Secure perimeter trends: Are we in a zero trust era? by Jennifer Hamwey

As we speed toward the close of 2026, US real estate markets increase in their volatility, as uncertainty is directly impacting Greater Boston development. We’re seeing distressed capital stacks, debt restructuring and alternative gap-financing products, as the banks continue their pull back from lending. National policies such as tariffs on metal and lumber continue to pressurize construction, while local, State and Federal regulatory barriers are anticipated to ease in multiple sectors. 

Those of us in the built environment have also noted emerging trends in enhanced security and overall well-being of shared spaces, and the adoption of cybersecurity concepts in smart buildings, for both access and operations. We are in a period where Zero Trust principles are now reflected in building design. Based on an always verify/never trust fundamental, this core concept alters how we approach identity-driven access controls, periodic risk assessments and operations over the life cycle of a site or a structure. Least privilege, segmentation, identity validation and continuous monitoring have been key pillars in modern smart-building safety. 

Traditional protocols are still in use, like those found in Integrated Facilities Management (IFM), which include hardened perimeters, fortified materials and passive landscape measures added during pre-construction or modernization. Here you’ll find AI cameras, landscape buffers, ballistic glazing, locking vestibules and impact resistant materials. Site design as well as interiors are often compartmentalized along east-west or north-south spines or toward the core, where additional access measures are concentrically restrictive the further inward you travel. 

In modern versions of the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles, opportunities for crime are contained, and ownership of the space is enhanced through a shared sense of responsibility. Entry points are limited while landscaping and interiors are designed to enhance natural sight lines as well as promote open observation by occupants. The ultimate goal is to reduce fear and enhance quality of life through natural surveillance, territorial boundaries, access control and stewardship as a social as well as physical space construct. 

While elements from Zero Trust, IFM and CPTED are often combined in modern construction, market appetite, value engineering and end-user demands ultimately impact our security. Since every person, every smart device and every building management system creates blind spots, these ever-increasing and dynamic vulnerabilities must be added to the living elements weighed during financing, programming, construction and operations of our built environment. 

Sources PWC, CBRE, JLL, Boston Fed, CISA. Images courtesy Getty, Canva. 

Jennifer Hamwey, PE is principal at PCS LLC, Boston, Mass.