Data centres top the list of growth opportunities for BACS market

Data Centres top the list of growth opportunities in a robust, yet heterogenous world BACS market

BSRIA’s latest World Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS) report comprises in-depth studies of USA, Canada, Scandinavia, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Australia, China, and South East Asia, as well as a world overview covering 16 individual countries and regional groupings, to provide an extensive review of market trends, drivers and metrics.

Initial findings show that following the post-COVID boom, most markets have returned to a more even trajectory, but there are some exceptions that are outpacing the rest.

Many projects in Asia Pacific are still part of the COVID backlog and so the 2024 market reached double-digit growth, although a proportion of this is attributed to price inflation. South East Asia (SEA) represents a very promising market, fuelled by accelerating construction activity and is consequently poised for a strong rebound, with data centres, particularly in Malaysia and Indonesia, accounting for a substantial share of the new projects pipeline. The recovery in offices, hotels, and retail is also well underway. However, SEA remains a highly price-sensitive market, with several challenges slowing the adoption of software products and services. Except for Singapore, these challenges include low energy prices, high costs for cloud hosting, and inexpensive but insufficiently skilled labour for using complex analytics.

Although the BACS market in Australia contracted in 2021 and has only recently surpassed 2020 levels, here too, data centres have been identified by suppliers as a strong growth area. The Australian National Construction Code continues to be tightened to improve building energy efficiency, and the nationally agreed Trajectory for Low Energy Buildings aims to achieve zero energy and carbon-ready commercial and residential buildings in Australia. The National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) rating system, that measures a commercial building’s sustainability performance through design standards is mandatory for some building categories and more building owners are adopting it voluntarily. IAQ control continues to play a significant role in managing CO2 & relative humidity. Digitalisation is helping make installation and commissioning easier, and there is a growing demand for integration and cloud solutions.

The BACS market in Saudi Arabia is undergoing a transformation, fuelled by government initiatives, the adoption of advanced technologies, and a strong emphasis on energy-efficient and environmentally friendly buildings. Similar to many developed markets, there is increasing adoption of technologies that enable real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and energy optimization. Cloud-based solutions are becoming a critical component as they offer scalable and flexible solutions that allow remote access, remote control, data analysis, and better system integration.

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 aims to modernize infrastructure and develop smart, multi-billion dollar pharaonic projects like the futuristic NEON metropolis, Mukaab “Cube”, Qiddiya entertainment and tourism megaproject, and developments like The Red Sea tourism megaproject which is now starting to open to the public. These projects require advanced building automation solutions to enhance urban living, improve efficiency, reduce energy consumption and human footprint. Environmental regulations and incentives under Saudi Vision 2030 encourage the adoption of such energy-efficient technologies in BACS. The demand for smart and modern infrastructure is also driving BACS investment in areas like healthcare, education, and hospitality.

By contrast, Scandinavia is one of the most mature markets, and there is already a high penetration of BACS, even into smaller commercial buildings, which leaves limited room for expansion. However, here too, the data centre sector is particularly strong and expanding throughout the region, helped by a combination of low energy prices and a favourable climate. Governments in the region are more committed than most to applying European wide energy and building standards.

Across the globe, finding and acquiring skilled staff remains a common issue, so suppliers are responding by implementing engineering efficiency programs and artificial intelligence, and managing with the same sized workforce. In parallel to this, there is above market average growth in deployment of building energy efficiency software solutions, as well as cloud-based monitoring and analytics.

These are just some of the highlights within the forthcoming study, which is due to be published in February 2025. To pre-order country reports or global world overview data, please use the contacts shown below.

This article appears on the BSRIA news and blogsite as 'Data centres top the list of growth opportunities for BACS market' dated February 2025 and was written by Jeremy TowlerSenior Market Intelligence Consultant.

--BSRIA

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