The Future. Built Smarter.

IMEG Labs: Early validation for technology and integration

This episode of The Future Built Smarter features Matt Malcolm, leader of IMEG’s newest service, IMEG Labs. “With IMEG Labs we are able to offer our clients third-party unbiased evaluation of technology as part of the design process—ahead of actual construction events or implementation on a client's site,” says Matt. The evaluations and demonstrations are conducted at the IMEG Labs testing site in the firm’s office in Naperville, IL. “We can take the different technologies that we're describing as we talk about integration and smart buildings and bring them into our small-scale environment. We can leverage the agile framework and talk about how these things fit together, build out some proof of concepting, and make adjustments before we actually have people installing these things on site.” Owners and clients are encouraged to visit IMEG Labs for demonstrations of their anticipated technology solutions and integrations.

“It's really about all the things that are behind the walls, the things that are above the ceilings, the things that are in the IDF closets—all the different functional boxes and smart pieces and parts that are connected to a network and drive how a business operates, whether it's a hospital or a school or an airport. We connect them together with the appropriate wires to showcase everything it takes to achieve the business outcome or use case that a client is looking for.”

This service, Matt adds, “allows us to early in the process decide what brands or manufacturers work well together, which ones might be a barrier to implementing because there's a huge implementation cost or integration development cost. It's about timely evaluation of how these systems are going to work together so that they can influence the decisions.”

IMEG Labs also can set up mockups for training and continual improvement at a client’s site and can innovate solutions for which there may not yet be a product on the market that allows an owner to push the envelope.

“Clients are coming up with some great ideas and we're taking those ideas and trying to see how they could come to life. We're piloting a couple of different technologies—things that haven't really been done before in certain environments.”

Listen to the podcast to learn more or contact Matt Malcolm.   

AEC firms need a ‘culture of innovation’ to leverage AI

This episode of The Future Built Smarter features Dr. Sam Zolfagharian, president of the AI consulting firm YegaTech, which helps AEC companies adapt to the era of disruption caused by the introduction of artificial intelligence into the industry. A keynote speaker and author of the forthcoming book, “Disrupt It,” Sam also holds a Ph.D. in design computing and construction management and has over 20 years of experience developing technologies for the industry. Of six essential elements AEC companies should focus on when creating an AI strategy, she says the first step is establishing a culture of innovation. “If we can’t get the buy-in from our employees, if we don't change their mindset, it doesn't matter which tool we bring on board, it doesn't matter how much investment we do—they're not going to adopt it. “They might be scared of AI taking over their job, or they might just not be interested to try it because they're missing the ‘why’ part. So, it's really important to build that culture of innovation.”  

Even high-level executives sometimes need enlightenment as to the benefits of using AI to improve processes and outcomes. The day before Sam was to present an AR workshop for a company, a board member shared her skepticism about the usefulness of AI. After the session, however, the board member told Sam she now understood how AI could help their employees and augment their jobs. 

“At that moment I wondered how many other executives and board members may have the same mindset because they've been in the industry for a while and are skeptical about technology,” said Sam. “So, I'm hoping that with education we can change that mindset and build that culture of innovation for our industry.” 

To learn more about YegaTech and the upcoming book, “Disrupt It,” visit https://yegatech.com/. 

Labs2Zero aims to help owners decarbonize their laboratories

Decarbonization of energy-intensive laboratories takes center stage in this episode featuring guests from the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL). 

 

“Laboratories are one of the highest consumers of energy because of the needs around safety,” says Gordon Sharp, I2SL president. “We’re talking about wet labs, which typically deal with hazardous materials or chemicals and require large amounts of ventilation. They also have other needs such as fume hoods and exposure control devices. Their unique design and operational requirements make them very different from other types of buildings.” 

 

The I2SL’s Labs2Zero initiative, launched in 2022, is designed to help the industry reduce energy consumption and take steps toward decarbonization. While the initiative emphasizes retrofitting existing labs, it also is expanding its focus to include new lab facilities as well. 

 

“This is I2SL's grand plan for decarbonizing lab facilities,” says Alison Farmer, Labs2Zero program director and I2SL board secretary. “Decarbonization is a real challenge in lab facilities, but it's also a significant opportunity. These labs are consuming a lot more energy per square foot than most other types of facilities. And because they're complex, because they're typically unique, and because you have to consider safety and everything else, they often have gotten left out of some of the bigger programs dealing with building decarbonization.” 

 Labs2Zero resources include “score cards” in which owners can benchmark their building’s energy consumption and operational emissions compared to I2SL’s industry-wide database of energy use from more than 1,000 lab buildings. Other resources available now or in the future include embodied carbon benchmarking, Labs2Zero certification of the building energy scores, training for users of the program, and tools to help owners improve the performance of their buildings. 

To help owners identify the next steps on their decarbonization journey, Labs2Zero will be launching its AIM reporting tool in the coming months. This will guide owners through evaluating appropriate measures for decarbonization for their building and ultimately create a plan and business case for improvements.  

“With all of these components in place, we know that Labs2Zero is going to make a big difference in decarbonization of lab facilities,” says Farmer.   

Decarbonization, energy efficiency, and sustainability in laboratories and other high-tech facilities will be examined during the I2SL’s 2024 Annual Conference, “The Gateway to Efficient Labs,” Sept. 29 to Oct. 2 in St. Louis. The conference draws architects, engineers, lab owners, and sustainability professionals from around the world. 

Learn more about the I2SL, Labs2Zero, and the I2SL Annual Conference. 

Antarctica or bust: Site visit sends IMEG to penguin paradise

IMEG’s Peter Monroe joins this episode of The Future Built Smarter to share the experiences of his recent site visit to Antarctica. A former client executive and a structural engineer for 55 years, Peter made the journey from Denver to Antarctica in early 2024 to visit a project at McMurdo Station, a National Science Foundation research facility on Ross Island. McMurdo is undergoing extensive updates, and Peter’s visit was to observe the structural construction of the station’s new dormitory, one of two buildings for which IMEG has provided structural construction documents.  

Established in 1955, McMurdo consists of numerous buildings and infrastructure of varying sizes and functions, many that are no longer used, others that will be replaced and consolidated into more efficient modern facilities. “I've been telling people the best way to describe it is like some of the old mining towns here in Colorado or out in California that are half abandoned,” Peter says of his first impressions of McMurdo. He also discusses the added challenges of design and construction in the Antarctic—extreme weather and permafrost, materials logistics, limited construction seasons—and key takeaways from the dormitory project. “Generally, we made good decisions,” he says, adding that there were many lessons learned to apply to the core building—the next project IMEG will design for the NSF. “The dormitory is one of their first major projects and hopefully the lessons transfer.” 

While he was scheduled to be at McMurdo for six days, bad weather and airplane mechanical issues extended his stay to 12 days. That allowed him to be present for the dormitory “topping off” ceremony—the hoisting and placement of the final structural steel beam, which he signed along with the other project team partners who were present. The additional days also gave him extra time to explore and take photos and videos of the Antarctic’s native residents. “One of the days, there were two little Adelie penguins walking down the road and we were all standing there watching them. Another day the big emperor penguins came in and there was probably 50, 60, or 70 of them.”  

The Antarctica trip will always stand out among Peter’s career highlights and is decidedly his farthest site visit ever—eclipsing a past visit to Saudi Arabia and easily outdistancing anything else. “For something that was in Denver, I'd leave the office in the morning, go out, and be back before lunch.”  

Watch a video of Peter Monroe’s Antarctica site visit. 

Part 4 | IMEG Sustainability Champion Olivia Paxson: ‘One person can only do so much’

The final episode in a series about IMEG’s refreshed Sustainability Plan features Olivia Paxson, a structural engineering designer with the firm. Olivia is also the Sustainability Plan’s champion in IMEG’s St. Louis office, where she collaborates with her co-workers to implement the plan’s mandated and optional initiatives. 

“We’ve already switched to LED lighting and that's thanks to the people we rent from,” she says. “We have a dishwasher, and we have reusable utensils, and we’re really close to a metro line as well as bus stations.” Like most IMEG offices, the St. Louis team is a tenant in its building and will be working to find more ways to collaborate with the other tenants and the owner to enact further changes. 

Olivia is excited over the effort she has seen across IMEG and the potential for meaningful change. “I think this collective action is so important because one individual can only do so much,” she says. “All the offices have come together—different people of different backgrounds, and they're not all engineers. We've got such a variety of people and because we're able to come together I think we can be pushed so much further.” 

Part 3 | IMEG Sustainability Champion Anchila Monks: ‘This is the right time’

IMEG’s Anchila Monks is featured in the third episode in a series about the firm’s refreshed Sustainability Plan. A business developer with IMEG, Anchila is also the Sustainability Plan’s champion in the firm’s office in Portland, OR, where she collaborates with her co-workers to implement the plan’s mandated and optional initiatives.  

Anchila recalls what her grandmother told her at a young age: “She said that heaven and earth and humanity are different manifestations of one life energy, and that we only have one planet—and there is no Planet B.” For Anchila, this was the beginning of her understanding of the importance of taking care of the environment. 

Living and working in Portland—one of the country’s greenest communities—makes some of the Sustainability Plan’s optional initiatives easier to accomplish, such as biking and carpooling to work, recycling, and composting. The office also has “adopted a block” and formed a “Team Portland” group to participate in a community clean-up day.  

Like other IMEG Sustainability Champions, Anchila is passionate about her role, and urges people everywhere to not procrastinate in helping to save the environment. 

“Do not waste time,” she says. “This is the right time to do it.” 

Part 2 | IMEG Sustainability Champion Jessica Lee: ‘It’s really inspiring’

The second in a series of episodes on IMEG’s refreshed Sustainability Plan features Jessica Lee, a sustainability and energy consultant with the firm. Also the Sustainability Plan champion in IMEG’s Chicago office, Jessica collaborates with her co-workers to implement the plan’s mandated and optional initiatives.  

Jessica’s passion for the environment began as a child growing up within an indigenous community in Hawaii. “Being surrounded by the greenest greens and the bluest blues in the world made me appreciate nature and respect nature,” she says. “So, growing up I was just surrounded by the idea that the earth is what gives us life and we should work with it rather than against it.” 

In addition to contributing to the company-wide tracking of office energy use and other mandated initiatives, Jessica is looking forward to helping the Chicago office choose and implement its optional sustainability initiatives. She hopes these will include an office composting bin and increased use of public transportation to and from work. 

“Everybody's coming together to get new ideas on what they could do in the office and it's just really inspiring to see that,” she says. 

Part 1 | Power in numbers: IMEG offices rally behind firm’s sustainability plan

In the first in a series of episodes on IMEG’s refreshed Sustainability Plan, Adam McMillen, director of sustainability, and Taylor Gawthorp-Cruse, senior sustainability and energy consultant, discuss key aspects of the initiative. Designed to integrate environmentally friendly practices at the firm’s offices, the updated plan builds upon the original version, released in 2018, and promotes conserving energy and water, lowering carbon emissions, and reducing waste. The 2024 version includes new mandated initiatives (such as tracking office energy usage) as well as optional initiatives (such as providing in-office composting) that allow each location to take actions best-suited for their office, whether corporate owned or rented.  

While the firm’s largest positive impact on the environment rests within its ability to reduce the carbon footprint of its clients’ projects, it also can now make a sizeable impact through the operations and actions at its own offices, which now number 90-plus across the U.S. “Now our carbon number has become a big number, and if we have a sustainable mindset where we work every day, then that scales, too,” says McMillen. “If you only have three offices, it is still worth it to think about it, but it has become more important for us now for sure.” 

Implementing an internal sustainability plan is a large undertaking, and organizations seeking to do so should start by identifying office champions who can lead the effort at each office location. 

“My biggest piece of advice is to harness the power of passionate people in your firm,” says Gawthorp-Cruse. “You’d be surprised by the drive of people who want to make a positive impact and bring new ideas to the table that maybe they don't get to express in their day-to-day work. Our sustainable office champions are amazing, and I think there's nothing a group of passionate people can't accomplish.” 

AI in practice | Part 2: IMEG chatbot gets smarter by the day

In the second of a two-part episode, IMEG software development team lead Steve Germano continues his conversation about IMEG’s internal, AI-powered chatbot, Meg. After a year-and-a-half of development, Meg is now live and serves as a search engine for the firm’s engineering teams and other departments, drawing from the company’s vast amount of stored data.  

Built as a large language model, or LLM, questions can be asked of Meg by anyone in the company on a variety of engineering and non-engineering topics, from “How do I submit my expense report?” to “Where can I find guidance on sizing steam traps?” Meg will then point the user to the appropriate in-house tool or information from among the firm’s own curated, accurate, and verified databases. Meg fields upwards of 1,000 questions a day from the firm’s 80-plus engineering teams and other staff around the country, quickly bringing knowledge from across the firm to answer questions and provide technical information to provide the best solutions for local clients.  

“We built a singular entry point to help users find information they're looking for across the company in a single place,” says Germano, who also is a mechanical engineer. “Everyone can just type a sentence and ask what they want, just like you'd be asking a colleague sitting next to you.”  

Far from replacing engineers, Meg acts as an assistant to help them more quickly find the data and answers to their questions---an especially useful “co-pilot” and source of accelerated learning for less experienced engineers (who also continue to be mentored by the firm’s veterans). 

“It’s like having someone you can bug and ask 50 questions a day and know you’re not going to aggravate them and eat up their time,” says Germano, who expects to see similar AI-powered assistants being developed across the AEC industry. “As the technology continues to develop, it's just going to get better and better, and more and more knowledge will be available.” 

Germano offers a bit of advice for firms thinking about embarking on such a journey. “There are a lot of tools out there to start exploring with, but in parallel with that, you need to determine if your data is even ready to be consumed by AI. That’s a deep topic that needs to be explored as it can take a lot of time to curate and cleanse your data.” 

AI in practice | Part 1: IMEG chatbot brings decades of data to engineers in seconds

In the first of a two-part episode, IMEG software development team lead Steve Germano joins Mike Lawless and Joe Payne for a conversation about IMEG’s internal, AI-powered chatbot, Meg. After a year-and-a-half of development, Meg is now live and serves as a search engine for the firm’s engineering teams and other departments, drawing from the company’s vast amount of stored data.  

Built as a large language model, or LLM, questions can be asked of Meg by anyone in the company on a variety of engineering and non-engineering topics, from “How do I submit my expense report?” to “Where can I find guidance on sizing steam traps?” Meg will then point the user to the appropriate in-house tool or information from among the firm’s own curated, accurate, and verified databases. Meg fields upwards of 1,000 questions a day from the firm’s 80-plus engineering teams and other staff around the country, quickly bringing knowledge from across the firm to answer questions and provide technical information to provide the best solutions for local clients.  

“We built a singular entry point to help users find information they're looking for across the company in a single place,” says Germano, who also is a mechanical engineer. “Everyone can just type a sentence and ask what they want, just like you'd be asking a colleague sitting next to you.”  

Far from replacing engineers, Meg acts as an assistant to help them more quickly find the data and answers to their questions---an especially useful “co-pilot” and source of accelerated learning for less experienced engineers (who also continue to be mentored by the firm’s veterans). 

“It’s like having someone you can bug and ask 50 questions a day and know you’re not going to aggravate them and eat up their time,” says Germano, who expects to see similar AI-powered assistants being developed across the AEC industry. “As the technology continues to develop, it's just going to get better and better, and more and more knowledge will be available.” 

Germano offers a bit of advice for firms thinking about embarking on such a journey. “There are a lot of tools out there to start exploring with, but in parallel with that, you need to determine if your data is even ready to be consumed by AI. That’s a deep topic that needs to be explored as it can take a lot of time to curate and cleanse your data.”