A new study from BSRIA Worldwide Market Intelligence (WMI) examines the building automation controls (BACs) market in France, Germany, Italy, and the UK, forecasting out to 2025. The study says that light commercial buildings make up EUR 275 million of the overall EUR 1.1 billion BACs product sales in the four countries. The study includes building automation software, controllers, hardware, and field devices.
“Most BACs products installed in light commercial buildings are found in offices, with 40 to 50% share, followed by hotels, education, health, retail, and mixed-use buildings with some variation in each country,” BSRIA said. “It is also worth noting that BACs products sold to the light commercial segment are expected to grow at a higher rate than the overall BACs market, particularly in 2024 and 2025, with 11% and 13% respectively.”
BSRIA added that most European economies showed good economic growth in 2021 before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine impacted economies this year.
“On the positive side, the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive [EPBD] drives the adoption of BACs to optimize energy use through better automation, control, and monitoring,” BSRIA added. “In December 2021, the European Commission proposed a new directive that states that non-residential buildings will have to be renovated and improved to at least energy performance grade F by 2027, and grade E by 2030 as part of European Union’s net-zero emission strategy.”The study finds that controllers and hardware accounted for more than half of sales, followed by field devices, then software. It includes products falling within the following definitions.
- Professional installed systems
- A minimum of two or more interconnected systems (e.g. HVAC, lighting, blinds, occupancy sensors, security)
- Open systems/platforms with protocols such as KNX, BACnet and LON
- Wired controllers/systems with the capability to integrate wireless devices and cloud connection
- Most installed systems in buildings with floor space below 25,000 square feet (2323 square meters)
“The value is in manufacturer selling prices [MSPs] covering products, not labor,” BSRIA points out. “The study does not cover plug-and-play products installed in the residential market, nor does it cover systems connected to big plant equipment.”
The study is part of BSRIA’s BACs and Smart Building portfolio, which includes world studies on building automation as well as publications on field devices (valves, actuators, sensors).
