21 September 2021

Matthew Marson for BBC World Service on how smart technology can tackle climate change

Matthew Marson, a PhD student studying the evolution of smart places at Westminster's School of Architecture + Cities and a UK Sector Director for Manufacturing and Technology at Arcadis, appeared on a podcast for BBC World Service on how artificial intelligence is able to prevent climate change in the future. 

Wifi icon and city scape and network connection concept
Credit: Krunja/Shutterstock.com

Talking about smart buildings, Marson said: “I think of the smart building as giving you all sorts of outcomes to do with sustainability and to do with space. That means the technology uses data and the sorts of insights to do something that’s quite cool for how everything operates.”

When showcasing the smart building he works in, Marson added: “The first thing that happened when you came through the door was that you came through a lift that has destination control, and that means by knowing who you are and where you’re going to visit, it’s able to balance and optimise who gets into which lift so that it’s able to reduce the amount of energy consumption and help to make the lift last longer, because it reduces the travel times and distances that it goes by getting folks to group together.

“One of the ways we’ve designed the office here [in the canteen] is all to do with collaboration, and in order to deal with the space that’s like that can be quite challenging, which is why you need some of the smart building software.”

Listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds.

Press and media enquiries

Contact us on:

[email protected]