WiredScore Interview

1. What is WiredScore certification and what criteria are taken into consideration when awarding it?

WiredScore is the digital connectivity rating system for real estate. It helps landlords to understand, improve, benchmark and promote their building's digital infrastructure. A WiredScore certified building offers seamless digital connectivity, benefitting both the landlord and tenant. As such, a WiredScore certified building helps landlords to build their reputation as forward-looking, providing offices designed to meet the requirements of a modern-day business.

Methods of measurement

WiredScore certification measures five key aspects of your building’s digital connectivity capabilities, ranging from its ability to adapt to future technology, to the overall quality of the user experience.

Resilience: How robust and secure is your digital infrastructure? Is there a backup fiber entry point, and protection against damage or flood? In short, how assured are your tenants of uninterrupted internet?

Future readiness: Does your digital infrastructure have the flexibility and capacity to adapt to new technology? Can your tenants be confident that their building is as future-proof as it can be?

Mobile: Does the mobile coverage stretch into every corner of the property? How about the car park in the basement or as someone goes up in the lift? Is the building 5G ready, and if not, what plans are in place?

Choice of providers: Are there multiple high-speed fiber providers to choose from? More choice means more competitive pricing, and gives tenants a potential backup if one service goes down.

User experience: Does the building offer people seamless digital connectivity? How strong is the Wi-Fi in common areas?

2. What is the SmartScore certification and what criteria are taken into consideration when awarding it?

SmartScore is the global smart building certification, helping landlords understand, improve and communicate the user functionality and technological foundations of their buildings. Providing a global standard, SmartScore identifies best-in-class smart buildings that deliver an exceptional user experience, drive cost efficiency, meet high standards of sustainability and are fully future-proof.

SmartScore was created in collaboration with the owners and users of the world’s most advanced properties, through the WiredScore Smart Council. The certification provides clarity on what constitutes a smart building, guidance on how to achieve the status, and proof of the value it adds to your asset.

Methods of measurement

SmartScore is measured on two main criteria, under which several sub points are measured. These are:

User Functionality: Assessing the breadth and depth of Smart User Stories implemented.

• Individual and collaborative productivity
• Health and wellbeing
• Communities and services
• Sustainability
• Maintenance and operations
• Security

Technological Foundation: Assessing the in-building technology, processes and procedures supporting the user stories.

• Tenant digital connectivity
• Building systems
• Landlord integration network
• Governance
• Cybersecurity
• Data sharing

3. What type of assets can be given WiredScore or SmartScore certification? Is this just commercial property we’re talking about or the residential sector too?

WiredScore is available for commercial offices assets, both occupied and underdevelopment, and residential (including sub-sectors: multifamily, studentaccommodation, senior living) assets. SmartScore is available for commercial office assets, both occupied and underdevelopment.

4. What jurisdictions do these certifications apply to and are there any new jurisdictions on the horizon?

WiredScore is currently present in 27 countries across North America, Europe and APAC. The company has plans to expand into the Middle East and further across APAC later in 2022.

5. How many buildings have been certified so far? Which country has the most certified buildings?

WiredScore has worked with over 900 clients globally to certify over 800 million sq ft of commercial and residential space (for both its WiredScore and SmartScore certifications), affecting over 8 million people across 27 countries. Our largest market is the US, and the largest city is New York, where the company was founded in 2013. We work with over 200 buildings in the city.

6. How can you apply for certification?

There are a number of ways to apply for certification; either directly, through WiredScore, or via WiredScore’s Accredited Professional Program.

The program, which equips individuals with the skills needed to best advise their clients on delivering profound, world-class connectivity and smart tech, currently boasts in excess of 650 professionals from over 275 companies. Clients can work hand-in-hand with an Accredited Professional, who will guide them through the certification process.

To find out more about how to apply, visit this website.

7. At what point should a property owner or developer apply for certification? Do they need to wait for development to be complete or can a building be certified during the construction phase?

Our certifications are available for assets which are both occupied and under development. While the scorecards vary for each, both ensure that the building meets the global standards set by WiredScore.

For developments we tend to get brought in at the design stage of the project, allowing us to influence the design to ensure the building is as well connected as possible before any construction work starts.

8. Why should an investor or developer obtain a WiredScore or SmartScore certification if it already has another certification (eg BREEAM, LEED)? What makes these certifications unique?

The LEED and WELL certifications focus on health, wellness, environmental impact and sustainability. Our certifications are the leading indication for digital connectivity and in-building technology. Many of the technology features and requirements in the WiredScore and SmartScore certifications underpin certifications such as LEED and WELL.

Many of our clients choose to pursue LEED and WELL alongside their WiredScore or SmartScore certifications and there’s some crossover between SmartScore and both LEED and WELL scorecards.

9. Are you planning to create new certifications in future?

We certainly see an abundance of opportunity in the real estate sector. The future will happen in buildings, with the most pressing challenges of our time – widespread access to great connectivity, carbon reduction, health and wellness, cybersecurity –being addressed through in-building technology.

10. What do you see as the next stage in the development of connectivity in the built environment?

Accommodating the upcoming generations of wireless technologies – both and Wi-Fi – are certainly two big themes we think will affect the built environment; especially in regard to how well-connected real estate can enhance the sustainability credentials of a building. As these technologies offer more and more capabilities for users, they become harder and harder to deliver inside a building. On top of this, tenants are starting to expect these connectivity offerings as a service that the landlord provides, opening up a discussion around the changing relationship between tenant and landlord.

Ultimately it all comes back to delivering the best possible user experience for those interacting with the building itself. It’s pointless implementing the best possible technology with the best possible connectivity if people are not actually going to use the building. It must and always should start with the user.

11. If you were a tenant looking for new office premises, what questions would you ask potential landlords to understand the connectivity of the building?

Resilience: What has the landlord done to ensure there’s no single point of failure in the route the internet infrastructure will take to get to the tenant space?

Future Readiness: Can the landlord infrastructure provide capacity for additional cabling I might need both from the basement and the rooftop?

Mobile: Can I make a call in the lobby and in my office space? Is the performance as good as or better than I can achieve outside the building?

Choice of providers: Is my chosen provider already serving the building and how many other providers do I have to choose from?.

User Experience: How has the landlord used technology to enable a greater range of services for my employees - eg do all amenity spaces have Wi-Fi so my team can work or meet anywhere in the building?

12. What is the most peculiar use of technology that you have seen in a building?

More and more, we’re seeing technologies that used to be “peculiar” rightfully becoming the norm to help tackle environmental and sustainability challenges in the built environment. Examples of this include the integration of occupancy data with HVAC systems to change air flow based on people density, or innovative waste detector systems, which make the measurement, management and improvement on waste even more transparent.