Element Six

Smart buildings aren’t about gadgets — they’re about outcomes.

From “digital twin” hype to fragmented vendor promises, owners are often told their buildings are intelligent when they’re really just connected.

In this episode of The Down Low with Joe, Jay Wratten, Global Smart Places Lead at WSP, unpacks what true digital transformation looks like at enterprise scale — and why success starts with understanding the problem, not the platform.

We discuss:

• Why most smart building strategies fail before they start
• What WSP’s living lab revealed about vendor maturity and interoperability
• How to separate marketing terms from measurable outcomes
• The role of early design decisions in lifetime building performance
• Where the next wave of “smart places” innovation will emerge

About Jay Wratten:

Jay is the Global Smart Places Lead at WSP, one of the world’s largest engineering and consulting firms. His team helps clients design, deliver, and operate intelligent environments across commercial real estate, transport, and infrastructure.

Subscribe for weekly conversations at the intersection of data, buildings, and climate.

Produced by Element Six, a specialist talent partner hiring across building intelligence, grid infrastructure and data center power.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AI won’t fix your building if your data is scattered.

Work orders in one tool, cleaning in another, room booking in a third, BMS alarms in a fourth. AI can’t infer what it can’t see.

In this episode of The Climate Gap: Quick Cuts, Ben Muwoki speaks with Brett Fisher, Senior Director at ServiceNow, who is a leader in the Workplace Platform Stack. Together, they get practical about what must live in your platform layer, how to model context across assets, people, and spaces, and which integrations move a CFO’s needle in 90 days.

We discuss:

• Why the platform that has the data wins
• The minimum viable context model for AI to infer meaning
• Standardizing data contracts and avoiding integration chaos
• Who should own the Ops platform day to day — IT, FM, or Workplace
• The first integrations that prove ROI fast

About Brett Fisher:

Brett is Senior Director at ServiceNow, responsible for IWMS and facility management solutions. His team is focused on unifying workplace data to power automation, AI, and better experiences across the enterprise.

Subscribe for weekly conversations at the intersection of data, buildings, and climate.

Produced by Element Six, a specialist talent partner hiring across building intelligence, grid infrastructure and data center power.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Climate Gap: Quick Cuts, Ben Muwoki sits down with Timothy Miscovich, Chief Commercial Officer at wtec, to unpack one of the biggest go-to-market decisions in smart buildings and climate tech:

Do you scale through partners, or do you build direct?

Tim has built teams and channels across 30 countries, leading wtec’s smart lighting and sensor business through direct, channel, and hybrid models. His take is refreshingly grounded. There is no easy button. Markets are different. People are different. You have to meet both where they are.

We dig into:

- People do business with people. Frameworks help, but relationships close deals.

- Markets shape the path to market. The US is client-led, the UK is consultant-shaped, Central Europe is risk-cautious, and India is wide open.

- Direct vs channel is not a religion. Direct gives control. Channel gives speed. Some markets require one, some the other.

- Let data set the direction. Leave room for judgment. Track deal velocity, size, and where deals stall. Plan with data and pivot when the moment calls for it.

- Unify around gross margin and gross profit. One metric that keeps both partners and reps aligned on healthy growth.

- Change resistance is real, but shifting. Owners are ready and institutions are catching up.

About Timothy Miscovich

Timothy leads the commercial business at wtec, a global leader in smart lighting and sensor technology deployed in more than 30 countries. With experience running direct, channel, and hybrid sales models across regions, he has a unique perspective on how to scale without losing sight of people, culture, or profit.

Watch if you are:

- Expanding a climate tech or smart building solution internationally

- Deciding between building a direct sales team or scaling through partners

- A commercial leader balancing growth, control, and margin

Produced by Element Six, a specialist talent partner hiring across building intelligence, grid infrastructure and data center power.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Climate Gap: Quick Cuts, Ben Muwoki sits down with Danielle Radden, VP of Global Revenue Operations at Facil.AI, to talk about what it really takes to build trust in AI for buildings and why the conversation shouldn’t start with fear.

When people hear “AI in buildings,” they often imagine extremes: shiny dashboards or sci-fi robots. Danielle brings it back to reality. This isn’t a leap into the unknown; it’s the next logical step in control logic we’ve trusted for decades.

We dig into:

- Fear is emotional, not technical. You can’t data your way out of fear. You build trust by giving people back a sense of control.

- Start small, prove safe. One rooftop unit. One chiller. No downtime, no risk, no charge until it works.

- Transparency beats dashboards. AI doesn’t need a flashy interface, just a clear log of what changed and why.

- Perfection isn’t the standard. Like your phone dropping a call, AI can still deliver value even if it isn’t flawless.

- Human override always wins. Manual control always takes priority. AI is a companion, not a controller.

About Danielle Radden

Danielle is VP of Global Revenue Operations at Facil.AI, leading global sales, marketing, and partner enablement. With a background in psychology and a passion for making technology feel human, she’s helping teams adopt AI that’s grounded in safety, transparency, and trust, not fear.

Watch if you are:

- A building operator or FM leader trying to make sense of AI in your portfolio

- A technology provider looking to prove value without adding complexity

- Anyone who believes AI in buildings should feel familiar, not futuristic

Produced by Element Six, a specialist talent partner hiring across building intelligence, grid infrastructure and data center power.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Climate Gap: Quick Cuts, Ben Muwoki interviews Omar Tabba, Chief Product Officer at BrainBox AI, to explore what true building autonomy looks like, and why most smart buildings still aren’t there.

Omar’s view is that the industry doesn’t have a data problem; it has a control problem. Dashboards keep multiplying, but systems still can’t act safely, measure value, or scale without human intervention.

We dig into:

• The minimum viable data layer — Why 95% of building systems don’t know their own energy price, and how to integrate tariffs, weather, and grid emissions data for real optimisation.
• Guardrails for trust — How BrainBox’s “referee” algorithm keeps closed-loop control safe and auditable across different mechanical systems.
• The talent gap — With 110,000 U.S. technicians missing, autonomy should give people time back, not take jobs away.
• Payback under pressure — Why savings must be proven with standards, and reported alongside emissions reductions.
• Outcomes, not screens — The fastest route to measurable value in one budget cycle.

About Omar Tabba

Omar is the Chief Product Officer at BrainBox AI, where he leads product development across HVAC, lighting, and building automation powered by AI. With over 20 years in the industry, he’s focused on closing the gap between intelligence and action in the built environment.

Produced by Element Six, a specialist talent partner hiring across building intelligence, grid infrastructure and data center power.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From intern army to industry leader: How Alex Grace built one of climate tech’s top commercial machines

In this episode of The Climate Gap's, In The Weeds segment, Lewis sits down with Alex Grace, Chief Commercial Officer at Clockworks Analytics, to unpack his 15+ year journey scaling one of the most effective commercial teams in the built environment.

Starting as a political science graduate with no technical background, Alex went on to shape Clockworks’ go-to-market strategy from the ground up—building a lean, customer-first sales engine that now powers growth across 13+ countries.

Topics Covered:

• Alex’s unconventional entry into building analytics—and why curiosity beat credentials

• From one-person sales team to CCO: leading through every phase of growth

• How a relentless focus on ICP, repeatability, and customer success fueled scale

• Why telling client stories outperformed early marketing spend

• Building partner channels that now drive over 50% of new business

• Expanding into Europe the smart way: beachheads before burn

• Lessons in leadership: radical candor, servant leadership, and remote team building

• The “bow tie” model: why post-sale growth is Clockworks’ secret weapon

Whether you’re a GTM leader, founder, or ambitious seller, Alex’s story is a masterclass in how to scale commercial organizations in complex, slow-moving markets.

Stay connected with us:

↳ Subscribe on YouTube: @lewismartinc

↳ Learn more at LMC

↳ Lewis Martin: linkedin.com/in/climatetechrecruiter

Produced by Element Six, a specialist talent partner hiring across building intelligence, grid infrastructure and data center power.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Climate Gap: Quick Cuts, Ben Muwoki sits down with Shahar Peleg, a veteran product and innovation leader in the smart building and IoT space.

Shahar’s view: corporate real estate keeps optimising the wrong line item.

Energy savings are easy to measure, but people and space drive far greater impact on performance, retention, and the bottom line.

We dig into:

- People + Real Estate = True Cost Drivers: Why energy is the smallest line item, yet gets the most attention.

- Gut Feelings ≠ Strategy: why so many workplace decisions are still made on instinct, not insight, and how to fix that.

- Flexibility Over Fixed Costs: What happens when contracts and space usage react dynamically to data?

- Agility as a Mindset: Why real estate teams need to think more like product teams, test, iterate, and act fast.

- From Cost Centre to Performance Driver: How data-driven flexibility can cut costs and improve productivity.

About Shahar Peleg

Shahar has spent most of his career turning smart building and IoT ideas into commercial success stories from early-stage startups to global corporates. His focus is on using data, agility, and user insight to drive tangible outcomes for both building operators and occupants.

Watch if you are:

- A workplace or CRE leader trying to prove ROI beyond energy savings

- A facilities or sustainability professional rethinking performance metrics

- A technology provider helping clients move from static reporting to dynamic action.

Produced by Element Six, a specialist talent partner hiring across building intelligence, grid infrastructure and data center power.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Climate Gap: Quick Cuts, Ben Muwoki interviews Andy Frank, founder of Novant and a 25-year veteran of smart-building tech. Andy's POV is that most smart-building failures aren’t technical; they’re human. We chase dashboards and pilots, but skip coordination, outcomes, and the basic question: why are we doing it this way?

We dig into:

• “Closing the loop” beats dashboards: data is noise until a corrective action happens.
• Outcomes first, tech second: start with the problem, then pick tools.
• Fixing the handoffs: design → construction → operations are broken; bake data infrastructure early and align incentives.
• Independent help matters: owners need trusted advisors/MSIs who will push back and protect outcomes.

About Andy Frank

Andy is the founder of Novant, focused on building data infrastructure that makes information easy to consume and act on. His career spans from an early Software Engineer at Tridium to co-founding SkyFoundry and, more recently, the Founder of Novant, giving him a rare view of why deployments stall and how to design them so people, not just platforms, deliver results.

Watch if you are:

• A solution provider trying to turn pilots into deployments that actually change operations
• A real estate/FM leader stuck in dashboard purgatory
• Anyone tasked with proving measurable, repeatable outcomes from smart-building tech across multiple sites

Produced by Element Six, a specialist talent partner hiring across building intelligence, grid infrastructure and data center power.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this market-update episode of The Down Low with Joe, Joe Aamidor and co-host Lewis bring on Elizabeth Redmond (R-Zero) to unpack the headlines reshaping proptech, HVAC/services, and compliance in NYC and beyond.

🔎 Topics Covered:

• AirThings’ strategy reset and what it signals about post-RTO demand
• Legence’s IPO: why roll-up MEP + data centers ≠ “energy transition” (and why it still works)
• OEM cloud stacks (Forge, OpenBlue, EcoStruxure…) and the push to proactive operations
• R-Zero’s new LL97 tool: turning public filings (LL84/LL33) + EUI into NOI and asset-value levers
• Occupancy-based HVAC control vs fixed schedules—where the real kWh come from
• The reporting burden (NYC, Boston, Chicago, DC, SF) and how it delays action
• The “A++” office premium: why bad real estate is dying, not real estate
• Funding flurry: PassiveLogic’s latest round (with JCI in the mix) and why “product-first” is a bet
• Multi-site retail & grocery heat up: EnTouch, GridPoint, 75F, Phoenix/Hussmann and small-commercial controls

💡 Prediction: Data-center demand and NYC compliance will pull capital toward service-led, software-enabled ops—where uptime, labor productivity, and penalty avoidance beat “apps for apps’ sake.”

📍 If you live at the intersection of real estate, HVAC/services, climate tech, or multi-site ops, this one’s a crisp download on where value is actually accruing—and what to build or buy next.

Stay connected with us:

↳ Subscribe on YouTube: @lewismartinc

↳ Learn more at LMC: https://lewismartinc.com/

↳ Lewis Martin: linkedin.com/in/climatetechrecruiter

↳ Joseph Aamidor: linkedin.com/in/jaamidor

Produced by Element Six, a specialist talent partner hiring across building intelligence, grid infrastructure and data center power.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Climate Gap: Quick Cuts, Ben Muwoki interviews Ben Dwyer, who is SVP Global Sales at KODE Labs. Ben explains why pilots must now prove readiness for scale, not just technology, as CIOs and CTOs become the new power brokers for smart-building decisions. He shows how platforms can relieve staffing pressure, deliver finance-grade ROI, and avoid the classic trap of pilots that can’t roll out. Most pilots don’t fail because the idea is bad. They fail because the design, stakeholders, and standards don’t anticipate a thousand-building future, forcing rework at scale. Ben lays out the enterprise checklist: rigorous security and cloud reviews, data governance, interoperability, use-case standards, and network reliability across every site.

We dig into:

• Why do CIOs/CTOs now drive building OS decisions, and what does that mean for pilot scope, security, cloud architecture, and interoperability?
• Turning labor shortages into leverage: consolidating tools, shifting from reactive to proactive/predictive maintenance, and centralizing ops to handle alarms remotely.
• Financing that clears the CFO bar: reframing building OS as operational cash-flow optimization with immediate OPEX relief, CapEx-friendly structures (e.g., Sec. 179/bonus depreciation), and budget predictability.
• The “1,000-building test”: use-case standards, scalable network connectivity, service accounts, BACnet ID conventions, and designing for all user groups up front—so you don’t “re-do” the deployment later.
• A policy unlock: why federal tax incentives for smart-building operating systems could accelerate energy efficiency, ease workforce pressure, and extend asset life—just like past incentives did for solar and EVs.

About Ben Dwyer

Ben leads Sales and Go-To-Market at KODE Labs, focusing on helping portfolios drive operational efficiency with a unified building OS and a deployment approach that scales cleanly beyond a single site.

Watch/Listen if you are:

• A solution provider designing pilots that must scale across a portfolio.
• A CIO/CTO, real estate, or facilities leader who needs enterprise-grade security, governance, and interoperability from day one.
• A CFO/finance leader looking for tangible year-one OPEX gains, clear CapEx treatment, and budget predictability.
• Anyone tasked with proving that a building OS delivers measurable ROI at scale—not just in a demo.

Produced by Element Six, a specialist talent partner hiring across building intelligence, grid infrastructure and data center power.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.