Building type
Retail and supermarket: what the SRI measures
What the Smart Readiness Indicator measures in a retail and supermarket, which domains weigh heavily and where the first points are.
In short
- 1This page shows how the Smart Readiness Indicator applies to retail shops and supermarkets.
- 2Lighting and cooling carry the greatest weight here, as they account for the largest share of energy consumption.
- 3Some large retail buildings exceed the 290 kW threshold and are expected to face mandatory application of the indicator.
Which domains weigh heavily
- Coolingheavy
- Lightingheavy
- Heatingmedium
- Ventilationmedium
- Electricitymedium
- Electric vehicle chargingmedium
- Monitoring and controlmedium
- Dynamic building envelopelight
24 services in the calculator.
Characteristics of this building type
- Fixed opening hours make scheduling easy
- Lighting is often the largest electricity item
- Supermarkets: refrigeration cabinets and waste heat
- Car park with charging points
Why does the SRI count differently for retail shops and supermarkets?
The Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) measures how well a building handles smart technology for energy and comfort. For retail shops and supermarkets, the priorities differ from offices or homes.
Lighting carries the greatest weight, with a weighting factor of 3. Cooling receives the same weighting, particularly due to the refrigerated display cases supermarkets use for perishable goods.
Heating, ventilation, electricity and charging of electric vehicles each have a weighting factor of 2. Hot water plays almost no role in this building type and is not counted.
What makes retail shops suited to time-based control?
Retail shops have fixed opening hours. This makes it relatively simple to automatically adjust lighting, heating and ventilation to match operating times.
A building management system (BMS) can, for example, dim lighting outside shopping hours or optimise cooling based on fixed occupancy patterns. This type of control raises the functionality level within the relevant domains.
What is distinctive about supermarkets?
Supermarkets have large refrigeration systems that consume energy continuously. Waste heat from this cooling can sometimes be reused for heating, affecting the score across multiple domains at once.
Car parks with charging points for electric vehicles also count. Smart control of charging power, adjusted to peak load within the store, falls under the domain of electric vehicle charging.
When does the SRI become mandatory for retail shops?
The SRI is currently voluntary. Large retail buildings with a heating, ventilation or cooling system above 290 kW are expected to become subject to mandatory application.
The European Commission must adopt a delegated act on this by 30 June 2027 at the latest. For this building type, a portion of properties exceed the 290 kW threshold.
What this means for you
- Owner
- Have the SRI score of your retail shop or supermarket assessed, particularly for the domains of lighting and cooling, as these carry the greatest weight. This way you know early on whether investments in building automation are needed before mandatory application arises for properties above 290 kW.
- Tenant
- As a tenant of retail space, you will notice the difference mainly in energy costs when lighting and cooling are intelligently controlled based on opening hours. A higher SRI score can indicate lower service costs and fewer faults in refrigeration systems.
- Advisor
- When assessing, pay attention to the weighting factors for lighting and cooling, which carry greater weight in this building type than in other sectors. Also check whether the installed capacity exceeds the 290 kW threshold, as this determines whether mandatory application will apply.
Next step
Want to know where your building stands?