Intelligent Buildings & Connected Ecosystems in the Real Estate Sector.

Sensors, building-automation, and data-driven services transforming property into responsive, efficient assets

Commercial, residential, and mixed‑use properties are rapidly evolving into digitalized and software‑supported environments. Networks of sensors, smart meters, and connected building systems (HVAC, lighting, access control, elevators) feed real‑time data into building management platforms, dashboards and digital twins. That data, both product data generated by the use of connected building components and related service data produced by digital services, software, and applications, has become a core asset for owners, operators, facility managers, and technology providers. It fuels iterative product development, feature enhancement, benchmarking and performance analysis, predictive maintenance, and the security hardening of operational technology (OT) across portfolios.


How we support our clients

Our cross‑disciplinary team partners with key stakeholders across the real estate sector, including investors, developers, operators, tenants, and PropTech providers from concept to portfolio‑scale deployment. Our strength is to combine strong regulatory expertise, product and service counseling, compliance advice, with litigation capabilities, so we can support clients on all fronts and at all stages in real estate digitalization and intelligent buildings projects – from strategy to contract drafting and negotiation, from regulatory advice to litigation.


Areas of focus

Strategy, Governance & Data Value

Provide strategic advice on data usage and monetization, define data ownership and sharing models (product vs. related service data), and structure data license agreements that align commercial outcomes with regulatory requirements

Regulatory & Compliance

Map obligations across privacy and cybersecurity, data access/portability frameworks, building/energy rules, and product safety

Contracts for Digital Services

Draft and negotiate procurement and service agreements, including cloud computing and IT service agreements, SLAs, performance guarantees, data licensing, BMS/EMS integration, cloud/edge analytics, and digital twin licensing

Data, Privacy & Cybersecurity; Cyber‑Physical Security

  • Draft data protection impact assessments (DPIA)
  • Help building OT/IT security frameworks and incident response for connected building systems
  • Consider privacy‑by‑design and safety‑by‑design requirements

ESG & Performance

Support green lease clauses, measurement & verification frameworks, and evidence generation to substantiate energy savings, emissions reporting, and tenant wellness metrics rooted in verifiable data

Transactions & Scale‑Up

Advise on M&A, joint ventures, financing, and portfolio rollouts; manage cross‑border data flows and vendor ecosystems

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Delivering results

A global real estate investor sought to reduce energy consumption and elevate tenant experience by deploying smart heating, smart lightning, and building automatization across multiple assets. We negotiated vendor/cloud contracts with robust data licensing terms and cybersecurity requirements. Our team conducted DPIAs for smart sensor technology data processing, and drafted an incident response strategy and playbook, and advised on ESG-regulatory requirements. We also advised on usage rights to product data and related service data and helped the client build a sound data governance structure, manage user data access and sharing requests and underlying contractual frameworks.

Key Contact

Christian Tinnefeld

Partner Intellectual Property

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