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QuadReal's Immix Apartment Building Shows What a Residential-Specific Approach to Commissioning, Cyber Governance, and Access Control Looks Like
At Immix, QuadReal's redeveloped Toronto apartment building, three practices from the company's connected-building standard are tuned specifically for multifamily: commissioning, cybersecurity governance, and access control. Each one works differently than the office-CRE version.
Commissioning. In office buildings, whole-building systems get commissioned before a tenant moves in. Multifamily doesn't work that way. QuadReal would prefer to commission Immix's systems in one pass, but the leases are fragmented across residential units with staggered move-in dates. Commissioning ends up happening in pieces, sometimes alongside residents already living there. The contractor base is different too. "It's a lot office to residential," said Andres Rodriguez, Director of Building Connectivity at QuadReal. "Very different contractors, very different way of conducting business." Rent can't wait for a pristine handover.
Cybersecurity governance. Every connected-building system at Immix passes through QuadReal's internal cybersecurity team for product impact and privacy reviews before it's deployed. The reason is resident-facing: the data coming off building systems is about people in their homes, not office workers. QuadReal needs to be able to explain the posture to residents. Rodriguez put it plainly — residents should feel comfortable "where they're living from a security standpoint, cybersecurity standpoint."
Access control. Offices handle visitors through a staffed lobby during business hours. Multifamily residents run 24/7 guest traffic: friends, family, deliveries. At Immix, QuadReal uses Butterfly MX so residents grant guest access themselves through their phones and carry mobile credentials for building access. "Many people lose their fobs all the time," Rodriguez said. "Rarely did they lose their phones."
These three practices are where the residential context changes the work. Immix is one example of what the adjustment looks like in a single building.
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At Immix, QuadReal's redeveloped Toronto apartment building, three practices from the company's connected-building standard are tuned specifically for multifamily: commissioning, cybersecurity governance, and access control. Each one works differently than the office-CRE version.
Commissioning. In office buildings, whole-building systems get commissioned before a tenant moves in. Multifamily doesn't work that way. QuadReal would prefer to commission Immix's systems in one pass, but the leases are fragmented across residential units with staggered move-in dates. Commissioning ends up happening in pieces, sometimes alongside residents already living there. The contractor base is different too. "It's a lot office to residential," said Andres Rodriguez, Director of Building Connectivity at QuadReal. "Very different contractors, very different way of conducting business." Rent can't wait for a pristine handover.
Cybersecurity governance. Every connected-building system at Immix passes through QuadReal's internal cybersecurity team for product impact and privacy reviews before it's deployed. The reason is resident-facing: the data coming off building systems is about people in their homes, not office workers. QuadReal needs to be able to explain the posture to residents. Rodriguez put it plainly — residents should feel comfortable "where they're living from a security standpoint, cybersecurity standpoint."
Access control. Offices handle visitors through a staffed lobby during business hours. Multifamily residents run 24/7 guest traffic: friends, family, deliveries. At Immix, QuadReal uses Butterfly MX so residents grant guest access themselves through their phones and carry mobile credentials for building access. "Many people lose their fobs all the time," Rodriguez said. "Rarely did they lose their phones."
These three practices are where the residential context changes the work. Immix is one example of what the adjustment looks like in a single building.
Register for the next Nexus Labs event.
Sign up for the newsletter to get 5 stories like this per week:
This is a great piece!
I agree.