI-enabled services offer a pragmatic route: connect, understand, optimise, and automate while keeping disruption low and users in the loop. This aligns with the EU push under EPBD and related initiatives.
For building owners, that’s a business case rooted in lower bills, higher comfort, and clearer pathways to compliance. For technology providers, it’s a market where integration is achievable and innovation can scale. For occupants, it’s everyday spaces that feel better—without fuss.
What comes next?
As the pilots progress, the focus is on measurable impacts: energy savings, comfort improvements, reduced maintenance calls, and verified flexibility. Just as importantly, the project is working to align results with standards and smart-readiness methodologies, so that what works in Valladolid or Helsinki can work elsewhere with confidence.
Curious how Building-as-a-Service could work in your portfolio or want to follow BuildON’s pilots?
👉 Explore the BuildON website, and check the pilots.
If you’d like to exchange on use cases, integration approaches, or user engagement, get in touch with us (partners) or contact the project via the BuildON contact page
