The real estate industry is currently facing a wave of challenges. Value appreciation and transaction-driven business models that dominated the past 20 years are showing clear signs of slowdown. At the same time, politics and society are rightly demanding that the building stock—which accounts for around 35% of CO₂ emissions—contributes meaningfully to climate protection. In parallel, digitalization requires buildings to become more flexible, supporting mobile work and offsetting the reduction of leased floor space.
Higher Investment Volumes – Increasing Risks
All these developments significantly increase the investment needs of the existing building stock. In particular, investments in technical building systems are central to reducing emissions, lowering operating costs, and optimizing space usage. This growing demand for investment collides with an already extremely tight market, where both specialized planners and construction companies lack capacity for additional services.
For asset management, this situation alone represents a considerable burden. Whether due to faulty planning, execution defects, or operations that do not meet actual requirements, many systems fail to deliver the functional performance that was contractually agreed and paid for. With further increases in demand, these problems will only intensify. As a result, not only do the economic risks of sustainability investments rise—but sustainability targets themselves are missed, with well-known and serious consequences for the climate.
Some market players have correctly analyzed this critical situation and identified solutions. Digital quality management is one of the most promising approaches to minimizing investment risks and securing sustainability in the long term.
Digital Quality Management as a Solution
Quality management is a core process across all industries. No manufacturer can meet its product liability obligations without effective quality management. Due to the specific characteristics of the construction industry—no product liability but complex contracts for work and services, numerous planners and contractors involved in a single building, and historically limited customer demand for sustainability—robust quality management processes have not become as firmly established as in other sectors.
However, as in many other areas, digitalization now offers practical and proven solutions. These solutions are already being successfully applied in the market.
The most important service within quality management—Technical Monitoring—is now described in German and European guidelines (e.g. AMEV, REHVA) and has been implemented in numerous new builds, refurbishments, and existing buildings.
During the planning phase of a project—whether a complete new building or the modernization of a single ventilation system—technical monitoring digitally documents the functional objectives expected by the client. These may include room comfort functions, efficiency targets for heating systems, or the complex interaction of geothermal systems. This digital twin of the intended functions forms the foundation of quality management. It later serves as the reference for system verification, which—also digitally—is generally carried out before acceptance of the systems.
Through this approach, clients gain certainty that their objectives are precisely and contractually defined, and that achievement of these objectives is transparently verified.
Digital quality management creates trust through transparency for all market participants. Many issues and potential defects are identified during construction—or even during the planning phase. Since the works have not yet been accepted at the time of verification, defects can be remedied efficiently, without lengthy and costly legal procedures.
The benefits extend beyond developers and owners. Contractors gain clarity on which functions are required and on the criteria by which their work will be accepted. Once the digital twin is created and linked with operational data, digital quality management can also continuously monitor building operation—for example, as a basis for facility management service level agreements. For property buyers, technical monitoring in operation provides assurance that technical systems are quality-assured and that building performance is transparent and reliable.
Art-Invest Real Estate and Union Investment Real Estate: Neuer Kanzlerplatz as a Quality Management Pilot
That digitalization in construction is more than a buzzword or short-term trend is demonstrated by Art-Invest Real Estate and Union Investment Real Estate through the Neuer Kanzlerplatz project in Bonn. Office Building 2 was developed by Art-Invest Real Estate and sold to Union Investment Real Estate. During construction, Art-Invest commissioned synavision GmbH to carry out technical monitoring. Prior to acceptance, all relevant room and system functions were verified through this digital process.
“Our goal was to avoid defects from the outset through digital quality management, rather than having to remedy them later at great effort,” says Ingo Magon, Head of Technical Building Services at Art-Invest Real Estate. “As long as contractors are still on site, defects can usually be resolved quickly—allowing us to hand over flawless performance to users and buyers.”
The buyer, Union Investment, has long pursued the objective of reviewing and improving the quality of building services—both in existing properties and in development projects.
“Quality management enables us to cross-check calculated operating costs when acquiring development projects,” confirms Bent Mühlena, Head of Real Estate Project Management at Union Investment. “Technical monitoring not only gives us confidence that building performance has been thoroughly verified; it also strengthens trust in the sustainability of our investment. That is our standard as an asset manager—and the expectation of our funds.”
Art-Invest Real Estate and Union Investment are pioneers in their field, already applying technical monitoring across a growing number of buildings.
Digital quality management has thus established itself as one of the most innovative services in the market—because it delivers real value in practice. With amortization periods of less than one year, it is not only economically compelling. Buildings can now be constructed and refurbished in a way that ensures optimal and sustainable performance. This makes sustainable construction scalable.
