The starting point is gaining clear, objective insight. Short, targeted utilisation studies help teams to see how space is really used over time, revealing pressure points, uneven demand and areas that remain consistently under-used. This is often where early, low-impact opportunities become visible - the ‘low hanging fruit’ - without committing to major redesigns upfront.
A key theme from the discussion was that insight only becomes valuable when it informs decisions.
Many NHS teams are surprised by how differently departments use space, even within the same building. Similar hybrid policies can result in very different behaviours depending on role, routine and departmental culture. Without this visibility, estate decisions risk treating the workplace as uniform when, in reality, usage varies significantly across teams and functions.
Once patterns are visible, teams can move from observation to planning. Utilisation data supports scenario-based planning, such as exploring appropriate person-to-desk ratios, assessing whether meeting rooms match actual demand, or identifying opportunities to consolidate or repurpose space with minimal disruption.
At this stage, data becomes a shared reference point. It helps shift conversations away from instinct or anecdote and towards informed constructive discussion, helping align estates teams, stakeholders and departments around evidence-led decisions.
The most successful projects discussed in the webinar paired consolidation with reinvestment. When under-used space is released, value is redirected into environments that better support how staff work; such as improved shared areas, focused workspaces or redesigned collaborative zones. In one US university hospital, more than 50% of under-used office space was reclaimed and reinvested into areas that better supported day-to-day work, delivering cost savings and improved functionality.
This approach helps create environments people genuinely want to use, while maintaining only the footprint that is actually needed.
The guiding principle is to optimise comfort and suitability for different types of work and team cultures. That means balancing objective utilisation insight with subjective feedback from staff, ensuring that change improves day-to-day experience as well as efficiency.
This phased approach is realistic because both workplace expectations and technology have matured. Where early deployments often relied on permanent installations and extensive infrastructure, today’s solutions are lighter, more flexible and easier to deploy.
Battery-powered, GDPR-compliant, top-down occupancy sensors can be deployed independently of internal IT networks, used for short study periods, and redeployed between spaces as priorities change. This enables estates to move sensors between departments, floors or buildings during the deployment phase to focus on priority areas and specific space insights, without overspending on hardware.
As a result, estates can measure first, learn quickly, and scale change with confidence, avoiding large upfront commitments while building a robust evidence base.
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