Swedish smart buildings system integrator Nordomatic has acquired UK digital workplace software company Spica Technologies and Norwegian firm Nortech Byggautomasjon.

Headquartered in Birmingham, Spica was founded in 2014 by an experienced and entrepreneurial team comprised of Tim Streather, Paul Collins and Ben Williams. Spica has gone onto become a global technology provider. The company’s cloud-based technology has been deployed across more than 2.3 million square metres of office space in 20 countries throughout Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.

“We have been on an incredible journey since incepting the company some six years ago and this venture represents a pivotal milestone in catapulting Spica to the next level,” said Streather. “Nordomatic offers a fantastic opportunity to capitalise on Spica’s success, within a highly respected international group where we can scale exponentially.”

Nortech was founded in 2015 and has 12 employees who are experiencing a strong increase in demand for its products and services. By joining Nordomatic, the service offering to their customers will be strengthened, especially through Nordomatic’s cloud-based smart buildings offerings.

Spica’s client base spans large multinational corporates, real estate asset management firms, landlords, facilities management companies and government departments. Its flexible products empower its clients to optimise operations, elevate workplace experience and respond to the changing needs of workplace users, while driving down operational costs.

Spica’s GemEx Engine and Luna Workplace Experience app are used for monitoring and managing modern workplaces. They enable offices to act as desirable destinations, attracting and retaining talent, improving productivity, and pioneering excellence in health and wellbeing, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Nordomatic has synergistic capabilities in BMS integration, and adjacent SaaS offerings around remote access and control of BMS systems and energy management,” said Streather. “Together with Spica’s existing portfolio, this is a compelling value proposition to the market, leapfrogging our competitors. To become part of the larger and yet fast-moving Nordomatic Group, with shared values and aspirations is a perfect fit for Spica. We are thrilled about what this can bring to our team, customers and partners in the years ahead.”

Olov Schagerlund, CEO of Nordomatic, added: “This is a very exciting move for Nordomatic into the fast-growing smart workplace segment. We will combine Spica’s portfolio with our existing smart BMS and smart energy service offerings to create a new Nordomatic proptech division to be headed up by Tim Streather, predicated on the core themes of ESG and workplace experience. Entering the UK market is also a stepping-stone for us in continuing our international growth as a global pioneer of smart buildings. Together with Spica, we now have a team of more than fifty software specialists who are focusing on SaaS hypergrowth and next generation proptech services.”

The acquisition of Nortech Byggautomasjon strengthens Nordomatic’s position in Norway, and Oslo in particular.

“There is a rapid technological development within the industry, and Nordomatic has taken a leading role in the development of smart construction and next-generation proptech,” said Vidar Kjeldsen, CEO of Nortech. “Therefore, there was no doubt when the opportunity to become part of Nordomatic came up. Reducing the carbon footprint of buildings and properties is crucial to meet future climate goals. At the same time, reducing energy consumption for cooling, heating, electricity and ventilation makes economic sense for real estate companies. As part of Nordomatic’s international organisation, we will offer the market’s best for cost- and carbon-saving measures.”

Nortech has a diversified customer portfolio that should complement Nordomatic’s existing customers in the Oslo area.

“Nortech’s products and 12 employees fit perfectly into the Nordomatic family,” said Ståle Syversen, country director for Norway at Nordomatic. “Together we can offer customers even better solutions for climate-smart and energy-efficient constructions. We have followed Nortech for a while and been impressed by what they have accomplished. Vidar Kjeldsen and his team are a perfect fit for us, both culturally and business-wise, and we are looking forward to introducing them to our team. Nortech has a stable and growing customer portfolio that adds to Nordomatic’s customer base. We see a potential to give existing customers an even better service offering by giving them access to cloud-based solutions for remote access and control of BMS systems and energy optimisation. This is a win-win situation.”

He envisions synergies through co-location and coordination of sales and communication activities. But first and foremost, the companies must grow together.

“In five years, Nordomatic has become a leading player in BMS and smart buildings in Norway, both through acquisitions of SD-Consult, Celsius Teknikk and SRO, but also organically by meeting and exceeding customer expectations,” said Syversen. “With Nortech on board, we have further strengthened our position in Norway as a leading system integrator of intelligent buildings.”

Normdomatic is an independent supplier of smart building technology focusing on energy efficiency, with a presence in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Its products integrate and handle buildings’ heating and cooling, lighting, access control and security as well as fire protection. Nordomatic also sells the Ecopilot intelligent system that enables the reduction of buildings’ energy costs by up to 40%, thus helping users to meet the EU’s climate and energy goals.