Press Release
August 20, 2025
MASSDOT, DOER Host Ribbon Cutting on Solar Canopy at Harwich Park and Ride
Share this post
It’s time to address an overlooked risk area in facility planning.
As organizations modernize aging infrastructure, pursue decarbonization targets, and address evolving space and deferred maintenance needs, many overlook a basic component of long-term operational success: floor plan accuracy.
For decades, construction drawings were managed as large-format paper sets—stored in tubes, archives, or file drawers onsite. As buildings aged and underwent renovations, many of these plans were revised by hand or augmented by separate documentation. In the 1980s-90s, digital systems began to emerge, but for many owners, floor plans still existed as a mixture of formats. Even in the 2010s, finished project documentation was often delivered on paper or USB, rather than as structured digital assets.
Today, expectations have changed. Facilities teams must be able to locate, update, and access building information quickly, accurately, and often remotely. Yet across sectors, floor plan maturity often lags the needs of modern facilities.
How to Measure Floor Plan Maturity
Floor plan maturity reflects how current, complete, and usable your building documentation is. At the most basic level, this includes actual square footage, floor count, inclusion of mechanical mezzanines/penthouses, source type (architect, engineer, consultant, etc.), and date of last floor plan creation. More advanced maturity includes digital overlays for mechanical electrical plumbing (MEP) systems, location-specific asset data, and integration with enterprise asset management (EAM) systems for maintenance and energy management.
Most organizations manage a portfolio of facilities built or acquired over several decades. As usage, code requirements, or energy goals shift, so does the need to access accurate spatial data. Low maturity increases risk, delays planning, decreases employee training effectiveness, and limits an organization’s ability to act. High floor plan maturity provides a reliable foundation for asset management including capital planning, operations, maintenance efficiency, and emergency response.
Risks of Inaccurate or Outdated Floor Plans
One common failure point is physical document loss. Floods, fires, or simple misplacement can permanently erase a facility’s architectural history. In buildings with limited digital records, this can leave teams without any formal documentation of asset locations, wall penetrations, or infrastructure changes.
In daily operations, outdated drawings lead to inefficiencies. Maintenance teams may arrive onsite without accurate spatial references, leading to delays or rework. New employees must spend extra time learning building layouts, and middle management must compensate with manual training. Over time, these gaps compound, reducing bandwidth to take on new projects or modernization efforts.
In emergencies, consequences can escalate quickly, and inaccurate information can compromise safety. Emergency planning, tabletop exercises, and coordination with dispatch centers require common, trusted layouts. First responders often rely on up to date floor plans for ingress, egress, and hazard avoidance. Outdated or inaccessible plans can slow response times and introduce confusion.
Moving from Paper to Digital
A floor plan maturity self-assessment begins with a basic question: how complete and accurate is the current documentation for each facility in the portfolio? Key factors to evaluate include:
- Source of floor plan (architect, general contractor, consultant, etc.)
- Floor plan creation date and square footage
- Record of renovations and additions
- Number of floors and structural modifications
- Availability of current MEP overlays
- Format and accessibility of floor plans (paper, scanned PDF, DWG)
- Integration with asset, energy, or maintenance systems
- Internal capability to manage and update floor plan files
This process builds internal awareness of operational risk. It also identifies which sites require immediate attention and which can serve as templates for modernization. Digitizing floor plans is not a one-size-fits-all process. In many cases, teams can begin with the most recent construction project. From there, it’s possible to layer in asset data or perform lidar scans to create accurate base maps.
A Tool for Planning, Operations, and Energy Strategy
Modern floor plans support more than facility operations. They serve as a visual foundation for capital justification and energy strategy. Custom visualizations help identify aging systems, justify asset renewal, and evaluate opportunities for energy reduction. Within an EAM platform, floor plans provide spatial context that enhances maintenance workflows, asset tracking, and capital planning.
As Ameresco supports customers in modernizing infrastructure and progressing towards energy goals, we emphasize the importance of accurate, accessible spatial data as part of any capital or operational strategy. By improving visibility and accuracy, organizations can reduce operating costs, improve project delivery timelines, and respond more effectively to change.
Taking stock of floor plan maturity across a portfolio is a critical first step. It improves daily efficiency, supports long-term resilience, and equips organizations to move toward facility modernization with greater precision.
How can floor plan management contribute to risk reduction in occupied buildings? In this webinar, we provide an overview of ancillary facility management benefits to digitally modernized floor plans; including capital project justification/storytelling, emergency planning, asset mapping, and maintenance workforce optimization.
