If the future is data, how can we take responsibility for how we use it?

The real estate sector has evolved in recent years to embrace the growing influence of technology and data, for use in both our businesses and buildings. It is also a sector with robust standards and regulations and, as we move into a new digital world, new ones are emerging. Probably the most high-profile of these is GDPR, which is focused on how we treat personal data. But as the sector gets a grip on the type of data it can collect with technology, and what we are allowed to use under rules and regulations, it is also vital that we consider the ethical viewpoint, should we use the data? So, why is it important for the property sector to consider this, when governments and technology companies are already leading the way in this space? Much of the data collected in recent years comes from digital platforms, but as we embark on the journey of evolving concrete boxes to smart buildings, they too become data collection platforms. We are therefore gathering increasing amounts of data about buildings and the people within them and using more and more data from new sources to inform decision making. But as the volume, velocity, variety, veracity and value of data grows, we must take responsibility for what we collect and how we use it. So, what does this look like? What data should be collected? Firstly, we must think about what data we collect. Right now, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the priority is getting people safely back into offices. But should employers be measuring the temperature of staff and visitors? Should they be using facial recognition to identify people’s movements or providing biometric devices to measure fitness levels? The sector must consider not just what data we technologically can, or are legally allowed to collect, but whether we should be collecting it all. There is no question that this data will help us to understand the individuals in our buildings and help us to keep people safe, but is this a proportionate use of technology and do people using those buildings feel that this is appropriate? A building that is not demonstrably taking measures to keep people healthy is unlikely to have people willingly returning, but neither is a building that is overly invasive with the data it collects. And it is not just what we collect now, but what about in the future? Let us assume that over the next few months, as people return to the office, we do collect data intended to keep people safe from Covid-19, when do we stop? What if we carry on collecting it? The benefits may well be considered proportionate to get us back to the office today, but will they be when the immediate threat of Covid-19 subsides and the office environment is considered to be less of a threat to our immediate health? How should data be used? Finally, not only must we consider what data we collect and the climate that we do it in, but we need to think about what we use it for. Assuming that people are comfortable with these data sets being collected on an ongoing basis to help keep them healthy, what if we use them for other purposes? For example, the way we understand property value is changing. It is increasingly influenced by how a building serves the person inside it. A building that facilitates happy, healthy and productive staff is more valuable than one that doesn’t. While we are yet to see robust data sets on all of these points driving the property valuation process, we are seeing decision makers using more data to inform their decision making. It follows that data on the health of people in the building should also be used to inform decisions about which buildings to buy, sell and value. Is it ethical to collect data for one purpose and go on to use it for another? Guiding principles These questions do not have easy answers and they are likely to be building- and situation-specific, meaning that, legality aside, hard and fast rules are difficult to apply. However, we can as an industry agree some overall principles that will guide our future decision making. The not-for-profit Real Estate Data Foundation has identified six simple principles for companies to follow when using data: be accountable, transparent, proportionate, confidential and private, lawful and secure. I would encourage everyone to read these and build them into your data decision making process, something which many of the leading companies in the sector, including Knight Frank, Mitie and Gerald Eve, have already done. The ethical collection and use of data will be one of the biggest challenges for real estate over the coming decade, how we approach this now will determine how we cope in the coming years. Dan Hughes is founder of the Real Estate Data Foundation