Airbnb Lets Asia Pacific Guests Book Without Paying Upfront: Here’s How It Works
Airbnb has rolled out a Reserve Now, Pay Later option across most Asia‑Pacific markets, letting guests secure eligible homes without an upfront card payment. The feature applies to listings with flexible or moderate cancellation policies and charges guests just before the free‑cancellation window ends. By postponing payment, Airbnb aims to reduce booking friction for groups and capture a younger, mobile‑first traveler base. India remains excluded from the launch despite its sizable outbound travel demand.
The Machine in the Age of Collective Practice
The article argues that artificial intelligence and generative systems are turning architectural tools into semi‑autonomous agents, reshaping how designers conceive, create, and claim authorship. It traces the evolution from compass to computer, showing that each tool restructured decision‑making, but AI...
Tenants Using Bank Fraud Reports to Challenge Rent and Deposit Payments – Claim
Tenants are increasingly filing Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud reports to contest rent and holding‑deposit payments, treating the banking route as a quicker, less adversarial alternative to traditional tenancy dispute mechanisms. Letting agents are left to defend these claims through...
From the Outside In: A Smarter Approach to Vendor Access
Security teams increasingly view vendors and contractors as the most vulnerable entry points, exposing gaps in traditional employee‑centric access controls. Boon Edam advocates an “outside‑in” strategy that places layered verification at the perimeter, limiting tailgating and ad‑hoc credential use. By shifting...
Sioux Lookout Uses Modular Design for First MRI
Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre received two prefabricated modular buildings for its new MRI suite on Feb 18, after a 1,100‑km transport on a 130‑ft super‑load truck. The 1,650‑sq‑ft, magnet‑shielded facility, built off‑site by SDI Canada, is now positioned...
Gigantic Form Energy Battery to Power Google Data Center in Minnesota
Form Energy’s iron‑air battery will be deployed by Xcel Energy in Minnesota to power a new Google data center. The 300 MW installation can discharge continuously for up to 100 hours, delivering 30 GWh of stored clean energy. Google will also fund 1.4 GW...
United Launches AI-Powered Agent Productivity Suite
United Real Estate has launched BullseyeAI, an AI‑powered productivity suite that combines a large language model, conversational assistant and automated agents, offered to affiliates at no extra cost. The platform can manage contacts, draft messages, assign leads and run email...
5 Tips for Scaling Smart Building Across Large CRE Portfolios
Large CRE owners face rising energy costs, volatile pricing and tightening regulations that pressure NOI. Smart building technologies—IoT sensors, AI analytics and automated controls—promise 15‑25% energy savings when deployed at scale. The article outlines five actionable steps: thorough assessments with...
Rightmove Launching AI Search App on ChatGPT
Rightmove has submitted an AI‑powered property search app to the ChatGPT app directory, allowing users to query listings via the @Rightmove command. The app, available to both free and paid ChatGPT users, returns property suggestions in a conversational carousel based...
Mobile Credentials Provide Safer, More Seamless Security: HID
Mobile credentials are rapidly gaining traction in higher‑education campuses and commercial‑real‑estate portfolios, driven by seamless integration with smart‑building and HR systems. HID’s 2025 State of Security and Identity report shows that 69% of security leaders have deployed or plan to...
KODE Labs Unveils EnerG: Revolutionizing Utility Management for Smarter, Sustainable Real Estate Portfolios
KODE Labs has launched EnerG, an AI‑enabled platform that consolidates utility, sustainability, and performance data for enterprise real‑estate portfolios. The solution replaces fragmented spreadsheets, PDFs and portal pulls with automated ingestion, validation and anomaly detection. Built as an extension of...
Tech and AI: An Evolution, Not a Reinvention, of Commercial Real Estate – Placer.ai Blog
Commercial real estate (CRE) is not being displaced by AI, but a strategic tech stack can accelerate insight, cut risk, and sharpen strategy. The industry’s reliance on local knowledge and relationships remains, yet COVID‑driven digital adoption highlighted the need for...
How AI Will Reshape Fees, Teams and Competitive Dynamics
Artificial intelligence is rapidly automating routine engineering tasks that once consumed weeks, forcing consultancies to rethink the traditional billable‑hour model. Mike Rustell outlines three possible fee structures—value‑based pricing, hybrid fixed‑fee/time‑and‑materials, and commoditisation—each reflecting how AI compresses effort while liability remains....
NPTN by LMS Joins Bank of England Synchronisation Lab to Tackle Remortgage Friction
LMS, through its NPTN network, has entered the Bank of England’s Synchronisation Lab to pilot a synchronized settlement model for remortgages. The eight‑week test will run in a simulated Real‑Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) environment, splitting payments into earmark and settle...
OpenSpace Field Launches for Construction Teams
OpenSpace has launched Field, an image‑based mobile solution that lets construction crews capture snagging items, observations and issues in real time. The platform leverages AI autolocation to tag the exact spot of a problem using a smartphone and prior 360°...
Nemetschek Arabia Signs MoU with Saudi Facility Management Association
Nemetschek Arabia and the Saudi Facility Management Association have signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding to drive digital transformation in Saudi Arabia’s facilities management sector. The MoU aligns with Vision 2030, focusing on BIM, digital twins, and data‑driven operations through joint...
AtNorth Announces Plans for 300MW Data Center Campus
Nordic data‑center operator atNorth announced a 300 MW campus in Sollefteå, Sweden, to be built on a 50‑hectare plot at Hamre Industrial Park and targeted for H1 2028. The facility will feature direct liquid cooling and support rack densities up to 1 MW,...
Housing Has a Data Problem
The article highlights a critical data gap in global housing, where fragmented tracking tools leave policymakers unable to gauge program effectiveness. United Nations estimates reveal 2.8 billion people lack adequate housing and 318 million are homeless, underscoring the scale of the crisis....
Resilient Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) | GeoBuiz Summit 2026
At the GeoBuiz Summit 2026, a panel of industry leaders highlighted the escalating threat of GPS disruptions, spoofing, and jamming worldwide. They discussed emerging resilient PNT solutions such as low‑Earth‑orbit satellite constellations, quantum timing technologies, and secure multi‑layered architectures. Real‑world...
Dalkia Picked for M&E at British Museum Energy Centre
The British Museum has appointed Dalkia to design, install and commission the mechanical and electrical (M&E) systems for a new energy centre that will replace its gas‑fired boilers with an all‑electric solution. The programme, valued at £33 million, incorporates a 5.1 MW...
Newcastle Leading the Way with DA
The City of Newcastle council introduced an Accelerated Development Applications (ADA) framework that has halved development‑application processing times, bringing the average turnaround to under ten days. Since its 2022 launch, more than 1,300 applications across ten development categories have been...
Keller Williams Opens Command as Investor Ties Deepen
Keller Williams unveiled an open, integration‑driven version of its Command platform, aligning with Stone Point Capital’s portfolio firms and introducing the Command Launchpad API framework. The move brings third‑party AI tools such as Cotality, Lone Wolf, and Rejig.ai into a...
AI and Real Estate Data: Who’s Making the Rules?
The real‑estate industry is racing to set data rules before AI triggers another wave of litigation. California has enacted a law requiring agents to disclose AI‑altered listing photos, prompting brokerages to add similar language to agreements. MLS providers are revising...
Why Real Estate Is Entering a Year of Cleanup, Clarity, and Course Correction in ERP
2026 is shaping up as a reset year for ERP in real‑estate firms after a period of hesitation and postponed projects. Accumulated technical debt and over‑customized legacy systems have created a gap between capability and business needs. Companies are now...
Protecting VFDs From Overheating: An Easy Way to Calculate Cooling Requirements
Variable frequency drives (VFDs) are gaining rapid adoption due to energy savings, but their compact electronics generate heat that can overheat sealed enclosures. Pfannenberg introduced simple rule‑of‑thumb calculations: 75 BTU/h of active cooling or 4 CFM of passive airflow per horsepower, based...
Grimshaw Moves to Inevidesk VDI Platform
Grimshaw has completed a firm‑wide migration of its UK and European design teams onto Inevidesk’s virtual desktop infrastructure, replacing a centralized rack of physical workstations with cloud‑based virtual desktops. After a pilot deployment for its visualisation team in 2024, the...
The ROI of Predictive Property Management with IoT Sensors
A six‑month pilot at Langvout Court retirement complex in the Scottish Borders equipped the site with unobtrusive IoT sensors linked to an ambient assisted‑living platform. The deployment generated a 4.4 to 1 return on investment, meaning each £1 spent produced £4.40 of...
How AI and Other Tech Will Free Up Time for Facilities Managers in 2026
The National Fire Protection Association’s August 2025 survey shows AI is becoming a top priority for skilled‑trade facilities teams, with 35% expecting technology deployment to dominate 2026 initiatives. A striking 95% of trade workers already see AI supporting daily tasks...
Q3D Sensing Unveils AuraGO
Q3D Sensing announced the AuraGO, a compact add‑on LiDAR scanner that attaches to smartphones and tablets. The device promises centimetre‑level accuracy and a working range of 0.5 m to 30 m, delivering roughly 100 times the coverage of built‑in phone LiDAR. AuraGO...
How Oregon Is Building Back Smarter After Wildfire
After the 2020 Almeda Fire devastated Oregon’s Rogue Valley, the state paired temporary code relaxations with targeted financial incentives to rebuild homes that are both fire‑resilient and energy‑efficient. Leveraging American Rescue Plan funding and nonprofit programs like Energy Trust of...
Can Shading Become Energy? From Passive Facades to Productive Envelopes
Facades are evolving from passive skins to active energy generators, exemplified by EHRET’s SolarSlide photovoltaic shutters. These movable shading elements embed monocrystalline cells within double‑glazed modules, delivering 500 W‑peak per leaf with 20‑22% efficiency while offering eight color finishes. In a...
New Platform Launched with Claims It Can Reduce the Need for Agents to Chase Sales
LMS has introduced the National Property Transaction Network (NPTN), a data‑sharing platform that lets estate agents assemble a Fast Track Sale pack at the listing stage. The pack aggregates ID checks, title details, searches and other key information, which conveyancers...
WARNING: Manual ID Checks Leave Agents ‘Vulnerable to Scams’
Property agents are being warned that manual identity checks expose them to sophisticated scams. SmartSearch reports that 54% of verification checks remain manual, leaving gaps for AI‑generated IDs and deepfake documents. A recent survey of 1,000 decision‑makers shows fraud incidents...
Betterment Strengthens Client Offerings with Mortgage Partnership and Advisor Model Marketplace Expansion
Betterment announced a nationwide partnership with mortgage fintech Rate, giving eligible clients with at least $100,000 in assets a discount of up to 0.75% on 30‑year fixed mortgages and a $500 closing‑cost credit through December 2026. The platform also launched an...
AI Now Helps Manage 16% of America's Apartments
EliseAI, an AI housing startup, now handles leasing and management for roughly one in six U.S. apartments, about 16% of the market. The technology, accelerated by the COVID‑19 pandemic, enables self‑guided tours, instant text and voice interactions, and rapid response...
Three Schools - One Process / Gmp Architects
gmp Architects completed three new schools in Bremerhaven using the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) model, marking the first public‑sector IPD project in Germany. The facilities, designed for roughly 1,750 pupils, opened between summer and autumn 2025 and replace aging buildings...
A Century of Temporary Housing Experiments: Milano–Cortina and the Evolution of Olympic Villages
The Olympic Village has evolved from a purely logistical shelter in the early 20th century to a strategic urban development tool. Early Games used simple, security‑focused compounds, while the 1960s saw Rome and Grenoble turn villages into residential prototypes for...
Gensler’s 2026 Design Forecast: AI, Agility and Adaptation Redefine the Future of the Urban Built Environment
Gensler released its 2026 Design Forecast, highlighting how artificial intelligence, design agility, and climate adaptation are reshaping the urban built environment. The report adds country‑specific insights, showing Europe’s livability focus, Asia’s dense‑city innovation, and the Middle East’s resilience priorities. Six...
How Getting Building Data Early in an M&A Deal Can Add Value
Facilities managers are often left out of M&A due diligence, yet early access to building data can dramatically increase deal value. By collaborating with finance teams, they can inventory leases, square footage, occupancy, and technology stacks before the transaction closes....
Accelerating Data Center Construction with Sustainability in Mind
AI adoption is driving a 160% surge in data‑center power demand by 2030, prompting developers to seek faster, greener construction methods. Prefabricated concrete emerges as a solution, shaving 2‑4 months off build schedules and delivering 30‑40% faster overall completion. The...
From IT Controls to Engineering Resilience: Rethinking Smart Building Cybersecurity
Smart building operators are importing IT‑centric cybersecurity controls—encryption, authentication, zero‑trust—into legacy automation systems, but these measures can unintentionally disrupt deterministic control loops. A real‑world HVAC example shows a missed certificate renewal causing controllers to stop responding, leaving occupants uncomfortable and...
Modular Construction’s Big Boom: New Risks Outpacing Standard Contracts in Industrial Projects
Modular construction is set to surpass $200 billion globally by 2030, reshaping industrial building practices with faster schedules and reduced waste. While residential projects have already embraced the method, large‑scale industrial applications such as airport terminals are exposing new liability, logistics,...
Hyperscaler Expansion Redefines Europe’s Data Centre Supply Dynamics
CBRE projects a 24% compound annual growth rate for Europe’s hyperscaler self‑build data centre segment, reflecting surging AI workloads and expanding cloud services. The forecast signals a rapid acceleration of capacity construction by the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, and Google...
Modern Mill Evolves Its Composite ACRE Into New Construction Applications
Modern Mill’s ACRE composite, launched in 2020, blends 50 % up‑cycled rice hulls with PVC resin to create wood‑like profiles for siding, decking, trim and other non‑structural applications. The material cuts, feels and stains like wood while offering water resistance, rot...
Optimization of AI, Automation, and Digital Twins for the AEC Industry | GeoBuiz Summit 2026
At GeoBuiz Summit 2026, Bentley Systems’ Chief Platform Officer Patrick Cozzi outlined how AI, automation and digital twins are reshaping infrastructure engineering. He highlighted AI‑assisted design, reality capture and full‑lifecycle twins as tools to combat aging assets, talent gaps and...
How Westfield Modernized 18 Buildings Without Losing Its Past
Westfield, Massachusetts partnered with Siemens to retrofit 18 municipal and school buildings, avoiding demolition of historic structures. The $40 million program focused on replacing aging steam boilers, installing high‑efficiency HVAC, and deploying a city‑wide energy management system. Upgrades cost $14 million for...
Funnel Processes the World’s First Rent Payment Inside ChatGPT
Funnel, the AI‑driven CRM for multifamily operators, completed the world’s first rent payment inside ChatGPT in partnership with BH Management, which oversees over 93,000 units. The transaction leveraged Funnel’s existing Resident Portal workflows, requiring no new software integrations. This proof‑of‑concept...
Hexagon Multivista Connects to Revizto
Hexagon Multivista has integrated its Analyze deviation‑detection service with Revizto’s BIM collaboration platform, enabling users to push clash and deviation data directly into Revizto’s issue log. The workflow lets project managers select individual or grouped deviations from reality‑capture scans and...
Renovations and Conversions: The New Focus for University Facilities
Higher education institutions are curbing new construction as budgets tighten, redirecting capital toward renovating and repurposing existing campus assets. A 2023 report shows a 26% year‑over‑year increase in strategic investment for existing facilities, while some universities project capital budgets shrinking...
FLYR Hospitality Now Available on Shiji Daylight PMS
Shiji announced that its cloud‑native Daylight PMS now integrates directly with FLYR Hospitality’s AI‑first commercial optimization platform. The connection lets hotel groups automate pricing, forecasting and performance analytics within their existing PMS, replacing manual spreadsheet workflows. FLYR’s Optimize and Insights...