How Merlin Properties Is Driving Energy Efficiency at Ruíz Picasso 11 with Next Sense

Ruíz Picasso 11 (RP11) is one of Europe's most advanced smart buildings, located in Madrid's AZCA business district. Developed by MERLIN Properties and designed by Fenwick Iribarren Architects, the building offers nearly 37,000 m² of future-ready office space, including the largest office floor in the city. With a passive breathing façade, rooftop gardens, and advanced automation, RP11 sets a new benchmark for the modern workplace. The building holds LEED Platinum, WELL Gold, WiredScore Platinum, and AIS certifications, and is home to tenants including IBM, SAP, Globant, One Trust, Seidor, WTW, PATIO, and LOOM.

The Challenge

Even one of Europe's most advanced and certified smart buildings can have meaningful energy efficiency potential waiting to be unlocked. MERLIN Properties, committed to reducing the environmental footprint of their portfolio on the road to paris-proof buildings, wanted real visibility into how RP11 was performing day to day: where energy was being used, when systems were running unnecessarily, and how to continuously optimize performance.

Next Sense Solution

MERLIN Properties partnered with Next Sense to deploy ongoing building performance monitoring across RP11.

Using ECM (Energy Conservation Measure) simulation methodology, Next Sense's building performance experts analyzed operational data to identify and quantify targeted improvement opportunities across three key areas:

1. Lighting & Equipment Loads During Non-Occupied Hours

Analysis showed that lighting and equipment loads during non-occupied hours were significantly higher than necessary. A 64% reduction in these tenant power loads is achievable by aligning systems with actual occupancy patterns outside business hours.

2. VRF System Loads During Non-Occupied Hours

The building's Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) heating and cooling systems were found to be running at a high baseline during non-occupied periods. Optimizing VRF schedules to reflect actual occupancy could deliver a 51% reduction in energy use during those hours.

3. VRF Free Cooling Optimization

A further significant reduction in cooling energy is achievable by leveraging free cooling through the VRF systems, reducing mechanical cooling demand when conditions allow.

Results

Realized savings

Monitoring insights from the Next Sense platform have already delivered measurable results. By adjusting the clock settings of the HVAC systems on floor 3, energy consumption on that floor was reduced by 11%, saving 3,582 kWh and avoiding 627 kg of CO₂e.

Identified savings potential

Building on these early results, ECM simulation analysis has identified further opportunities across the building:

• Reducing lighting and equipment loads during non-occupied hours could save 127,897 kWh and avoid 22,382 kg of CO₂e.
• Optimizing VRF system loads during non-occupied hours could save 135,065 kWh and avoid 23,636 kg of CO₂e.
• Leveraging VRF free cooling could save a further 70,567 kWh and avoid 12,349 kg of CO₂e.

In total, these measures represent a potential 333,529 kWh reduction in annual energy use, close to 11% of RP11's total consumption, and over 58 tonnes of avoided CO₂e emissions per year. Next Sense is currently working closely with MERLIN Properties' teams to implement these measures, building on the early realized savings to drive a clear and growing impact on RP11's energy performance.

Why It Matters

RP11 is not a building with performance problems, it is a premium, multiply-certified asset in one of Europe's most competitive business districts. And yet, through real-time monitoring and structured analysis, Next Sense identified nearly 334,000 kWh of avoidable energy consumption annually.

That is what continuous, data-driven building management makes possible. As Álvaro Ontañón, CTO of Merlin Properties, put it: "To measure is to know, and from there you can optimize."

Conclusion

The partnership between MERLIN Properties and Next Sense at Ruíz Picasso 11 demonstrates that certification and smart design are the starting point. By embedding real-time monitoring and expert ECM analysis into day-to-day operations, MERLIN Properties is turning the right data into verified results: lower costs, reduced emissions, and a building that performs as impressively as it was designed to.

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