Co-authored by Jeremy Witikko, Cisco and Phillip Priestley, NTT Ltd.

When your organization is the world's leading building standards organization, it's important to lead by example. So when ASHRAE, a global society advancing human well-being through sustainable technology for the built environment, set out to move its Atlanta headquarters to a new location, it decided that building would serve as one of the most secure, innovative, and sustainable workspaces to date.

Like buying a home, ASHRAE searched for a location with ease of access, convenience, and amenities that could serve as a model for cost-effective sustainability, resiliency, and energy efficiency. To represent those long-held values, ASHRAE chose a retrofit process over a new build and converted a 43-year old building into its new headquarters.

Buildings, like ASHRAE'S new headquarters, are no longer simply physical structures. They are smart, informative, and transformative, using the latest technology for pervasive connectivity, operational efficiency, meaningful interactions, and health and safety.  See how ASHRAE sets standards with its intelligent and green headquarters:

Built on NTT Ltd.'s Connected Workplace platform powered by Cisco Meraki, Cisco DNA Spaces, Cisco DNA Center and Cisco Collaboration Suite, ASHRAE's smart headquarters serves as a showcase to its 54,000 members and the industry at large.  It delivers:

Employee health safety and security features

The integrated building management system enables ASHRAE to address evolving health and safety concerns and regulations, particularly as people return to work. With PlaceOS, we created an intelligent reception experience that automatically notifies employees when visitors arrive and facilitates contact tracing. This intelligent reception extends to deliveries. The system also monitors the number of people in rooms to ensure the environment controls are appropriately set.

A secure, connected workplace of the future

Like organizations across the globe, ASHRAE is dealing with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because it prioritized a flexible and agile workplace from the project outset, the workplace systems were designed to be flexible and resilient, allowing employees to remain effectively engaged through changing circumstances or world events.

ASHRAE understands it's not just about having a building that meets the physical needs of employees, but one that allows them to work seamlessly with both office-based and remote workers and partners who may be located anywhere around the world. The new building allows people to meet when they need to, from where they want to.

Frictionless working environments and meeting spaces

The next-generation meetings solution and intelligent panels allows employees to efficiently book and run meetings. A fully integrated building management system and space utilization insights allow ASHRAE to optimize utilities and systems for cost efficiencies.

Integrated building management

With the integration between the building management systems and PlaceOS, ASHRAE has a unified view of its environment. This provides insights required to create a workplace that evolves as its requirements change.

Sustainability

The building has a universal power over ethernet (UPOE) ready foundation and uses solar panels to power a true carbon neutral result.

To learn more about how our partnership delivers innovative

solutions, visit the Cisco and NTT Ltd. partnership page.