BR18 §§ 298a and 298b came due at the end of 2025. Most buildings in scope are not yet there.
Sections 298a and 298b of the Danish Building Regulations 2018 (Bygningsreglementet, BR18) require non-residential buildings with heating or cooling systems above 290 kW to be equipped with a building automation and control system by 31 December 2025. The Danish Technological Institute estimates the rule covers around a fifth of Denmark's 799 million m² of building stock.
BR18 §§ 298a/298b deadline for systems above 290 kW
of Denmark's 799 million m² of building stock in scope, per the Danish Technological Institute
of household energy delivered as district heating
What BR18 asks a building to do
The system must continuously monitor, log, analyse and allow adjustment of energy use, benchmark the building's efficiency, detect losses and alert the person responsible, and be able to communicate with the connected technical building systems and with equipment from different manufacturers. In BR18's own terms, the systems must work together as a unified BMS.
That last point is where Danish buildings fall short. The chair of KNX Denmark has said publicly that systems are rarely integrated into a unified BMS as BR18 requires, and that nothing gets done as long as nobody enforces it. Enforcement is arriving in the same period the 70 kW threshold approaches. Doing it later is a project. Doing it now is a line item.
Who is in scope
- Owners of non-residential buildings with heating, or combined heating and ventilation, above 290 kW
- Owners of buildings with cooling, or combined cooling and ventilation, above 290 kW
- Offices, retail, schools, institutions and logistics, existing stock included
- Only buildings where the investment pays back in more than 15 years are exempt
Configured, not programmed.
Bisly removes the engineering step from building automation. The design goes into a configurator, the installer follows the app on site, and the building comes up configured and documented. Same functions, same standards, a fraction of the specialist hours.
What that means for your building
Speed and certainty
The engineering hours come out of the project, so the price and the schedule stop moving. Fewer specialist hours, shorter commissioning, fewer return visits.
One system for the whole building
HVAC, lighting, shading, access and metering in one system, with third-party equipment integrated at gateway level. The same configuration repeats on the next site.
Compliant and measured on handover day
An EN ISO 52120-1 BMS with the continuous monitoring, logging and reporting the regulation asks for. The building meets its obligation when it opens, not in a retrofit three years later.
Why the Danish market rewards a measured approach
Denmark has the highest district heating share in Europe at around 40% of household energy, 640,000 almene dwellings with mandatory renovation funding through Landsbyggefonden, and 5 completions per 1,000 inhabitants. Substation control and heat cost allocation are core building functions here, not extras.
It is also an incumbent-heavy controls market. That is precisely why the labour argument lands: a system a local installer configures on site is not competing with the incumbents on device count. It is removing the engineering week they all depend on.
A unified BMS, configured on site
Bisly delivers exactly what BR18 asks for and what most Danish buildings lack: one EN ISO 52120-1 BMS across HVAC, lighting, shading, access and metering, with monitoring, logging, benchmarking and fault detection in the base build. District heating substations and third-party plant are integrated at gateway level, with the covered integrations listed before you commit.
Because the building is configured rather than programmed, the 15-year payback question answers itself: fewer specialist hours put the delivered cost within reach of the building, and the handover date holds. Metering and visibility can go first, control second.
sites deployed across the Baltics, Poland and DACH
BMS functions in the base build, not as a later project
for HVAC, lighting, shading, access and metering
A phased path, starting with one building
You do not have to decide on a portfolio programme to discharge the obligation. Start with the building the deadline applies to.
- 01
Readiness assessment
We check what applies to your building, by which date, and what the system must be able to do. You get a written answer, not a brochure.
- 02
Metering and monitoring first
Continuous monitoring, logging, benchmarking and loss detection are the core of the requirement. A small decision that creates the measured baseline for everything after it.
- 03
Control where the numbers say it pays
Heating, ventilation, lighting and shading control are added building by building, configured on site by your installer rather than programmed by a specialist.
Find out where your building stands under BR18
A readiness assessment of one building: whether §§ 298a and 298b apply, what the system must do, and the path from metering to a unified BMS.
Other markets with a dated obligation
This page summarises national legislation for commercial orientation and is not legal advice. Thresholds, dates and exemptions should be confirmed against the official text and the competent authority for your building.