Understanding Sick Building Syndrome

Understanding Sick Building Syndrome and the Role of Your Building Management System

“Sick Building Syndrome” (SBS) is often spoken about in industry publications, but rarely unpacked in a practical, operational sense.

For landlords and property managers, the real question isn’t just what is it? — it’s what is it costing me?

Because the reality is this:
A “sick” building doesn’t just affect comfort — it quietly erodes performance, increases costs, and damages asset value.

A poorly performing building impacts every stakeholder:

• Landlords – higher operating costs, reduced asset value, leasing challenges
• Property Managers – reactive management, complaints, inefficiencies
• Tenants – discomfort, reduced productivity, dissatisfaction
• Environment – excessive energy consumption and carbon footprint
• Energy Spend – wasted electricity, plant running unnecessarily

From a facilities and engineering perspective, SBS isn’t just about indoor air quality.

It’s a systemic failure of building performance, where:

• Mechanical systems underperform or operate inefficiently
• Controls (BMS) are not delivering meaningful outcomes
• Maintenance is reactive instead of strategic
• Energy is consumed without accountability

In short, the building is operating—but not performing.

But in many cases, it becomes nothing more than an expensive time clock.

Ask yourself two simple questions:

• Is your BMS frustrating to use or difficult to extract data from?
• Are you getting meaningful performance insights, or just basic control?

If the answer is no, you’ve likely uncovered the starting point of your building’s inefficiencies.

A well-configured BMS should:

• Support energy optimisation and fault detection
• Provide clear visibility of system performance
• Deliver trend logs and reporting automatically
• Enable proactive management, not reactive firefighting

Most buildings don’t fail dramatically — they decline gradually.

Here are some of the most common warning signs:

• Energy bills higher than comparable buildings
• Frustration with the BMS and lack of usable data
• Ongoing tenant complaints (too hot, too cold, stuffy zones)
• Equipment running outside occupancy hours
• Lighting operating unnecessarily
• Black marks around air diffusers (air quality/flow issues)
• Repeated breakdowns of the same plant

These are not isolated issues — they are interconnected symptoms.

A “sick” building is rarely caused by one fault.

It’s usually the result of compounding inefficiencies.

For example:

Recurring equipment failures + high energy use
→ May indicate obsolete plant that is both unreliable and inefficient

Poor BMS usability + after-hours operation
→ Indicates lack of visibility, no trend logging, and no accountability

In many cases, the issue isn’t just the equipment — it’s the lack of insight into how the building is actually operating.

Every building is different:

• Different tenant profiles
• Different usage patterns
• Different services and infrastructure

The key to performance is understanding the building as a single, integrated system — not isolated parts.

When this happens:

• Energy performance improves
• Tenant satisfaction increases
• Maintenance becomes proactive
• Costs become predictable

The encouraging reality is this:

Most “sick” buildings are not beyond repair.
Many issues can be resolved through:

• Better use of existing systems
• Targeted optimisation
• Improved controls strategy
• Data-driven decision making

Fixing Sick Building Syndrome properly requires a structured approach — auditing, analysis, and optimisation.

That’s a deeper conversation.

But if you’re seeing even a few of these symptoms, it’s worth asking:

Is your building truly performing — or just running?