A key part of EXUS’s work in SMARTeeSTORY is developing the Analysis and Prediction Service: a tool designed to forecast the energy needs of historic buildings up to 24 hours ahead. The aim is simple: help the wider SMARTeeSTORY system anticipate a building’s needs, rather than merely respond after demand has already changed.

The service is being developed for the project’s three demonstration sites in Delft, Riga and Granada. As live monitoring data was not available at the beginning of the work, EXUS used simulation data produced from Tecnalia’s physics-based building models. In collaboration with RINA-C and CARTIF, the team incorporated the relevant energy-balance equations and created a common process for preparing data for forecasting.

EXUS then trained AI-based forecasting models to recognise how energy demand changes over time. Simulated data was reshaped for LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory) neural networks, using PyTorch Lightning. The team explored both room-by-room models and a wider model that learns from the whole building. The latter produced better preliminary results, largely because it could learn from a larger set of data while still reflecting the similar patterns found across rooms in the same site. The model generates forecasts every 15 minutes, looking one full day ahead.

These early results are encouraging, but they are not the end of the story. They are based on simulated data, so the models will now be retrained and refined as calibrated building models and real monitoring data become available. This will allow EXUS to check performance in real conditions, explore whether different sites need different modelling approaches, and include further information such as occupancy patterns and user preferences.

To make the service usable beyond the research environment, EXUS has also developed a secure and reliable way for each model to communicate with the SMARTeeSTORY platform. In practical terms, this enables forecasts to be requested and shared automatically, rather than being produced manually by the team.

The first real data arrived from Delft. EXUS developed a dedicated process to interpret the raw sensor data and compare it with the physics-based model, supporting Tecnalia’s ongoing calibration work. Data from Riga and Granada will further strengthen the models as the project progresses.

Ultimately, the forecasts will be shared with SMARTeeSTORY’s Control and Optimisation Service. This will allow the system to plan ahead when managing building systems, supporting lower energy use while maintaining comfortable conditions for occupants.

Researchers from TU Delft published a new paper entitled “Interface design for lighting and shading controls: device type, position, and system cues influencing user preference and acceptance”. The study explores how people interact with smart building technologies, and what makes them accept or reject in everyday office environments.

As office buildings add more automated lighting and shading systems, poorly designed controls can frustrate users and reduce acceptance. The study shows that it is not the technology itself, but how easy it is to use, reach, and understand, that drives user satisfaction. Interfaces that ignore user expectations risk being ignored or misused.

Testing lighting and shading controls in a realistic office setting

The researchers set up a controlled office lab, mimicking the real office conditions at TU Delft demosite, where 20 participants tested a variety of control interfaces. They compared analog and digital devices, different positions (wall-mounted, desk-mounted, or split), and levels of system information. Participants’ experiences were measured using an adapted Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire (PSSUQ) and follow-up interviews, giving both quantitative and qualitative insights.

Key findings: position and information drive acceptance

The study found that interface position strongly affects user satisfaction. Reachability and ease of use were the main predictors of overall acceptance. While many participants first thought they would prefer simple analog controls, hands-on interaction shifted their preferences toward digital interfaces with clear, information-rich displays. Desk-mounted digital controls scored highest overall, but in shared offices, wall-mounted controls were preferred for visibility and easy access. This highlights that context matters: one-size-fits-all designs do not work.

The research also demonstrates that usability testing is a powerful tool for evaluating human–building interaction. By engaging participants in realistic tasks, the study captured informed and consistent feedback, connecting numerical usability scores with participants’ personal experiences and confirming the robustness of the methodology.

Ultimately, the TU Delft study confirms that for SMARTeeSTORY, the human element is the ultimate benchmark of success. In our demosite, we are applying these lessons by integrating informative and easy-to-access digital controls that provide users with immediate feedback and ease of reach. By aligning system transparency with physical accessibility, we aren't just retrofitting a historical building with sensors, we are creating a environment where smart technology and human preference work synergically to reduce energy consumption.

Read the full study here.

Originally posted on www.enlit.world on 20th March 2026

The SMARTeeSTORY project is targetting the digitalisation of historic non-residential buildings, where deep energy renovation is often not an option.

Europe is home to countless historic buildings that are not only architectural marvels but also symbols of cultural heritage. However, many of these buildings face challenges in improving energy efficiency while preserving their unique character, i.e. façade, structure, materials, etc.

The refurbishment of historic buildings is crucial for achieving energy savings and contributing to the European Union’s long-term objective of full decarbonisation. By implementing sustainable and digital strategies, these buildings can significantly reduce their carbon footprint while preserving their cultural significance and character. 

Moreover, the green and digital transition in the refurbishment process can enhance the quality of life for citizens working in historic non-residential buildings by creating more comfortable, efficient and technologically advanced workspaces.

From protected heritage to smart buildings

SMARTeeSTORY develops an integrated, interoperable and cybersecure-by-design digital platform that brings together monitoring, analysis, prediction, optimisation and control services. 

The approach combines physics-based and data-driven models to create accurate digital twins of historic buildings, enabling advanced forecasting and multi-domain control across heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, electricity and user interaction. 

A key innovation is the strong user-centred dimension: SMARTeeSTORY identifies occupant archetypes and preferences and aims to integrate them into real-time control strategies, ensuring comfort and acceptance alongside energy savings.

SMARTeeSTORY solutions are being validated in three real-life demonstration sites located in distinct climatic and regulatory contexts: the Riga City Hall (Latvia), the Faculty of Architecture at TU Delft (Netherlands), and the Royal Chancellery of Granada (Spain). The digital solutions prepare the three heritage buildings for future smart automations (smart readiness) while respecting preservation.

Measuring smart readiness of buildings

SMARTeeSTORY has created a smart readiness indicator (SRI) calculation web tool designed to support the digital and energy transition of non-residential historic buildings across Europe. 

The smart readiness indicator is a European Commission framework that measures a building’s readiness to use smart technologies such as automation, digital control systems and energy management solutions. It evaluates how effectively a building can optimise energy use, adapt to occupants’ needs and interact with the energy grid. 

For historic buildings, where physical interventions are often limited, the smart readiness indicator offers a structured way to identify non-invasive, smart solutions that improve comfort, energy performance and operational efficiency without compromising architectural value.

The calculation webtool (illustrated above), developed by TECNALIA, implemented the full smart readiness indicator calculation process through a guided and user-friendly interface. TECNALIA and RINA-C introduced additional functionalities:

• Target setting based on economic, environmental or energy priorities;
• Suggestions of smart solutions to increase smart readiness indicator scores based on user preferences;
• A financial module providing high level estimates of savings and return on investment through a cost-effectiveness indicator for the proposed solutions.

Together, these enhancements turn the tool into a decision-support platform that links technical assessment with practical renovation planning.

Testing on real historic buildings

The web tool was applied to assess both baseline and post-intervention scenarios for the three SMARTeeSTORY demonstrator buildings, all of which are heritage-protected.

The analysis showed substantial improvements in smart readiness. After the project intervention, Riga is expected to reach a smart readiness indicator score of 83% and Delft 77%, while Granada is projected to reach 71%, corresponding to readiness class B. The results confirm that, although achieving a perfect smart readiness indicator score is rarely feasible in real buildings, historic buildings can still reach high levels of smart readiness through carefully selected digital upgrades.

SMARTeeSTORY demonstrates that historic buildings should not be left behind in the energy transition. Through smart, interoperable and user-centred digital solutions, the project shows how energy efficiency, comfort and heritage preservation can be reconciled. As the project progresses, its results will provide valuable guidance for building owners, public authorities and technology providers seeking scalable pathways to climate-neutral historic buildings. 

SMARTeeSTORY is part of the Smart Energy Cluster, collaboratively pushing smart energy innovations forward. More information, resources and updates are available at the project website.

On 27 May, SMARTeeSTORY partner Sonia Álvarez from CARTIF participated in the European Construction and Sustainable Built Environment Technology Platform (ECTP) Annual Conference. The event brought together key actors in the construction and built environment sectors.

During the conference, Sonia presented the BIM-based Digital Twins for smart building operations developed within SMARTeeSTORY. The project is exploring how advanced digital tools can support the management of historic non-residential buildings, where improving energy performance often needs to be carefully balanced with heritage preservation. In SMARTeeSTORY, the Digital Twin is connected to a Digital Building Logbook, enabling facility managers to manage building documentation and update the BIM models that support the creation and maintenance of the twin.

Through 2D and 3D visualisation, the system connects building models with monitoring, prediction and control services developed within the project. This creates a closed-loop approach that enables both real-time data visualisation and interaction with building systems. As a result, facility managers can gain a clearer understanding of building performance and make better-informed decisions to improve daily operation, comfort and energy efficiency.

The presentation also highlighted the practical relevance of the solution for buildings where conventional energy renovation may be difficult or impossible. In the case of SMARTeeSTORY, we are demonstrating digital solutions in three historic demonstration sites across different climatic regions: the Riga City Hall in Latvia, the Faculty of Architecture at TU Delft in the Netherlands, and the Royal Chancellery in Granada, Spain. By testing the system in these diverse contexts, the project aims to show how advanced digital tools can help preserve the value of historic buildings while improving their energy performance, comfort and operational efficiency.

The session concluded with a round-table discussion moderated by CEMOSA, where speakers and participants reflected on the main barriers limiting the large-scale adoption of cutting-edge digital solutions in the building sector. Drawing on the different solutions presented during the session, interoperability issues and data fragmentation were identified as key challenges for the deployment of Digital Twins, Digital Building Logbooks, and other smart building technologies. The discussion also highlighted the importance of developing solutions that respond to the real needs of facility managers and end users, ensuring that technological developments provide practical value in real operational environments.

The audience actively contributed through an interactive survey, confirming these concerns. Lack of interoperability and common data standards emerged as some of the most significant barriers to scaling digital building solutions, while investments in interoperability, data standards, and skills development were identified as key priorities for accelerating digitalisation. Participants also recognised data-driven decision-making across the building lifecycle as one of the most valuable benefits provided by digital technologies.

Our SMARTeeSTORY partners at TU Delft have just published a new paper in Building and Environment on how building automation and control systems can better respond to what people actually need in indoor spaces, while still supporting energy performance goals.   

The paper explains a simple but important point: “comfort” is multi‑domain. A control action that helps in one area can easily create problems in another. For example, lowering blinds can reduce glare but also block daylight and change heating and cooling needs. Opening windows can change the temperature and bring in outdoor noise or pollution.  

To understand how research is handling these trade‑offs, the authors conducted a systematic review and identified 43 relevant multi‑domain studies that link occupant needs with building automation and control. They find that thermal comfort is included in all studies. Visual comfort and indoor air quality are often included too, but acoustics is rarely addressed and not actively controlled in the reviewed building automation setups. 

A key takeaway is that most research still treats comfort domains separately. Even when multiple domains are considered, the underlying demand models are often unimodal: thermal, visual, acoustic, or air-quality requirements are represented independently. Truly multimodal models, where one domain can influence preferences or tolerance in another, or where overall comfort is modelled as a combined outcome of several domains, remain uncommon. 

So what needs to happen next to make occupant‑centric automation practical and trustworthy? This includes clearer benchmarking between single-domain and multi-domain approaches, more work on multimodal demand models beyond temperature and air quality, especially for façade and shading control, and more transparent, preference-aware control strategies that make trade-offs understandable to both users and facility teams. 

Read the full paper  

P. Martinez-Alcaraz, P. de la Barra, C.P. Andriotis, U. Knaack, A. Luna-Navarro, 

Current trends and future directions for addressing multi-domain occupant demands in building automation and control systems, Building and Environment, Volume 297, 2026, 114588, ISSN 0360-1323, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2026.114588   

Access TU Delft’s and all SMARTeeSTORY scientific publications here and on ZENODO. 

See SMARTeeSTORY scientific publications 

Following an intensive period of installation and commissioning across its demonstration sites, SMARTeeSTORY has reached a key transition point. The technical groundwork is largely complete: systems are installed, equipment is operational, and digital infrastructures are in place.

The focus is now shifting. The question is no longer how to set up the system, but how it performs in real buildings, with real users, in real conditions. This marks the beginning of a new phase where the project meets reality.

Turning buildings into connected environments

Commissioning has enabled buildings to become active parts of the SMARTeeSTORY system. Sensors, control systems, and building management infrastructures are now monitoring energy use, indoor environmental conditions, and user behaviour.

At the same time, the platform is beginning to connect with these systems, allowing data to be transferred and aggregated. Initial integrations show how different components: from devices to cloud services, can start working together. In essence, buildings are becoming connected, data-driven environments, forming the foundation for more intelligent operation.

Moving from assumptions to real-world data

A major milestone is the start of pre-monitoring activities across the demo sites. For the first time, the project is generating real operational data on both building performance and user experience. This is a critical shift. Much of the work so far has been based on models and assumptions. Now, SMARTeeSTORY begins to build the evidence needed to validate and refine its approach.

At the same time, this phase reveals complexity. Data is not yet consistently available across all sites or fully integrated into the platform. As a result, the project sits in an intermediate stage: data is being produced, but not yet fully leveraged.

Preparing the intelligence layer

In parallel, advanced work on predictive models and control strategies is largely in place. These tools are designed to optimise energy use and improve comfort based on user needs. However, their full deployment depends on reliable and continuous data streams. Without this, models cannot be properly calibrated or validated.

The project is therefore technically ready, but still needs real-world data to unlock its full potential.The current focus is increasingly on integration: connecting data, models, and building systems into a fully functioning ecosystem. Initial progress is visible, but full end-to-end operation, where the system can analyse and respond in real time, is still ahead. Achieving this requires stable data flows and consistent performance across all demonstration sites.

Navigating real-world complexity

We've learned from our demo sites that working in real buildings inevitably brings challenges. Integration issues between systems, site-specific constraints, and regulatory or procurement processes continue to shape progress. In some cases, planned interventions need to be adapted or postponed, requiring additional coordination and problem solving.

While these factors can slow development, they are essential to understanding how such solutions perform outside controlled environments. They highlight what it truly takes to implement smart, user-centred building systems in practice.

SMARTeeSTORY has laid the necessary groundwork for smart and energy efficient historical buildings. Systems are running, data collection has begun, and analytical tools are ready to be applied. The project is now transitioning from building its technical foundation to demonstrating real-world impact: where the most critical work happens.

The sustainability, energy efficiency, and comfort of a building often lies hand in hand with its facade. Aside from being the most visible part of the building, façades play an important role in creating a healthy indoor environment, contribute to sustainable building practices, and are key in reducing operational costs due to their potential longevity.

SMARTeeSTORY's TU Delft team has contributed to the Massive Open Online Course on Performance-based Façade Design. There, in module 5.4 designed to focus on user comfort in the acoustic and multi domain areas of the building, they explore how facades can be designed with the user comfort in mind:

Users in a building space are simultaneously exposed to different environmental domains: from thermal, visual (light levels and views outside the window), acoustics, and air quality. All these factors combined creates what the user perceives as comfort in an indoor space. Understanding the user experience and how they behave is thus an important measure in determining how successful a design is.

Check out the full course on TU Delft's online learning platform:

SMARTeeSTORY will be holding a training on the 'smartness' of historical building at the Conference on Cultural Heritage and New Technologies 2026 (CHNT31) on the 11th-13th of November in Vienna, Austria.

Training Session:

Smartness of Historical Buildings: Approaches and lessons learnt from a real application

The training aims to address barriers to the renovation of historic buildings by demonstrating how automation of Technical Building Systems (TBS) and the application of the Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) can increase building smartness while supporting decarbonisation goals.

You can attend our training session by attending CHNT31.
Already attending? Register for the training session here

About CHNT31

Cultural heritage is understood most clearly when encountered in the places where it originates: in the field, within historic structures, and across landscapes shaped by human activity. Digital technologies—whether applied in surveying, documentation, analysis, or interpretive work—play a decisive role across the heritage field. Yet their true significance emerges not in controlled settings, but in real operational contexts, where dust, weather, material decay, human presence, and logistical constraints influence every choice. The conference invites researchers, practitioners, site managers, policy actors, students, and community representatives to jointly reflect on the shared responsibilities and opportunities that arise when scientific knowledge, digital innovation, and management practice intersect.

Early bird registrations are open for CHNT31 until August 2026!

The Conference on Cultural Heritage and New Technologies (CHNT31) addresses the practical realities of cultural heritage work – from archaeological and architectural field research to World Heritage management, including but not limited to:

• Digital documentation
• AI-supported analysis, interpretation
• Community engagement
• Responsible data governance
• FAIR and open data
• Virtual reconstruction
• Computational archaeology
• 3D data acquisition and management
• Citizen science

About CHNT31

Cultural heritage is understood most clearly when encountered in the places where it originates: in the field, within historic structures, and across landscapes shaped by human activity. Digital technologies—whether applied in surveying, documentation, analysis, or interpretive work—play a decisive role across the heritage field. Yet their true significance emerges not in controlled settings, but in real operational contexts, where dust, weather, material decay, human presence, and logistical constraints influence every choice. The conference invites researchers, practitioners, site managers, policy actors, students, and community representatives to jointly reflect on the shared responsibilities and opportunities that arise when scientific knowledge, digital innovation, and management practice intersect.
This year's edition happens on the 11-13 November in Vienna, Austria.
Paper submission open until 31 May

Join SMARTeeSTORY at CHNT31! Learn more about SMARTeeSTORY's training session.

The SMARTeeSTORY consortium is pleased to announce that our project has been featured by CORDIS, the European Commission’s primary platform for disseminating research outcomes funded under EU programmes.

This coverage reflects the relevance of our work and its contribution to the broader European agenda on sustainable energy, digitalisation, and heritage preservation. The article, titled “A web tool for smart historic buildings”, highlights SMARTeeSTORY new Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) Calculation Web Tool designed to support the digital and energy transition of non-residential historic buildings across Europe.

The feature is now publicly available in six languages, expanding the visibility of our results across Europe and beyond.

Learn more about the SRI Calculation Web Tool here.

Test the tool directly here.