ASR Book April 2011

ACTIVITY-SPACE RESEARCH
The role of built space in the digital world
William Fawcett MA PhD RIBA

Chadwick Fellow in Architecture, Pembroke College, Cambridge University
Contents Page
Foreword by John Worthington 3
Overview by Andrew Chadwick 4
Chapter 1 – Built space in the digital world: research initiative 6
Chapter 2 – Transformational changes 16
Chapter 3 – Modelling and managing uncertain demand 28
Chapter 4 – Flexibility for activity change 40
Chapter 5 – Behavioral issues in ASR 53
Chapter 6 – ASR papers: 1 68
Chapter 10 – Sources of information 124
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03 FOREWORD
Published in 2009 by Andrew Chadwick’s farsightedness and generosity in funding a five year Fellowship at
Lorem Ipsum Publishing Pembroke College has provided a unique platform to reflect on new ways of looking at the
71 Great Russell Street briefing of works of architecture, through the mathematical modelling of the use of space and
London WC1B 3BP time and the understanding of the needs of human behaviour.
United Kingdom
T +44 (0)20 7430 8850 William Fawcett the Chadwick Fellow, following in the long tradition of the Martin Centre
F +44 (0)20 7430 8880 within the Cambridge School of Architecture, is both an architect and mathematician. This
E books@loremipsum.co.uk
combination has allowed for speculation through mathematical modelling tested against
www.loremipsum.co.uk
the insights of practice. This workbook draws together the outcome of fourteen half day
workshops, hosted at Pembroke, which brought together practitioners and academics
Copyright © 2009 William Fawcett
from a range of disciplines but all with experience of briefing, designing and managing
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may space for more effective utilization. The research model was to at each workshop present a
be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any proposition around a different theme described with a mathematical model and then tested
means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopy, in discussion and exercises by the participants drawing on their experience in practice.
recording or any information storage and retrieval
system, without the prior The theme of the series, reflecting Andrew Chadwick’s own significant early work in practice,
permission in writing from the publisher. has been the changing ways of work and changing paradigms for the planning, design and
management of space, time and activities. The sessions exposed new insights by exploring
A catalogue record for the book is available from the other disciplines and sectors. The models developed by the airline and hotel sectors for
British Library. yield management had direct relevance to the facility manager, whilst the research on
perceptions and behaviour recognised that individuals choices do not necessarily follow a
ISBN-13:0000 00000 000 0 logical patter, resulting in uncertain demand.
Typeset in Din and ITC Joanna I commend Activity-Space Modelling to both senior managers responsible for space
Paper: Yulong Pure management and consultants in briefing management and design. It broadens the
perspective and highlights the symbiotic relationship between space, time, technology and
Printed in China
usage. For organisations it identifies alternative approaches to defining, managing and
using resources. For consultants and researchers each chapter has insights to allow the
rethinking of perceived wisdom and the framing of sharper research questions to explore.
As we face the challenges of climate change and creating a more sustainable future, lean
thinking, resulting in the more intensive and effective way we use resources, is becoming
a central theme. The Chadwick Fellowship has provided a platform of insights for more in
depth exploration through organisational case studies to identify ways through new models
of the use of space, and time, supported by technology, organisations can rethink working
processes to improve business performance, reduce energy usage and enhance lifestyles.
Professor John Worthington

Co-Founder, DEGW
Graham Willis Professorship University of Sheffield
Visiting Scholar Pembroke College, Cambridge
04 OVERVIEW ‘Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.’
Democritus Greek philosopher (460 BC - 370 BC)
BUILT SPACE IN THE DIGITAL WORLD – A NEW ROLE?
The old assumptions about the role of built space in the human world are all under threat
with the inexorable advance of the digital world. It is not that long ago that we were debating
whether office workers would share computers on a 3:1 or a 2:1 basis. It is, equally, not long
ago that mobile phones were bulky, expensive and unreliable.
Today you can measure your blood pressure, watch the television, phone your friends and
see people on the other side of the world in the blink of an eye – and it’s only really just
started.
This dynamic world we live in challenges our centuries old shelter driven built space
assumptions. If we could organise ourselves nobody actually needs a physical office any
more. We only need them as a convenient assembly point for our physical artefacts and a
place to meet other humans. Even the “nine to fivers” don’t really need to do what they do
in a specific place. It’s only the apparent need for control and the inadequacy of managerial
process that demands physical location.
It is against this historical backdrop and at a tipping point in the equilibrium of life that this
work on Activity-Space Research should be considered.
In a world where individuals have increasing choice in their working locations the concept
of a “built to suit” building is becoming less and less relevant. However, if we have no
physical shell to consider when looking at occupancy and environmental design we need a
more abstract form of spatial control to be able to predict space provision in a meaningful
way. Activity-Space Research is aimed at filling this void.
William Fawcett, the Chadwick Fellow at Pembroke College, Cambridge, has spent the
last five years carrying out research and interactive studies with professionals in all major
space categories to establish mathematical tools which can predict space need in the
digital world. This work has also started the process of not just looking at the mathematical
need for space but its nature and should be read by all those concerned with the design and
management of the physical environment. It is an ongoing piece of work which will develop
as corporations and individuals “get the point” and start the journey themselves.
Andrew Chadwick MA RIBA MCSD

Principal, Chadwick International
[1]
BUILT SPACE IN THE
DIGITAL WORLD:
RESEARCH INITIATIVE
08 BUILT SPACE IN THE DIGITAL WORLD: RESEARCH INITIATIVE 09 BUILT SPACE IN THE DIGITAL WORLD: RESEARCH INITIATIVE
Activity-Space Research is concerned with the quantified It is often said that architecture has
three distinct components, ‘firmness,
relationship between activities and the buildings they occupy commodity and delight’. Firmness deals
– the amount, type and location of space that is used by given with construction and the technical
activities. This is not the whole of architecture, but it is a vital performance of buildings (below left).
Delight is evident in buildings that are
issue for the successful design and management of practically designed with an overtly artistic objective
all buildings. (below, the Senate House, Cambridge).
Finally, commodity is concerned with how
well buildings meet uses’ needs. This is
Three conditions architecture the focus of Activity-Space Research. CASE STUDIES
‘Well building hath three conditions: firmness, commodity, and
delight.’
This catchphrase is a picturesque 17th century BUILDINGS
translation from the Roman architect Vitruvius, expressing the USER IN USE
diversity of topics making up the discipline of architecture. It PERCEPTIONS
hasn’t lost relevance with the passage of time.
UTILISATION
When architects design buildings they must take account
WORK-LIFE
of all three ‘conditions’ simultaneously – quite a challenge and HARMONISATION
not always achieved: think, for example, of a beautiful building
ACTIVITIES
SPACE
with a leaky roof, achieving delight but not firmness. DESIGN UNCERTAIN
In contrast to architectural practice, research advances BRIEFING DEMAND
by focusing in depth on particular parts of the discipline. In the INFORMAL
case of Activity-Space Research the focus is on commodity: the CONTACTS
ways that buildings serve human activities.
YIELD
Off to the right are all the aspects of the spatial environment MANAGEMENT
Activty-Space Research map that do not directly affect activities, such as structures, building
A map of Activity-Space Research has a boundary that separates costs, and the whole of architectural history. GROUPING
what is and isn’t included in the territory for investigation. Many important issues fall outside the boundary, but FLEXIBILITY
The map has two axes, horizontal and vertical. The that still leaves many fascinating and important topics for
horizontal axis starts way out to the left with all the aspects Activity-Space Research.
of activities that are not directly affected by the spatial MODELLING
environment – the greater part of social science. Styles of research
The vertical axis represents different methods of Activity-Space
Research.
At the top there is case study research – looking in detail
at parts of the real world. Case studies are complex and always
unique, but they have factual authority.
At the bottom is modelling – creating simplified versions The map of Activity-Space Research is where they overlap. The vertical axis
of the real world, defined by a small number of key attributes draws a boundary around topics where separates methods of research. At the top
but ignoring everything of secondary importance (the modeller activities and the built environment are studies of real-world settings, with all
interact. The map is structured in two their complexity and uniqueness; at the
decides what to include and exclude). dimensions. Horizontally, aspects of bottom are experiments using simplified
Both case studies and modelling are valid approaches, activities that have little or no connection models of reality, often mathematical
but up to now case studies have been dominant in architectural to the built environment are off to the models. Both methods of research are
left, and apsects of buildings that have valid and important, but the Activity-Space
research, so we have decided to prioritise modelling. little or nothing to do with activities are Research initiative has concentrated on
off to the right; Activity-Space Research modelling.
THE ASR WORKSHOPS
A key component of the Activity-Space Research initiative The Research Workshops are held in The first Research Workshop Issue Green Red Net
the Nihon Room in Pembroke College’s included an exercise in which
has been a series of fourteen Research Workshops. They are Foundress Building, designed by Eric
dots dots score
the participants noted down on
both a means of disseminating the new research activities, Parry and opened in 1995.
cards the important issues that 1 Role of ‘delight’ and how do you define it +8
and a means for advancing the research through informed are likely to have an impact on the 2 Accelerating rate of change relative to the life of the building 8 +6
feedback and the sharing of ideas with participants who have way the buildings are managed 3 Multiple uses and flexible spaces 6 +5
complementary experience in research or applications. and designed. The participants 4 The oil is running out 5 +5
explained their reasoning, and the 5 Sustainability from using what we have already more intensively 5 +4
cards were pinned on a board with
Workshop format related issues grouped together. 6 Environmental considerations – energy, noise, visual, thermal – affect the form of buildings 4 +4
The Research Workshops provide a forum for the exchange 7 Lifestyle choices affect the location and form of buildings 4 +4
Then the participants were asked
of ideas between researchers, design professionals, policy- to stick green and red dots on the 8 Young people adopt new technologies more quickly and enthusiastically 4 +4
makers and owners/managers of buildings in the commercial, cards – green dots on the those 9 Designing for continuous change 4 1 +3
higher education and health care sectors. In addition the they thought raised important 10 Organisational culture affects work/life balance 4 1 +3
Workshops are attended by academics and research students. issues, and red dots on the ones 11 Using the design/modelling process to make the best use of the building in use 4 +3
A high level and productive exchange of views and that they thought were secondary. 12 Increase in mobile communication & transport impacts on space requirements 3 +3
experience is achieved. The number of dots attached to 13 Technology supports a diversity of spaces 3 +3
Each Workshop is on a specific theme in Activity-Space the most and least favoured of the 14 Choices are possible by increased mobility and communication – ‘personalised services’ 3 +3
45 issues are shown in the table.
Research. Most include presentations of the latest work of Themes: 15 Society is atomising 3 +3
the Activity-Space Research group in the Martin Centre, and ASR-W1 The Activity-Space Research initiative (12.1.06) The favoured issues demonstrated 41 Buy a total service, don’t just buy a building 3 2 –2
a conviction that rapid and
presentations by other practitioners or academics working in ASR-W2 Typology of space use and space management (6.4.06) 42 More autonomy at school 2 –2
continuing change is occurring.
the same field. Usually the participants take part in a prepared ASR-W3 Space-time decision-making by building users 43 Obsolescence of deep-plan buildings 4 –3
The topmost issue showed
exercise to explore the theme of the Workshop: each chapter (28.6.06) 44 Specialist individuals need virtual tools 1 3 –3
a desire to rediscover how
in this book reports on one of these Workshop exercises. There ASR-W4 Simulation of buildings in use: validation of research architecture and design in the 45 School leavers more autonomous 3 –3
is plenty of time for contributions from all participants, and agenda (7.11.06) built environment can be exploited
discussion. ASR-W5 The simplest possible model of buildings in use – a topic that would be on the
Over 100 people have participated in one or more of the (23.1.07) right-hand margin of the Activity-
Participants who have taken part in one or more of the Workshops
Space Research map.
Workshops. The average number at each Workshop is 15-20, ASR-W6 Micro-scale: modelling the individual building user Rayan Azhari Anne Dye Grahame Jenkins Helen Mulligan Ji-Young Song
but 28 came to the eleventh Workshop on Flexibility – a clear (19.4.07) Ark Barclay Marcial Echenique David Kimpton William Newman Derek Southwell
signal of the importance attached to this topic. ASR-W7 Macro-scale: modelling the overall performance of Paul Bartlett Ian Ellingham Kay Kitazawa Mike Nightingale Koen Steemers
The Workshops are half-day sessions held in Pembroke the building (19.6.07) Erika Bataglia William Fawcett Kari Kjolle Fernanda Oliveira Ingrid Stevenson
Shermeen Beg Nick Fletcher Issam Kourbaj Nigel Oseland Ziona Strelitz
College, Cambridge, which is the base for the Chadwick ASR-W8 Work-life harmonisation (29.1.08)
Camille Beyrouthy Susan Francis Katrina Kostic Samen Jason Palmer Jason Syrett
Fellowship in Architecture. ASR-W9 Promotion of informal contacts through design and Jo-Anne Bichard Lesley Gavin Daniela Krug Andrew Parkes Jane Tateson
management (18.3.08) Erica Calogero Karlien Geens Pieter le Roux Steve Platt Peter Thomson
ASR-W10 Space management for uncertain demand (20.5.08) Sophia Ceneda Heather Giles Victoria Lee Caroline Postins Danielle Tinero
ASR-W11 Flexibility: flexible workplaces and flexible activities Andrew Chadwick Steven Giles Yun Shin Lee Andrew Rabeneck Elanor Warwick
Michael Chappell Annie Godfrey Nick Leon Michael Ramage Chris Webber
(20.11.08)
Howard Cooke Richard Griffin Yanni Loukissas Matina Rassia Sinclair Webster
ASR-W12 Case studies and modelling for Activity-Space Peter Cookson Roo Gunzi Lionel March Nick Ridley Paul Wheeler
Research (19.2.09) Matthew Cox Barbara von Haffner Barry McCollum Danny Rigby Jenny Willatt
ASR-W13 How should Activity-Space modelling be applied? Bob Crichton Anca Hartjes Claire McKeown Keiko Saito Duncan Wilson
(19.5.09) Jonathan Cutting David Heaps Paul McMullan Joseph Saunders Nick Winkfield
Laurence Dakin-Poole John Holm Jim Meikle Stefan Scholtes Mark Wormald
ASR-W14 Scenario-building – preparing for the future (3.12.09)
Lindsay Dane Farhad Hosany Jeremy Melvin Malcolm Scott John Worthington
John De Lucy Rob Howard Cari Mitchell Alan Short Duan Wu
Justin Dothard Pan Hui Alice Moncaster Peer-Olaf Siebers Eiko Yoneki
Pingping Dou Francesca Jack Hugh Mulcahey Jennifer Singer
MODELLING AS A RESEARCH METHOD
Modelling sacrifices vast amounts of real world data – Real environments, like 19th century There is a clear difference A tremendous stimulus for Pavilion
industrial housing (Burnley, below) between the design of individual research in Cambridge was the
why? There are three benefits: simplicity, control and sometimes approximate closely to buildings and the design of power of then-new computers for
experimentation. idealised built forms (right), but they
towns or cities; but there is also investigating many architectural
represent only one instance, whereas a
built form model can be used to explore
continuity because towns or cities questions, using innovative
Modelling an infinite number of variants of block are predominantly made up of mathematical models.
Most research into the use of buildings relies on data collection height, length and spacing, etc. many individual buildings. The
One study at building scale
form real buildings in use. It is possible to collect large amounts interaction between the two scales
compared the circulation
is interesting and important: how
of detailed data, describing real-world settings. are conventions about the design
efficiency of alternative plan-
Modelling studies, on the other hand, are highly simplified forms. The diagram shows five
of individual buildings reflected in
different configuration types for
and artificial. Modelling sacrifices vast amounts of real world overall urban form?
a building floor-plan with 32 Street
data in exchange for simplicity, control and experimentation. This was described as the ‘land rooms. There are 496 possible
Simplicity means reducing the number of variables in a use and built form’ question in room-to-room trips (32 x 31 ÷ 2),
model, so that their interactions can be studied and compared the early days of architectural and the variations between the
and understood. Three or four interacting variables is plenty; research in the Department average times for these trips were
of Architecture in Cambridge calculated for the five plan-forms.
a model with more than five or six variables is too complex to University. The Department’s new
understand and therefore self-defeating. (Diagram of research studies by
research centre, founded in 1967
Philip Tabor, from The Geometry
Control is a consequence of simplicity – the modeller can by Sir Leslie Martin, the Professor
of Environment, by Lionel March
set the values of all the variables and observe the outcomes. of Architecture, was called the
and Philip Steadman, 1971, p.319.)
This means that the modeller can carry out experiments Hypothetical scenarios Centre for Land Use and Built
Form Studies; it was renamed The
by changing attribute values in a systematic way, revealing A crucial benefit of modelling over case studies is that you can Martin Centre in 1974 when its
Court
trends and patterns in the outcomes. only observe settings that already exist, but with modelling you scope of activities had expanded
can study all imaginable buildings and use patterns. to a wider range of architectural
Experiments In particular, you can model future scenarios. This is not research questions.
Experimentation is easy for a modeller, but problematic for the same as trying to predict the future, which is impossible, The land use and built form
case study research. but it allows the probable consequences of alternative courses question was investigated with
It is highly unlikely that it would ever be possible to of action to be compared – something that is of immense value simplified models of generic
building forms: pavilions, streets
find case study examples representing all the interesting to managers and policy-makers.
and courts. Systematic variation of
permutations of key attributes in a research study, and even of Managers study past data to help make decisions about plan dimensions, building heights
you could the data would be ‘contaminated’ by other, extraneous the future. What they need is forward projections. Up to now and street widths showed that
variables (from the point of view of the experiment). So it is these have to be made intuitively or using simple extrapolations. these ‘built forms’ have widely
rarely possible to conduct systematic comparison between Systematic modelling provides a far more powerful way of varying urban consequences.
precise features of interest using as-found case studies. testing future scenarios. Assuming that some outcomes are
more desirable than others, land 40
Researchers are seldom able to intervene and make
use and built form understanding
experimental changes in real case study situations. ‘Before’ Relevance
should allow architectural and
and ‘after’ observations, such as when an organisation moves A crucial weakness of modelling is that you can construct urban planning policy-makers 30
or redesigns its premises, are about the closest a case study artificial worlds that bear little or no relation to reality. This is to guide urban systems towards
researcher can get to experimentation. They are great research why the case study and modelling research approaches must desirable future states.
seconds
opportunities, but infrequent. communicate with each other. 20
(Diagram from Urban Space and
Model predictions must be compared with case study Structures, edited by Leslie Martin
data from corresponding real-world situations, so that the and Lionel March, 1972, p.36.)
10
model can be verified and calibrated. Only when a model has
been shown to replicate a variety of real situations, can its
findings for hypothetical situations have credibility. 0
FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS IN
The Activity-Space Research initiative began as an There is continual investment in the A B C space B C space
building stock, despite boom-and-bust
academic research project. The value of modelling has been fluctuations; recent demolition and organisational
demonstrated, but there is much more to be done before the redevelopment in Dalston (below left) and
constraints
designers G activity-space designers G activity-space
full benefits of the modelling approach can contribute to the a gleaming new office building in the City managers performance managers performance
of London (below right – Arup Associates,
and objectives
design and management of buildings. architect, and British Land, developer).
Each investment cycle is driven by current
Digital dislocation perceptions, usually based on past activities F activities F
Use patterns in buildings are determined by the interaction experience, but buildings are durable and
have to be useful in the future, not the
between the physical features of the accommodation and the present.
behavioural characteristics of both users and managers. Simulation modelling of future scenarios
It is much easier to observe and measure the physical is immensely valuable: it cannot predict users E users E
environment than behavioural factors. A major advance of the future, but it can remove much of the
surprise attached to future change.
the ASR initiative has been to model behavioural and physical
factors as a system.
Modelling is vital now that assumptions based on past D
experience are being invalidated by the digital revolution – with individual constraints
its rapid advances in mobility, flexible working and dispersed and objectives
computing. A decisive force for change is that digitally-
empowered individuals now have greatly increased freedom
of choice in selecting the times and places for carrying out
Applying the ASR simulation E. The employees’ decision- in offices has a dynamic feedback
activities – work, education, shopping, leisure, and even health
models to real-world making between space-time loop:
care. organisations will reveal alternatives; this responds
- a new initiative by the facilities
the underlying structures to to individual constraints and
manager or designer [B] causes
Waste and opportunities managers, as well as testing and objectives [D] and Activity-Space
change in the space [C], and
When building managers continue with pre-digital practices developing the simulation models. performance [G]
therefore in Activity-Space
the penalties are high. The under-occupation of buildings is The diagram shows the proposed F. Activities – the employees’ performance [G]
now commonplace, which is wasteful and unsustainable in Can the insights and tools provided by ASR modelling feed into system of office premises and use, work activities, at the employer’s
– this causes change in the
resource terms, and buildings that fail to support their users improved practice in the management and design of buildings? with components that interact in premises and elsewhere; this
employees’ decision-making
the following ways: results from the employees’
effectively are an impediment to the objectives of organisations, [E] and hence a change in the
decision-making [E]
the economy, and society. Applications and theory A. Organisational constraints and activities [F] and Activity-Space
objectives – these factors are not G. Activty-space performance – performance [G]
Mangers are under intense pressure to innovate, but The objective of the next stage of ASR research is to work changed by the model occupancy and utilisation resulting
they lack quantitative understanding or tools that would enable with real-world partner organisations who know that current – and this in turn causes change
from the given activities [F] in the
B. The facilities management in the facilities manager’s
them to act decisively and confidently. management is outdated – and that the future holds more far- strategy; this responds to
given space [C].
decision-making [B]
reaching change. organisational constraints and The system of premises and use
– and so on
As well as helping the partners manage change, this objectives [A] and Activity-Space
collaboration will enrich the theoretical work on Activity-Space performance [G] The feedback loop is a crucial
feature of the facilities
modelling. C. Space – the number and type
management process; without
The simulation models so far developed are highly of work spaces at the employer's
understanding of how it operates,
simplified – deliberately so – and experience from the partners premises; this results from the
there is a high risk that managers’
facilities management strategy [B]
will guide model development in ways that maximise improved or designers’ initiatives will lead to
performance without getting drawn into the mire of ad hoc D. Individual employees’ unintended outcomes.
constraints and objectives – these
complexity. factors are not changed by the
model
[2]
TRANSFORMATIONAL
CHANGES
18 TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGES 19 TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGES
TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGES
Jeremy Myerson
As a focused investigation into work, there is a growing workers and knowledge- and cognitive style of work space in the heart of ancient shown on the right hand side or landmark art and
the changing workplace, the emphasis on knowledge based organisations need within the corporate campus. Athens. Lodge describes the of the diagram. This identifies architecture in the Agora;
Activity-Space Research (ASR) work. This depends less on to be effective? Clearly, we However knowledge workers live-work setting, the home the challenge of managing and in the fusion of living and
initiative takes its place within formula and process and have a lot to learn. Forty supported by wireless that doubles as an office: its a career as work becomes working in Lodge offices.
a broader frame of enquiry more on the application of years after his first pioneering technologies are also breaking historical precedent is the permeable, distributed and
These models may be drawn
driven by a host of factors knowledge and learning. research on knowledge work, free of the traditional office domestic setting, whether virtual rather than an activity
from the past but they point
– technological, social and Instead of individuals sitting in Peter Drucker felt moved to building and working in a new farmhouse or bourgeois that takes place only within a
towards to the future – towards
demographic. Whatever the serried ranks to follow explicit comment on knowledge- way across a continuum of residence, that is the hub of corporate building.
new workplace environments
starting point for research, the instructions within a supervised worker productivity: “We are in different locations: corporate enterprise.
How the four 'realms' for as dynamic settings for new
signs are inescapable that new hierarchy, new working the year 2000 roughly where campus, city, home and
This diagram places all knowledge work are expressed activities. To rely on stacking
environments are required practices are emerging based we were in the year 1900 settings for professional
four types of knowledge in architectural terms can the same old repeat-pattern
to meet changing patterns on collaboration, initiative and in terms of the productivity associations and networks.
workplace within a matrix. be see in any number of office floors is to stick to a status
of work, whether the drivers exploration. of the manual worker.”
Space To Work identified The vertical axis measures the imaginative shared spaces, quo that will not survive the
are wireless networks and Productivity of the manual
As a term, knowledge work four 'realms' for knowledge level of corporate presence courtyards, atria and meeting growth of the knowledge
mobile computing or ageing worker increased roughly
was first coined around 1960 work: the corporate realm from low to high visibility. rooms in Academy-style economy.
workforces and portfolio 50 times during the 20th
by the American economist (termed ‘Academy’); the The horizontal axis shows workplaces; in the design focus [1] Space to work by Jeremy Myerson
careers. century through changes in
Peter Drucker. Doctors, professional realm (‘Guild’); physical environment from on dialogue and exchange in and Philip Ross, Laurence King, 2006
factory design, but can we
My own work forms part of lawyers, academics and the public realm (‘Agora’); work contained within Guild spaces; in the strategies
be confident that knowledge-
Jeremy Myerson is Helen Hamlyn that broader landscape of new scientists were among the first and the domestic or private a specific setting to work to engage with the city
worker productivity will make
Professor of Design at the Royal thinking in office design that identified knowledge workers, realm (‘Lodge’). In the book that is permeable across through public thoroughfares
College of Art, London. similar advances in the 21st
acts as a kind of backdrop but now the term extends to we argued that knowledge locations. In accordance
century through changes in
for ASR. My starting point has most executive, managerial workers must seek to achieve with this, Academy is a
office design?
been historical – the emergence and marketing roles within a balance or equilibrium learning campus with a high
high visibility
of the modern office in the early organisations. Drucker has Against this background, I between four conflicting sets of level of corporate visibility
20th century as a by-product also drawn attention to a worked with technologist Philip relationships: colleagues within contained on a specific site.
of the bureaucratisation of class of worker he describes Ross to investigate office design the employing organisation; Agora has a similarly high
<
co
industry and with a dominant as ‘knowledge technologists’: that supports and enhances professional peers; customers in corporate presence but
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k
po
or
design template based on the computer technicians, software the performance of knowledge the marketplace; and friends is more permeable in its
ra
w
te
factory floor. designers, analysts in clinical workers. For a book called and family in the home. relationship with the city.
labs, paralegals and so on, Space To Work (Laurence Lodge is a contained work
This industrial template has Academy describes a learning
who are swelling the ranks of King, London, 2006) [1], we setting but with zero corporate
been surprisingly resistant campus in which the employer
knowledge workers worldwide. selected 40 case studies drawn presence. Guild combines the
to change, but today most is developing a more collegiate
coporate
from 16 countries around the characteristics of permeable
people in offices no longer Increasingly, in the early years and collaborative approach to
permeable work
Academy Guild
contained work
world. Organisations included work with low corporate
do the kind of repetitive, of the 21st century, the world work; its historical precedent, Colleagues Peers
accountancy, law and visibility.
linear, process-driven work for of work is becoming a world of in spirit if not in terms of
insurance firms; technology, physical environmental
which the efficiency mantra knowledge work. Where once precise architectural template, The tension between living
media and music companies;
of mechanistic repeating floor manual and process work is the university courtyard or and working – between home
presence
charities, car manufacturers
plates makes sense. As the fuelled economic growth, such quadrangle. Guild refers to a and office life – is shown on the
and filmmakers; advertising
knowledge economy grows, activities are now increasingly professional cluster of peers left hand side of the diagram.
agencies, scientific institutions
my research has therefore outsourced to lower-cost who share a skill or specialism; In the relationship between
and seats of government. Each
been to look at alternative economies. In the developed its historical precedent is the Academy and Lodge exists
scheme was completed after
models of workplace design, world, ways to build, share, medieval guild or craft society. the challenge of achieving
2001.
based in part on historical exchange and retain work-life balance, a recurring
Agora describes the public Lodge Agora
po
precedents such as craft guilds, knowledge have assumed the What the body of work told corporate preoccupation. The
workplace in which the
r
e
Family Customers
tfo
lif
traditional colleges or ancient highest priority. us was that companies tension between corporate
corporation is open to the
lio
<
marketplaces. have made a start on office working and portfolio working
>
But how much do we know city and the marketplace;
buildings, space plans and – between allegiance to an
Why the search for new about how to design the its historical precedent is the
interior designs that support employer and reliance on your
models? In place of process workspaces that knowledge commercial and social open low visibility
a more fluid, collaborative own skill or knowledge – is
THE OFFICE OF THE FUTURE PRESENT
The transforming power of ICT (information and computing Andrew Chadwick’s 1982
technology) has been predicted for decades, but seldom with prediction for the ‘Office of the
Year 2000’ was a mock-up of
the accuracy of the winning entry in Philips’ ‘Office of the Year technologies that were still under
2000’ competition of 1982. The judges were expecting snazzy development. One of the main
office designs but got… a laptop computer! differences between the mock-up
and today’s laptop computers is
Looking ahead 1973 its bulkiness – whereas in 1982
its compactness and portability
Andrew Chadwick’s winning entry for the 1982 ‘Office of ‘… the utility of the words ‘house’, ‘school’ and ‘office’ were incredible – and the way that
the Year 2000’ competition was to denote separate concepts keyboards have moved backwards.
precise and tangible, but many other becomes increasingly suspect. It The mock-up included a tape-
predictions about new technology have is important not to forget that the recorder (remember them?) with
been perceptive but vague. development of non-physical forms a prophetic script that has proved
remarkably accurate.
Arguing that ICT has of communication is already having
transformational potential is perfectly a drastic effect on our ideas of office "Hello, I am the office of the future
- yes me the briefcase. I have
true, but it can’t compare with location. … [Changes brought by the popped back from the year 2000 to
demonstrating that a briefcase could industrial revolution are] eclipsed tell you what is going to happen in
provide all the resources that used to by the potential of cybernetics 18 years time.
be inseparable from a conventional and audio-visual communication.’ You assessors may find this a
office building – ‘a mock-up is worth (Stephen Mullin, AJ Office Handbook strange presentation but the fact
10,000 words’. Architects Journal, 2 May 1973). is that the office as we know it
A handful of predictions that will diversify from its present fixed
location into a multitude of places,
have acquired a period charm: 1974
and that's where I come in.
‘In principle, if really adequate
With me, everybody has an office
1936 telecommunications were available
from schoolboy to Prime Minister.
‘Careful study and observation of it might not be necessary to
Where you put me is quite
technological possibilities leads me construct office blocks at all since
another matter, in your car, in an
to the inescapable conclusion that we everybody could work from home aeroplane, in your meeting place
can do an entirely adequate amount and communicate by means of because that's what the office of
of routine work with an average labour expenditure for the telephones, television, document facsimile transmission and today, sorry I mean tomorrow, is
common man of only a few hours per day, four at the most, so on. Although the technology exists to make this possible, going to be all about."
and perhaps in some distant day, as few as two or three. … To it would not be economic. Further, where such visionary
forestall misunderstandings, I had best explain that I do not suggestions have been made they have not been greeted
A mainframe computer of the late 1950s,
believe that the leaders and professional men and women are with any enthusiasm. This implies that although people may complete with a reader for punched paper
ever going to be these short-period workers.’ (C C Furnas, The complain about the necessity for travelling to work, the social tape. It was built about ten years after
Next Hundred Years, 1936). Furnas was right about the decline aspect of office work is much more important than is often the very first commercial computer: the
ICT revolution has been in progress for at
of manpower in manufacturing industries, but he did not realised.’ (Peter Jay, AJ Office Handbook Architects Journal, least two generations. (Far left).
realise the limitless potential for growth in services industries, 13 February 1974). Mass employment in manufacturing
where almost everyone behaves like Furnas’s ‘leaders and industry has disappeared in developed
professional men and women’. countries, but it has been replaced by
mass employment is service industries,
not by limitless leisure. (Left).
THE DIGITAL ECONOMY
It has long been acknowledged that the transforming impact Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4
of the information revolution will be as great as that of the The balance of economic activity in The digital economy is built on ideas Internet sales have grown rapidly during Media priorities vary greatly between
developing countries has been moving and creativity. The expansion of higher the last decade from a low starting point. generations – television dominating for
industrial revolution, but when the impact occurs it is still from manufacturing to services for a long education is a symbiotic part of the There’s plenty of scope for continuing young and old, with internet and especially
experienced as sudden and dramatic. time, and has moved quickly in the last transition to the digital economy. Thus growth. In 2008 the internet accounted for mobile phones peaking in the 12–24 age
generation. Thirty years ago the services the number of full- and part-time 9.8 per cent of the value of all sales of UK groups. Is this a transient phenomenon
sector in the UK had just over twice the undergraduates in the UK has grown more non-financial sector businesses. or a permanent change? Will today’s
Anticipated but sudden Struggling to adapt employment numbers of manufacturing, than three times since 1970. teenagers and young adults gradually
source: E-commerce and ITC Activity
No-one could say that the digital revolution is a surprise. Despite the long lead time, the way that established habits and now it is nearly eight times as large. source: Social Trends 39 (ONS, 2009) Statistical Bulletin (ONS, 2008) become more like their parents, or will
Norbert Wiener, in his immensely popular book of the 1950s can evaporate in a few years is amazing. Electric typewriters, source: Social Trends 39 (ONS, 2009) the new technologies inexorably colonise
the older age ranges?
The Human Use of Human Beings: pagers, fax machines, video-tapes:
source: Social Trends 39 (ONS, 2009)
cybernetics and society, wrote, ‘Society they were new and exciting not so
can only be understood through long ago, but they have gone.
a study of the messages and the Tremendous benefits can come Table 1 Table 2
communications facilities that belong with the take-up of new technologies, 25 1.2
Services Male
to it; and in the future development of and there are penalties attached to
Manufacturing Female
millions of undergraduate students

these messages and communications continuing with pre-digital economy 20
1.0
facilities, messages between man and practices.
millions of employees
machine, between machine and man, The rate of change isn’t likely 0.8
15
and between machine and machine, to slow down.
are destined to play an increasing 0.6
part.’ 10
Wiener discussed a multitude 0.4
of speculative ideas that were being 5

0.2
discussed over 50 years ago, some but
not all of which have become part of
0 0
everyday life. 1978 1988 1998 2008 1970/71 1980/81 1990/91 2006/07
year year
Table 3 Table 4
250 1.2
Internet Sales Television
Mobile Phone
1.0
200 Internet
0.8
sales in £ billion
150
percent
The digital revolution is the outcome of Some years later Turing was a key 0.6
many enabling theories and technologies, contributor to the team that built the first
including pure mathematics, where an electronic computer in 1943, for the Allied 100
important source was the paper of 1936 code-breaking effort at Beltchley Park 0.4
by the Cambridge mathematician Alan during World War II. It was top secret and
Turing (the first paragraph is reproduced was destroyed at the end of the War. 50
0.2
on the right). The paper introduced the Computer building re-started in the USA
novel idea of a ‘Turing machine’, an and UK in the late 1940s, only ten years
imaginary computer that encapsulated after Turing’s theoretical paper. 0 0
the functionality that any real computer 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 5-7 8-11 12-15 16-19 20-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 > 75
would share. year age
TRANSFORMATIONAL POTENTIAL
The digital revolution effects the ways that all kinds of It is easy to measure the floor
buildings are used. The Activity-Space Research has focused area of a building, but much
harder to measure its capacity.
on three particular building types: offices, higher education Capacity is a statement about the
and healthcare. There are also points in common with many quantity of activities that can be capacity decreases as use
other building types. accommodated. It is important, constraints are added
since organisations’ demand
Office buildings for space is generated from the
capacity
activities that they are expected to
The aggregate area of commercial offices in England and take place.
Wales is about 100m m2 (or 100 square
To understand capacity it is
kilometres), equating to rental costs of necessary to go back to first
typical single value for capacity
about £20bn per year. principles. The way buildings are
Businesses generally find at used is a function of three factors:
The constant cycle of renewal of office
least 30% saving in premises floor Higher education - the space buildings: the former P&O building in
area and cost with Activity-Space UK Higher education institutes occupy implied the City of London being demolished in
- the activities use index
innovation (Fawcett & Chadwick, 24.9m m2 of buildings costing £1.5 2008 (above). The innovative design of the
- Activity-Space management. 1960s by Gollins Melvin Ward featured
2007), so if businesses occupying 25% billion per year to keep operational 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 a suspended structure – so it had to be
of office floor area adopted Activity- (HEFCE). Observed levels of space For a given building, if any of few use constraints use index many use constraints demolished from the bottom up.
Space innovation a overall saving of utilisation are very low. the factors change, the capacity
changes as well. And all three
30% x 25% = 7.5% would be achieved, Even though most university factors do change, the building
equating to about £1.5bn per year. buildings are used rent-free, intense most slowly, for example by With the digital revolution, Activity- These assumptions were plucked
Government and public sector pressure of running costs and student alterations or extensions. Space constraints that used to be out of the air and were hopelessly
offices are additional to this. Central numbers, coupled with innovation in reasonably efficient, like territorial optimistic for many schools.
Activity-Space management
workspaces, have become
government occupies about 9.7m2 of teaching and research, mean that has the greatest opportunity for It isn’t desirable or feasible to
untenable.
offices costing about £5bn per year, established space-use practices short-term change. It defines the eliminate all use constraints, but
and is aiming for 25% savings up to have to be reassessed. ways that activities are able to use To increase capacity, first look they should be closely evaluated.
the space. Every time a potential closely at innovative approaches to In schools and universities
2102-13 (DEGW, 2008). The efficiency Activity-Space-time usage is Activity-Space management. timetablers talk about hard and
gains would be reflected in lower Healthcare excluded, capacity is reduced. soft constraints. Hard constraints
Whenever a single value is given
costs to the taxpayer, or transfer of The National Health Service estate Such constraints typically result for the capacity of a building, it
have to be respected, for example,
resources to front-line services. comprises 27.5m m2 of occupied floor area, with recorded from: two activities involving the same
is based on an implicit Use Index
maintenance costs of £600 million per year (NHS Information person cannot be timetabled
- specialisation (or territory): – the prevailing Activity-Space The rebuilding programme at Barts and
at the same time; but soft
Centre). Utilities costs are additional to this. activities can only take place in management conventions. the London NHS Trust is budgeted to cost
constraints are preferences and
Emerging Activity-Space use patterns are of vital designated (or owned) spaces The capacity of a school building £1bn (above: new building at Barts, HOK
can be negotiated, for example,
architects). As with all hospital projects,
concern, as rapid advances in clinical practices may conflict - conflicts: certain activities used to be determined by a the preference for avoiding early the new buildings will be obsolete
with long-term commitments to new PFI hospitals. cannot occur simultaneously formula saying that it must be lectures on Monday or late ones before they are finished – but hopefully
large enough accommodate the on Friday.
- time restrictions: activities can less obsolete than the buildings being
number of full-time-equivalent replaced.
Responding to change only take place at specified times.
pupils at a utilisation rate of 64%.
Attempts to improve efficiency are already given a high priority A given building has a higher This was based on the Activity-
in all three sectors, but with limited success. capacity when few restrictions Space assumption that rooms
apply, and a lower value when would be on average 80% full
The sectors usually operate in near-complete isolation
restrictions are added. This can be when they were used, and that on
from each other, despite increasing convergence between their represented as a capacity profile, average they would be used during
activities as they adapt to the digital revolution. as in the diagram. 80% of the time. 80% x 80% = 64%.
WORKSHOP ASR-W6
The sixth Activity-Space Research Workshop on 19 April The Workshop participants were highly territorial highly long strong highly
2007 was called ‘Micro-scale: modelling the individual asked to describe their own routine-seeking full-time work-focus mobile
workstyle by selecting values for
building user’. It is believed that the digital revolution will five attributes:
give individuals greater choice about when and where they
territoriality (the preference for
will carry out activities: given this increase in choice, what having a personal workplace);
characteristics of individuals will determine the way that territorial routine-seeking full-time work-focus mobile
routine-seeking (following the
choices are made?
same work pattern from day to
day);
Individual choice
full/part-time work (from ‘long’
The digital revolution has the potential full-time to ‘short’ part-time);
to liberate people from what had been
work/work-life balance (whether slightly territorial slightly routine- part-time work-life slightly
fixed constraints on how they run their work dominates or is balanced seeking focus mobile
lives – or how their lives are run. For The first exercise asked the with non-work priorities);
example, liberation from fixed working participants to state their activity mobility (whether work activities
hours, commuting at times of peak preferences by selecting values for take place in many or few
congestion… in fact, all aspects of five attributes. The exercise and the locations).
grinding routine. findings are sketched opposite. For each attribute the participants not territorial not short strong work-life not mobile
routine-seeking part-time focus
The participants expressed could select one of four values.
How much diversity? confidence in their self-assessments. This method of description creates
Will every individual’s activity pattern the possibility of 1024 distinct
become completely different from What if… workstyles (4x4x4x4x4 possible
everyone else’s? The second execise asked the selections), but perhaps a small
number of ‘typical’ workstyles
Unlikely. People are sociable participants to respond to imaginary would occur frequently?
territoriality routine-seeking full/part-time work/work-life mobility
balance
and adapt their behaviour to fit in situations, or micro-narratives,
The Workshop participants
with others and with social/cultural which were designed to reveal activity were a small and probably
conventions. And although people are preferences. The micro-narratives The Workshop participants were Being able to work anywhere, anytime You have to be in the office to work
unrepresentative sample, but their presented with pairs of statements, or means you can put more into the job. effectively, but luckily they make it easy to
never identical, they can have many are shown below. self-assessments showed a lot micro-narratives, and asked to indicate deal with non-work problems.
characteristics in common. The particpants were less of diversity and little indication which they agreed with more. The six
of emerging ‘types’. It would be pairs (right) were designed to reveal A great advantage of working at home Working in the office means you can really
The participants at the sixth ASR Workshop took part in happy with this exercise, finding it difficult to identify with the is that you can keep in touch with the focus and avoid distractions.
interesting to analyse data from a preferences for three attributes –
two exercises to explore ways of capturing information about micro-narratives. larger survey. territoriality, work/work-life balance, and children’s activities.
activity styles. mobility.
Seven individual profiles are Having my own desk means I don’t waste I’d be happy with hot-desking if the office
Consistency of responses In the second pair, for example, the left- time getting things done. had a bank machine and somewhere for
shown, giving a snapshot of the hand statement implies high mobility and
Self-assessment of workstyles The results of the stated and revealed preference exercises variety of participants’ responses. making private phone calls.
a work-life balance, whereas the right-
can be compared. For a few participants there was close hand statement implies non-mobility and I sometimes have to put work aside and I’m happy to work wherever there’s a free
Analysis of the data showed
agreement, and for most weak agreement. A small minority of moderate correlation between work focus. Each pair contained mirror- deal with other problems, so it’s helpful to desk so long as I can concentrate on the
cases showed divergence. Overall, this is an encouraging start. image micro-narratives of this kind, know that everything will be where I left it job.
the responses on the territoriality
dealing with two of the three attributes. It when I get back to the job.
Improved surveys of this type could provide valuable and full/part-time work scales; is a form of conjoint analysis.
information about the ways that people’s activities are likely to and some negative correlation Because I never know when I’m going to I spend a lot of time in the office so I enjoy
Although the small Workshop exercise
between routine-seeking and be in the office or travelling, it’s good to being able to work in different areas when
change in the digital economy. was not a great success, it is a useful I feel like a change.
mobility. survey method and worth taking further.
have a personal base which is available at
any time.
My work keeps me in the office and I get I come and go so much that it would be
used to working at a familiar workstation. crazy to keep a desk reserved for me.
[3]
MODELLING
AND MANAGING
UNCERTAIN DEMAND
30 MODELLING AND MANAGING UNCERTAIN DEMAND 31 MODELLING AND MANAGING UNCERTAIN DEMAND
MODELLING AND MANAGING UNCERTAIN DEMAND

Lionel March
What we have learnt in the Empirical versus theoretical But a study of the symmetry of Conventional wisdom versus
past few years is that a class investigation a square shows that there are speculative reasoning
of architectural problems can, A professor of sociology precisely six symmetry axes:
under suitable conditions, be four on the diagonal and two 1 2 3 4
used to send his class of
transformed into a class of undergraduates on campus orthogonally – in the ratio, two Consider an array of compact The urban configuration is It will be observed that 24 Alternatively, instead of
mathematical problems for trips to record human thirds and one third. That is to urban forms. Each contains a rearranged as a cruciform with crossroads are redundant in doubling up the lanes in the
the solving of which, very behaviour. His students were say, a MODEL of the situation gridiron of 25 blocks arranged the same number of blocks. the cruciform arrangement. urban roads, the additional
often, powerful methods sent to the commons where establishes the expected result as a 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 5 + 3 + 1 The urban coverage is still 15%. There are 24 fewer road capacity could be
already exist. Furthermore, others gathered for their without making any empirical diamond. This arrangement However, whereas 12 blocks intersections. The blocks separated from the urban
because of its symbolic nature coffee breaks. The commons observations. The observed ensures that the ‘taxicab’ in the compact arrangement are served by just under development and relocated
mathematical manipulation is had square tables for four behaviour was entirely distance from the urban are in direct contact with half the length of road. This through the countryside as an
more versatile than any verbal customers. The question the random! edge is constant. The urban the countryside, twice that suggests that the service runs unbuilt parkway.
or graphic equivalent. professor posed was where two coverage is approximately number have this contact in for electricity, gas, water,
Now, if the students had
But perhaps more importantly, students sit down at a table did observed that two thirds of 15% of the land. There are the cruciform arrangement. telephone are also halved.
the mathematical model they sit opposite one another or the couples had sat opposite 25 road intersections with The unbuilt roads between If the lanes in the road are
often gives us insight into the adjacent across a corner. After across the tables, then to implications for accidents and the compact towns are not doubled (preserving the total
structure of the architectural several classes had made their suggest that the customers pollution. The total urban road required. road area), the capacity of
situation we are investigating. observations, the conclusion 'preferred' this position would length is 50 block lengths. the road system will be more
Professor Lionel March, together was reached that two thirds of be a legitimate behavioural Between the towns there is an than doubled. The cruciform
Thus, the creative aspect of
with Sir Leslie Martin, founded the the couples sat at the corners observation since it counters additional 24 block lengths of arrangement links up to create
research requires recognition
Centre for Land Use and Built Form and one third across the the prior probabilities. unbuilt road associated with a linear network and an urban
of an appropriate abstraction
Studies (later the Martin Centre) tables. The professor made the each settlement retiform over the countryside.
in the Department of Architecture or idealisation of our subject
obvious empirical observations
at Cambridge University. He later by which we may represent it
that 'couples clearly preferred
held academic posts at The Open in order to reveal its essential
to sit at corners rather than
University, the Royal College of Art structure
and the University of California at Los across from one another'.
Angeles. Our task in architectural
research is to understand and
explain what goes on in the
environments we build, how sitting at the corner of a table
people and environments
relate. But is this the only task?
No – certainly to describe past
and present situations, but also
to design new situations.
From The Architecture of Form,
edited by Lionel March, 1976,
pp.x-xii.
sitting across a table
ACTIVITY-SPACE SIMULATION The white bryony, ‘the only plant belonging wAverages Are Not Enough table 1 Simulation results
100%
to this tribe [Cucurbitacae] which is native – simulation ASR-S1
to Britain’, from Flowers of the Field The number of people in the
by Rev C A Johns (4th edition, c.1863, When a population of building building was simulated 250,000
published by the Society for Promoting users can decide individually times for each of the four
80%
Christian Knowledge). (below) whether and when to use the organisations. The percentage
building, demand is variable. of runs in which the number of
Suppose a building is used by 20 people in the building was 1, 2,
60%
people, and on average there is a 3, 4 … and so on is shown in the
There is almost unlimited complexity in the ways that Activity-Space simulation 50/50 chance that they decide to charts, which all have a peak at
people use buildings – the behaviour of every individual, An axiom of the Activity-Space Research initiative is that the use the building. the average demand, 10 people.
40%
every day, is the response to a unique set of constraints and use of buildings is changing because individuals now have The average demand is therefore In organisation 1, half the
opportunities. But under this surface complexity there may much greater freedom of choice about the times and places 10 people. But this average population of 20 always come to
be stable and repeating processes, which transform chaos for carrying out activities. This decentralisation of decision- ignores the behaviour of individual the building and half never do,
20%
into comprehensible patterns. making brings apparent unpredictability and complexity. users. The table (below) shows so demand is always exactly 10
Because individual decision-making is the critical factor, each individual’s chance of people.
deciding to use the building in four
0%
Puzzle and explanation this is what the ASR simulation models concentrate on. alternative organisations.
Looking at the data table,
In his autobiographical notes (1876) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 organisation 2 doesn’t look so
All four organisations have the different from organisation 1,
Charles Darwin writes about climbing Agent-based models same average demand – 10 people
table 2
with half the population attending
40%
plants: ‘I was fascinated and perplexed Models that simulate individual – but the demand profiles vary very frequently and half very
by the revolving movements of the members of a large population as widely, as shown in the charts. infrequently. But the pattern of
30%
tendrils and stems of a Cucurbitacean a way of making inferences about demand is dramatically different,
plant, which movements are really very the population as a whole are varying between 7 and 14 people.
Organisation
20%
simple, although appearing at first very called agent-based models; the 1 2 3 4 Organisations 3 and 4 look
complex. I was not satisfied with the individuals are the agents. For large 1 100% 90% 70% 50%
significantly different in the data
table, but the charts show a
10%
explanation of Henslow, namely, that populations, agent-based models are 2 100% 90% 70% 50%
3 100% 90% 70%
marginal impact in demand, both
they had a natural tendency to grow up computationally demanding, but that 50%
varying between 5 and 15, apart
4 100% 90% 70% 50%
a spire. This explanation proved quite is no longer a problem with modern
0%
5 100% 90% 70% 50%
from a very few extreme cases.
Darwin’s ‘Diagram showing the movement
erroneous.’ Darwin published his own computers. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
of the upper internodes of the common 6 100% 90% 60% 50% The change in demand from
explanation in 1865, in a book of 120 A classic example is the Pea, traced on a hemispherical glass and 7 100% 90% 60% 50% table 3 organisation 2 to organisation 4
40%
pages. simulation of a shoal of fish. All transferred to paper (Aug. 1st) ’, from 8 100% 90% 60% 50% shows a gradual transition, not a
Climbing Plants (1865). (below)
Darwin’s investigations agents are identical and use very 9 100% 90% 60% 50% radical shift.
30%
10 100% 90% 60% 50%
combined meticulous observation simple decision rules to adjust 11 0%
The impact on demand of a move
10% 40% 50%
and the construction of explanatory their movement in response to – even a small move – from the
12 0% 10% 40% 50%
certainty of organisation 1 is huge.
20%
hypotheses, which were derived their neighbours’ movement. The 13 0% 10% 40% 50%
But certainty is not replaced by
from the observations and tested outcome is the amazingly complex 14 0% 10% 40% 50%
chaos, but by orderly probability
10%
against them – until he arrived at an and beautiful movement of the shoal, 15 0% 10% 40% 50%
distributions that are relatively
16 0% 10% 30% 50%
explanation that he believed was fully verified. which appears to have a life of its own but is wholly derived 17 0%
insensitive to detailed variation in
10% 30% 50%
It’s an inspiring example of the way that scientific from the agents’ simple decision rules. the behaviour of individuals.
0%
18 0% 10% 30% 50%
analysis can reveal simple truths that are not self-evident A list of the main ASR simulation models is shown 19 0% 10% 30% 50% 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 To model uncertain demand it
when one views a complicated real-world situation. opposite. Many are under continuing development. 20 0% 10% 30% 50% is essential to have a reliable
table 4
40%
Av. 50% 50% 50% 50% estimate of the decision-making
of individuals, but there is no need
Simulations for overwhelming detail.
30%
ASR-S1 The spatial demand of unpredictable activities (2006)
ASR-S2 The use pattern of a fixed spatial resource (2006)
ASR-S3 Activity-Space decision-making by individuals (2007)
20%
ASR-S4 Activity-Space decision-making and the work-life
balance (2007)
10%
ASR-S5 Habitual decision-making (2007)
ASR-S6 Generic office organisations (2007)
0%
ASR-S7 Informal workplace contacts (2008) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
ASR-S8 Flexibility for variable demand (2008) number of attendees
SIMULATION OF INTERACTING AGENTS ASR-S2 simulation process

Each agent’s behaviour alternates Agent
Av. episode
length
Period
50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69
between on-site episodes when 1 on-site 4 2 1 4 3 2 1 3 2 1 X
they decide to use the building, away 1 4 3 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 3 2
and away episodes. The average
2 on-site 4 3 2 1 X 3 2 1
length of each person’s episodes
away 5 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1 5 4 3
are specified, but the simulated
lengths vary randomly from the 3 on-site 5 5 4 3 2 1 6 5 4 3 2 1 2
The foundation of agent-based modelling is the decision- change was announced and carried out over a summer close-
averages. away 4 3 2 1 2 1 3 2 1
making of individuals, but individuals are not always down – and when the site reopened hardly anyone turned up.
The model runs over 100 time 4 on-site 2 2 1 X 3 2 1 X 2 1
independent. When agents’ decisions take account of the Because of fear of congestion they had found alternative places away 2 3 2 1 3 2 1 1 3 2 1 3 2 1
periods; 20 typical periods are
decisions of other agents the models and their outputs get to work – at home or at other company sites. shown. The length of episodes 5 on-site 4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1 5 4 3
more interesting. The fear of congestion was irrational. If previous Activity- are in ‘count-down’ format, away 4 5 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1
Space behaviour had continued, the probability that all users always ending with an entry of
‘1’. 6 on-site 5 2 1 X 6 5 4 3 2 1 6 5 4 3 2
Modelling would independently decide to come to the site at the same away 2 1 1 3 2 1 2 1
Activity-Space decisions often take account of interaction with time was inconceivably small. After the last period of an away
episode, coloured orange, 7 on-site 3 1 X X 4 3 2 1
other people. Concern with privacy, Simulation modelling could away 4 4 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 6 5 4 3 2
dispel irrational fears – and irrational people want to start a new on-
for example, is about controlling the
site episode, but if demand is 8 on-site 3 1 4 3 2 1 1 4 3 2 1
exposure of ourselves and our actions hopes. too high they may be blocked away 4 1 4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1
to other people. – shown by the green cells
9 on-site 2 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1
A direct way in which one Diversity and complexity marked ‘X’. People who are
away 5 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1
person’s actions are affected by In principle, an agent-based blocked start additional away
episodes; in this run all ‘forced’ 10 on-site 2 2 1 4 3 2 1 X X 6 5 4
(and affect) others’ is congestion. If simulation model can replicate any away 4 3 2 1 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1
away episodes last three time
everyone decides to do the same thing well-defined interaction mechanism. periods. At the end of a ‘forced’ 11 on-site 2 1 2 1 4 3 2 1 4 3 2
at the same time, they all experience So there could be very many such away episode there is another away 3 1 6 5 4 3 2 1 1 2 1
congestion. People learn from models. attempt to start an on-site
episode, but this may be blocked 12 on-site 2 2 1 X X 2 1
experience, and those who can often The temptation to develop away 2 3 2 1 6 5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 6
complex models with many variables again – for example, agent 10 is
adjust their decision-making to avoid
blocked in time period 61 and Av. on-site demand 6
congestion. and decision rules should be resisted. again in time period 64.
Congestion is usually ‘Complexity kills. It sucks the life out Number on site 5 5 3 4 6 6 3 4 6 5 6 6 6 4 6 6 5 6 6 6
Seven of the 12 agents
unwelcome, but so is total isolation; of developers, it makes products Av. number on site 5.2
experience blocking in this 20-
for example when choosing a difficult to plan, build and test … period extract.
restaurant a sea of empty tables is and it causes end-user frustration 100% 6 spaces
7 spaces
not an attraction. Many environments …’ (Ray Ozzie of Microsoft, New York length of forced
away episodes 8 spaces
work well when there is an equilibrium Herald Tribune, 27 March 2006). example shown above
1 9 spaces
between under- and over-occupation. 90%
2 10 spaces
Sometimes people are congestion-seeking. Charles Simulation experiment ASR-S2 3 11 spaces
Dickens observed that, ‘it is a hopeless endeavour to attract This simple model simulates 12 people who make individual 4
12 spaces
6
people to a theatre unless they can be first brought to believe decisions about when to use a building, and the resulting use 80% 10
utilisation
20
that they will never get into it’ (Nicholas Nickleby, 1839, pattern in the building. The graph summarises the relationship
between utilisation and blocking for 56
Chapter 30). On average 6 people want to use the building, but simulation runs. For all runs, the average
demand is frequently lower or higher. However, suppose 70% demand was 6 people. The lines represent
40
Perceptions and expectations that the building is only large enough for 6 people. When the the number of places, and the blobs on
the line the length of the away periods,
Activity-Space decisions are affected by what other people do, demand is for 6 people or fewer there is no problem, but when which are marked on the blue line and
and also by perceptions and expectations about what they may it is for 7 or more, some people are blocked. 60% occur in the same sequence on the other
do, even when the perceptions are unfounded. Despite the average demand being equal to the capacity, lines. When the number of spaces is 9 or
more there is no blocking, but utilisation
For example, a large company had a site with three there are periods with unused capacity and others with A six-person table for shared use. At is low. When the number of spaces is 6, 7
under-used buildings. Analysis showed that with a small unsatisfied demand. the time the photo was taken only one
50%
or 8 the levels of blocking and utilisation
amount of desk-sharing all the people using the site could be This model has only four variables, but it still allows person had decided to work at the table, are coupled: increasing the length of the
but at other times there may be a queue 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 forced away period, or increasing the
accommodated in one building, releasing the other two. The multiple model runs with systematic variation of input values. of people waiting to use it. (Photo Chris number of blocking events number of spaces, brings a reduction in
See Chapter 7 for more detail. Webber, BT). both aspects of performance.
SIMULATING A GENERIC ORGANISATION Components of ASR-S6

Their preference for territorial,
Activities Simulations
Territorial Snapshot 1 Snapshot 2 Snapshot 3
bookable and informal Employees
workspaces. The building is Task-focused
employees
described by the number of
territorial, bookable and informal Interaction-focused
workspaces. employees
Every organisation is different, but many have features in The simulation generates a Space
common. Universal statements that ignore the differences are series of snapshots, each with a
specific number of people seeking Workstations at
unsatisfactory, but it is redundant to study each organisation territorial, bookable and informal
the employer’s
premises
as a totally special case. A generic but customisable model workspaces.
makes sense – this was the rationale for ASR-S6. With the snapshot demand, it may sucessful allocation allocation with allocation with
le
al
ab
be possible to allocate everyone displacement displacement & overflow
m
ok
r
fo
Basic attributes There are three workspace types – assigned, bookable and
bo
to workspaces of the type desired;
in
Simulation model ASR-S6 attempts to balance simplicity and informal. Cost data can also be entered, if desired. or some may be displaced to a
functionality. It is undoubtedly a simple different type of workplace; or if all
available workspaces are occupied
It describes a generic office- description compared to the there may be an overflow.
based organisation in terms of incredible variety of the real world,
basic attributes that should apply but the purpose is to simulate, not
in practically all situations – like an to explain, an organisation’s use of
Results from systematic runs between 45 and 50 people, it rises 100
utilisation / queueing frequency / displacement frequency

application form that asks for an space and time. It can capture the
of ASR-S6, for 25 bookable steeply. 90
address and date of birth: people critical changes that are coming with workstations. In each run the
are all different, but they all have an the digital revolution. Displacement (green line – the 80
population was increased, from
probability that each person will
address and date of birth. 18 to 90 people. One-third of the
be displaced) rises more gradually 70
Simulation people were static, flexible and
from the same threshold. 60
mobile; all were task-focused.
Activities and spaces When the simulation program is run, With more than about 80 people 50
The model is implemented in Excel. it allocates people to workspaces and Utilisation (blue line) rises steadily
there is permanent congestion.
The user sees two worksheets, for calculates the utilisation achieved. It to 90% with about 60 people, then 40
more slowly to 100%. If queueing and displacement
data input and output; the simulation also reports on ‘displacement’, and are undesirable, the upper limit
30
program itself is hidden from the cost if data is entered. Queueing (red line – the probability
on utilisation is about 75% – 20
that at least one person will be
user. Displacement occurs when under the assumptions of this 10
displaced) never occurs for small
On the input worksheet the there are insufficient workspaces of simulation.
populations, but from a threshold 0
user describes the organisation’s the types that people wish to use. 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
employees and the workspaces at the Displacement is the downside of number of users
employer’s premises. space-saving – efficient facilities
There are nine employee types, defined by time and management has to balance space-saving against the risk Utilisation Queueing Displacement
workstyle. In time, employees can be static, spending 90% of (and cost) of displacement.
their working time at the employer’s premises; flexible, with
50% of their time on-site; or mobile with 20% of their time on- What-if explorations Extract form the data input employee types number of time workspace proportions
site (the numbers can be changed). In workstyle, employees an The office organisation described by the input data can be real sheet for ASR-S6, showing how time workstyle employees on site allocated bookable informal
be territorial, always using an assigned workspace that they or hypothetical. The model is normally run with real data to an organisation’s activities are
territorial 10 90% 100% 0% 0%
described. The user enters the
‘own’; or task-focused when they spend 75% of their time at validate its output, and then used to compare the performance number of employees in each of
static task-focused 20 90% 0% 75% 75%
the employer’s premises in bookable workspaces for individual of alternative scenarios, exploring trade-offs between capacity, nine types, which are defined by
interaction-focused 20 90% 0% 25% 25%
work and 25% of their time in informal spaces for interaction; workstyles, utilisation, queueing, etc. the use of time (% of time on-site) territorial 10 50% 100% 0% 0%
or interaction-focused when 25% of their time is in bookable Model ASR-S6 is still under development in partnership and workstyle. Workstyle is in flexible task-focused 20 50% 0% 75% 75%
workspaces and 75% in informal spaces. with case study office-based firms. turn defined by the % of on-site interaction-focused 20 50% 0% 25% 25%
time spent in different types of
The same approach, using generic but customisable workspace. All numbers can be
territorial 10 20% 100% 0% 0%
mobile task-focused 20 20% 0% 75% 75%
simulation models, should be equally applicable to other over-written by the user. interaction-focused 20 20% 0% 25% 25%
building types.
total employees 150 80 average employees on-site
YIELD MANAGEMENT AND THE Yield management in an airline

Suppose a flight has a capacity of
1. Empty seats: wasted capacity
SHARED WORKPLACE 10 seats, but the airline overbooks

and sells 16 flexible reservations. 8 8 = $ penalty
There are three possible
outcomes: 2. Every seat occupied: perfect!
1. Fewer than 10 people turn up,
When building use moves from the traditional certainties (or Yield management so the plane flies with empty
seats, incurring a small wasted 10 6
illusions) to the new world of decentralised decision-making, Industries like airlines or hotels have solved comparable
capacity penalty
building managers’ hard-won experience becomes irrelevant. problems using yield management techniques. 3. More people than seats: bumping
Activity-Space simulation can partially fill the vacuum. For example, when an airline takes flexible reservations 2. Exactly 10 people turn up –
perfect!
for a flight, some people usually fail to turn up. If seats are
Something has to be done kept empty the flight has wasted capacity and lost income. 3. More than 10 people turn up, 12 4 = $$$ penalty
so some have to be bumped,
Many facilities managers are troubled by low levels of utilisation To minimise wastage, airlines ‘overbook’ flights. But there
incurring a high displacement
in buildings that are expensive to build and run. Utilisation is is a risk that too many people may turn up, when some have penalty.
intuitively felt to be too low, but what to be displaced or ‘bumped’ and high Y low σ high Y high σ
Airlines use yield management
target should be aimed for? paid compensation; the cost of analysis to determine the level
probability
probability
Setting a realistic target is compensation exceeding the income of overbooking that minimises
different from saying, for example, that from a passenger that flies. the combined wastage and
‘improving utilisation from 40% to 80% Yield management establishes overbooking penalty cost.
would halve premises costs, saving the optimum level of overbooking,
so many million pounds per year.’ balancing the costs of wastage and
Increasing penalty cost ratio, Y

Yield management in a shared D C* D C*
Arbitrary comparisons may be true, of compensation for displacement. workplace medium Y low σ medium Y high σ
but they say nothing about whether it Six graphs showing how yield
probability
probability
would be feasible or desirable to move Systematic analysis management identifies the margin
to the higher utilisation level. To apply yield management to space between the average demand, D,
sharing in an office is essential to and efficient capacity, C*.
Shared use of space know the demand probability and The cases vary in terms of the
In traditional office-based also the penalty costs of (i) unused uncertainty about demand, σ
D C* D C*
[sigma] (as uncertainty increases
organisations employees expect their space and (ii) displacing employees. the graph gets flatter), and the low Y low σ lowY high σ
‘own’ desks, but today many people Most managers could ratio between the displacement
probability
probability
spend time away from the employer’s provide the unused space cost but and wastage penalty costs, Y
office during the working day. ‘Owned’ would hesitate over displacement. (the ratio between the purple
desks are left unoccupied and However, in any existing situation the and green parts of the graph).
Although the average demand
utilisation falls. implied penalty cost of displacement is the same in the six cases, the
With decentralised decision-making demand at the can be revealed by ‘reversing’ the yield management analysis. margin between average demand D C* D C*
employer’s workplace is not only lower, it is also more If excessively low utilisation is tolerated to eliminate the risk and efficient capacity is very
uncertain. Because of this uncertainty it is not easy to decide of congestion, the implied penalty cost of displacement is different. Increasing uncertainty about demand, σ (sigma)
how much space-sharing can take place. It is logical that stratospherically high. In practice, the cost ratio would
Facilities management is no longer like
employees should share fewer desks – but how many? Whenever demand is uncertain a margin of space usually be high and the green
an economy run by central command; it
Providing too many desks incurs a cost penalty due to above the average demand is needed. The size of this margin part of the graph correspondingly
operates as a market where efficiency
small, leading to a high margin.
unused space; but if there are not enough desks some employee depends on the uncertainty of demand and the ratio between depends on matching supply (space) and
demand (activities).
requests will fail, with the penalty of employee dissatisfaction the wastage and displacement penalties.
and perhaps loss of productivity. The facilities manager’s task To achieve efficiency, space-sharing must be taken to
is to minimise the combined penalty from unused space and/ the point where there is a real, but small, risk of displacement.
or dissatisfied users. It’s unwise to find out where this point is by trial and error.
Much better to collect the data that’s needed and do the yield
management analysis.
There is more about yield management in Chapter 9.
[4]
FLEXIBILITY FOR
ACTIVITY CHANGE
42 FLEXIBILITY FOR ACTIVITY CHANGE 43 FLEXIBILITY FOR ACTIVITY CHANGE
FLEXIBILITY IN PRACTICE – DESIGN RESPONSES

Andrew Rabeneck
Too much of a good thing? Space Research can change evaluated by reference to saw one strategy for flexibility Victoria Plaza – a spec Four things we have learned [1] Bev Nutt identifies ten dimensions
that. cost histories [3]. There is come full circle. The hospital office building of 1984. This about flexibility of flexibility in his note ‘Flexibility:
Flexibility has been an Infrastructure, Property and
architectural and planning inadequate or non-existent used horizontal interstitial 200,000ft² four story building 1. Things do not always turn
As a result assumptions made Workplace’ (2003). They are: Use;
enthusiasm since about 1960. analysis of minimax regret service floors with deep plans was a pioneer of American out as you think they will.
when flexible measures are Operational; Spatial; Physical;
It now pervades most areas criterion [4] – the opportunity to maximize servicing flexibility spec office construction
considered often turn out to be 2. To plan the right sort of
Technological; Financial; Portfolio;
of business. So how should /risk appraisal between [5]. But interstitial floors standards in London, including
mistaken. Typical problems flexibility you need to do the
Tenure; Market; Management.
designers of buildings today demand and supply. turned out to be an excessive the 5ft (1.5m) module, used
include: hard graft research. [2] Horst W.J. Rittel ‘Wicked Problems’
approach flexibility? response to the servicing needs for cladding panels and
So what does work, what is a in Management Science, 1967, Vol. 4,
- The probability and of clinical space, where there glazing, structure, ceiling 3. Even with good research
Physical building flexibility sound investment? No. 4, pp.141-142. He spelled out the
consequences of change are was not actually that much grids, and even mechanical you may be caught out difficulties of practical reasoning in
is a response to uncertainty ignored or underestimated. When designing buildings change. The concept was systems [7]. British buildings’ (‘… events, dear boy, events’ – real world situations, eg. architectural
about future needs, and takes it turns out that the most technically exciting for the dimensional discipline derived design.
Tight fit between today’s needs Harold Macmillan).
the form of over provision in valuable precautions against design team, but the zoning of more from space-planning
and resources are hard- 4. Flexibility costs money – [3] For example, cumulative
relation to today’s needs – built unforseen change are very services and their uncoupling and the legacy of ill-founded
wired into the design process, much is likely to be wasted. capitalization of investment over time
in at a cost. Most commonly old-fashioned: regularity of from other building systems ideas of modular coordination.
because there are easily for similar buildings, as a measure of
this is the physical over plan and section; adequate could achieve 80% of the Modules of 3ft 6ins (1.05m), 4
grasped metrics of ‘design adaptation to change.
provision of space, services dimensions especially in public benefits in a much simpler ft (1.2m), and 4ft 6ins (1.35m)
quality’. Design management [4] In decision theory known as
or gadgets such as moveable spaces and floor-to-floor height; way. In the event the changes jostled for adoption, promising
techniques are heavily geared opportunity loss, a combination of
partitions [1]. good structural capacity; that condemned Greenwich a close fit between status and
Andrew Raneneck is an Architect to refining the fit between brief actual monetary loss and unrealised
Flexibility is considered ample service risers and after only 29 years were office size. The 13.5m² offices at
with experience in both building, and design – cost prediction, potential profit.
necessary because the adequate plant rooms; services completely unanticipated Victoria Plaza, built as part of
design and builing management. ‘knowledge management’, [5] The building was inspired by the
future remains uncertain that are modular according by the design team: asbestos the American bank Salomon
‘value’ engineering. work on flexibility of John Weeks of
and design problems are to the state-of-the-art. Such legislation and health service Brothers’ fit out, were generous Llewellyn-Davies and of BSD in San
- Expensive technological fixes attributes (with the exception reorganization. compared with the 9m² offices
endemically indeterminate or Francisco, who had pioneered the
are seductive. of floor-to-floor height) are that were typical at the time in interstitial service floor concept for
‘wicked’, whether or not that School Construction Systems
is recognized by designers A planning principle (eg. typically not expensive in London. But the glass-fronted bioscience Academic Buildings for the
Development (SCSD) was
[2]. Designs are certain to be a module), a gadget, or relation to overall first cost, Salomon office could used for University of California and Veterans
a set of subsystems for
inadequate in some respects, a building sub-system is but are likely to buy a good a single senior manager, two Hospitals, based on analysis of historic
school building developed alteration costs and hierarchies of
yet buildings are assets that overvalued during design, measure of future-proofing. junior managers sharing, three
in the 1960s that addressed permanent and adaptable services.
must be kept useful in order to frequently by architects or We might call these attributes analysts and even four typists
a pedagogic revolution BSD’s 750,000ft2 Loma Linda veterans
maintain value, even when engineers, and treated as Vitruvian. They typically result (with the glass front removed).
in schools – child-centred hospital still stands, as does John
needs change: hence the urge an insurance policy against in buildings that can ADAPT to It made a good meeting room
learning. Variety of learning Weeks’ Northwick Park, built on
to future-proof them. Hindsight unknown change, often at the consequences of change for up to eight, and could be similar principles.
spaces and ‘schools without
over the last fifty years premium cost. at reasonable cost. This is an converted to a computer frame
walls’ were the design creeds, [6] Chris Arnold and George Rand
suggests some approaches to approach to future-proofing room. As a result, despite
- The wrong sort of change and they resulted in deep- ‘Evaluation: A Look back at the ‘60s’
flexibility that might help, but that is be contrasted with the massive re-planning on a
takes place. plan carpeted schools with Sexiest System’ in American Institute
there have been more dashed conscious advanced purchase week-by-week basis, partitions of Architects Journal, April 1979, pp.
great flexibility of partitioning,
expectations than successes. The planned-in. Flexibility of FLEXIBILITY, an investment and mechanical services 52-57.
ceiling/lighting and air-
is defenceless against the made risky by its dependence rarely had to be disturbed.
conditioning. In reality the [7] The building, an air-rights
unanticipated change that on accurate forecasting about changes of configuration was development above Victoria Station,
Design strategies that aim to actually takes place. This is the type of change that will was developed by Stuart Lipton while
less than anticipated. An irony
increase flexibility common, even when analysis take place. at Greycoat. Lipton had long been
of the SCSD story is that when
might have highlighted the a student of American speculative
Despite its popularity, flexibility teacher-centred classrooms
true areas of uncertainty. office building practice, producing
has not been much studied. returned in the 1990s (another well-serviced adaptable office space
Methods for measuring it - The wrong sort of flexibility is Experience of flexible/ unanticipated change), the that kept its investment value better
or assessing its value are built-in. adaptable buildings in use schools were very economical than the more custom-built approach
scant. There is no how-to-do- The kind of flexibility necessary Greenwich District Hospital to adapt physically, but the to offices common in Britain.
it guidance underpinned by to accommodate probable was completed in 1970 but spaces in the deep-plan shells
theory – but perhaps Activity- types of change is not properly has now been demolished – it were generally unattractive [6].
FLEXIBILITY: LOOSE-FIT
A building is flexible if it can cope with future activity change; Suppose that there are two A B Activities (10 ‘units’)
because everyone accepts that change is constant, there is a designs, A and B. Both have four
spaces and a total area of 12 3 4 3
strong demand for flexibility. But how does flexibility actually modules. All the spaces in design
work? – and how can we predict whether today’s buildings A are the same size, 3 modules;
or designs will prove to be flexible? The idea of a ‘loose-fit’ in design B, one space is larger, 4 3 3 3
building is a starting point. Measuring looseness of fit modules, two have 3 modules, and
one has 2 modules. We are only 3 3 2
The looseness of fit between a set of activities and a set of spaces
concerned with the set of spaces
Degrees of change can be measured by the number of ways that the activities can be making up the alternative designs, 3 2 2
Buildings are durable and static; arranged in the spaces. An example not their layout.
activities are ephemeral and is shown in the diagram, where two A set of four distinct activities
changeable. Therefore, during the life alternative design are compared for must be assigned to the spaces A (24 ways)
of most buildings it is likely there will the same set of activities. The design – two activities are of 3 modules
be a relatively large amount of activity with more possible arrangements and two are of 2 modules. In this
change. New activities can often take performs better in terms of loose- experiment, one module of space
can accommodate one module
place in the same accommodation fit flexibility. Looseness of fit is of activity. It is evident that both
that was previously used for different particularly important for buildings designs can accommodate the
activities. But sometimes new activities that are timetabled. activities, by assigning them to the
need different accommodation, spaces as shown.
creating an Activity-Space mismatch. Activty-space tolerance There are also other ways of
To minimise the risk of The duffle coat model is coupled to assigning the activities to the
mismatch, the idea of a loose-fit the proposition that loose-fit flexibility spaces. With design A the four
activities can be assigned to the
building suggests that too tight a is maximised in designs that have B (12 ways)
four spaces in 24 different ways,
match between activities and spaces few distinct types of space, and many but with design B there are only 12
should be avoided, creating some identical instances of these types. possible assignments.
‘slack’ which may be valuable when This has become conventional Therefore design A performs
activities change. wisdom in hospital design. A recent better than design B in terms of
This was called the duffle brief made the following statement: loose-fit flexibility.
coat strategy by John Weeks. Over a ‘The intention is to generate a pool of
generation ago he proposed that, ‘In order to get maximum beds capable of being utilised in a flexible manner according to
flexibility … it is necessary to provide rooms which fit around the demands prevalent on any given day, or at any given hour.
the activities which are to be carried out in them like a duffle This cannot be achieved without generic rooms’.
coat. The duffle coat, provided by the Navy for its officers, was This is questionable. Loose-fit flexibility is enhanced
not a tailor-made garment. A few sizes were made and these when there is a high level of tolerance between the attributes
were related to the known sizes of sailors so that it was usually of activities and spaces, so that small (or large) variations in
possible to find one that would fit reasonably, and keep the the activity attributes do not cause a mismatch. But the same
sailor quite snug’ (Weeks, 1960, p.20). applies to spaces: small (or large) variations in the space
attributes do not cause a mismatch either. Therefore, if the
spaces (or duffle costs) are not identical, it doesn’t matter.
Standardisation of spaces may be desirable for design,
construction and maintenance, but this is separate issue.
The important thing in designing for loose-fit adaptability
A long-life duffle coat at the Royal Navy
is to maximise the tolerance between activities and spaces, not Commando war memorial in Portsmouth.
to get fixated on identical space types. (Photo Peter Denton).
FLEXIBILITY: CHANGING ACTIVITIES
In a building with loose-fit flexibility a given set of activities Physical change clearly extends (or more accurately, modifies) Suppose that the ten activity A (2 groupings) B (5 groupings)
can be arranged in a given set of spaces in many different the range of activities that can be accommodated. This is why modules from the previous
experiment can be rearranged 3 3 3 3
ways. Flexibility for changing activities is concerned with many buildings, such as Victorian terraced houses, are altered into groups in diverse ways. Can
what happens when the set of activities changes: can the new for changing activities, even though flexibility was not a design the designs still accommodate the
activities still be accommodated? objective of the original designers. activities? 3 3 3 3
Designing for flexibility is fraught with pitfalls. Built-in As we saw in the previous 2 3 2 3
Experimental comparison flexible features that could be changed, such as demountable experiment, both designs A and B
It is hard to imagine a situation in which the Activity-Space partitions, may be left untouched. And conversely, buildings can accommodate the 10 modules
of activity in the schedule 3,3,2,2. 2 1 2 1
match is so precise that even the that were designed to maximise
slightest activity change would cause flexibility are sometimes demolished Design A can also accommodate
a mismatch. There is always some after a short service life. the 10 modules of activity in just
one other schedule – 3,3,3,1.
degree of tolerance, and therefore These experiences,
there must always be some capacity coupled with the findings from the Design B can accommodate 4
schedule 3,3,3,1 and also three
for activity change. The greater the experiments, show that flexibility is
more – 4,3,3; 4,2,2,2; 4,3,2,1.
tolerance, the more activity change not a one-dimensional attribute, but 3
must be carefully defined for different Therefore design B performs
can be accommodated.
better than design A in terms of 3
The challenge of design for situations. flexibility for activity change.
changing activities might apply, for
example, to the designer of a suite of Flexibility and adaptability
meeting rooms who wants a layout In this chapter the words ‘flexibility’
that gives flexibility to accommodate a and ‘adaptability’ are taken to be
wide range of meeting sizes. synonyms, describing the ability to
When comparing an activity cope with change. 4
demand with the design, a single It is possible to use the words
feasible assignment is sought; to identify distinct concepts, as was 2
here we are not concerned with done by Andrew Rabeneck in the
interchangeable Activity-Space 1970s [Rabeneck, 1973 & 1974]. He 2
assignments. proposed that flexibility meant the
We again compare the same designs A and B as in the ability to change the physical configuration of a building; and 2
loose-fit experiment, where A performed better than B in terms adaptability meant the ability of a building to absorb a variety
of loose-fit flexibility. of use patterns without physical change. This terminology has
In the current experiment we find that B performs better been widely followed, for example in Schneider & Till’s Flexible
than A terms of flexibility for activity change (see diagram). Housing (2007).
4
This suggests that, whereas designs with many identical Unfortunately, the words are sometimes used in precisely
spaces (like design A) perform well for loose-fit flexibility, the opposite sense, for example, in government guidance on 3
designs with a range of different spaces (like design B) provide school design (DFES Building Bulletin 98, undated).
more flexibility for changing activities. Using the two words to refer to different aspects of 2
flexibility/adaptability risks confusion, so here only one word
Design for flexibility ‘flexibility’ is used; when particular aspects of flexibility or The site of Greenwich District Hospital 1
Designers often seek to extend the range of activities that a adaptability are discussed they are explained. in 2008. It was a complex and expensive
design intended to maximise flexibility. b
building can accommodate by making provision for alterations
Built in the early 1970s, it was closed
to the design, for example by movable walls, relocatable in 2003 after barely 30 years of use and
services, or strategies for growth. demolished.
WORKSHOP ASR-11
The eleventh ASR Workshop on Flexibility: flexible workplaces Seminar room plan A specimen copy of the form that Schedule Votes Micro states C Schedule Votes Micro states
and flexible activities was held on 20 November 2008. The In the second stage of the exercise the participants at the Workshop was filled in by 14 participants
at the Workshop (right). Each 1 80 2 1 11 40 20 10 10 4 420
participants took part in a two-stage exercise, reported here. were asked to select a building plan for the seminars, from five suggested 6 schedules of grouping 2 70 10 1 8 16 30 20 10 10 10 5 560
alternatives A to E. for a population of 80 students. 3 60 20 1 28 17 30 10 10 10 10 10 3 56
Selected activity schedules Plans A to D had eight ‘modules’ of space, each module The 22 possible schedules can be
4 60 10 10 2 28 19 20 20 20 10 10 6 420
Before the Workshop on flexibility, the participants were capable of accommodating a group of 10 students; they had two 5 50 30 3 56 20 20 20 10 10 10 10 6 210
listed (bottom left): the number of 6 50 20 10 2 168 21 20 10 10 10 10 10 10 4 28
e-mailed a form and asked to suggest a set of activities states fixed and four movable partitions. Plan E had no movable partitions, times each one was suggested by 7 50 10 10 10 1 56 22 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 11 1
for seminars in a university. They had to suggest a list of six but it had one extra fixed partition and an extra module of space. the participants is shown, labelled 8 40 40 6 35
schedules of seminar groups for a The participants made 27 ‘votes’, together with the number 9 40 30 10 0 280 Total 39 1695
of microstates calculated using
department with 80 students; the selections. The most popular plans the formula (given on page 51).
10 40 20 20 3 210
11 40 20 10 10 4 420 E Schedule Votes Micro states
group sizes having to fall in multiples were C with 14 votes, and E with 10
The weighting given to the 12 40 10 10 10 10 0 35
of 10. votes. 15 30 20 20 10 4 1680
schedules by the participants’ 13 30 30 20 6 280
84 schedules were received, The plans can be compared in votes and by the microstates 14 30 30 10 10 5 280 16 30 20 10 10 10 5 560
six each from 14 people. There terms of the number of schedules of calculation are significantly 15 30 20 20 10 4 1680 19 20 20 20 10 10 6 420
many repeats between the different grouping they can accommodate: plan different. 16 30 20 10 10 10 5 560
Total 15 2660
participants’ lists. C can accommodate 7, and plan E can 17 30 10 10 10 10 10 3 56
The participants at the Workshop
18 20 20 20 20 9 105
Now, this problem allows accommodate 3. were asked to make a selection
19 20 20 20 10 10 6 420
F Schedule Votes Micro states
precisely 22 distinct schedules, so Comparing the plans with the from five alternative plans for
20 20 20 10 10 10 10 6 210
accommodating the seminars; 10 40 20 20 10 3 210
the 84 examples suggested by the participants’ 84 suggested schedules, 21 20 10 10 10 10 10 10 4 28
plans A to E (right). The votes were 11 40 20 10 10 4 420
participants can be mapped onto the plan C can accommodate 39, and plan – A: 1; B: 0; C: 14; D: 2; E: 10.
22 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 11 1
15 30 20 20 10 4 1680
22 distinct schedules. E can accommodate 15. Total 84 4945 16 30 20 10 10 10 5 560
The performance of the preferred
But comparing the plans with plans C and E are compared in the
19 20 20 20 10 10 6 420
All possible activity schedules the calculated microstates, plan C can tables on the right, which show Total 22 3290
The number of times that each of the accommodate 1695, and plan E can the schedules of grouping that can
possible schedules was suggested by accommodate 2660. be accommodated; the number of
times that each of these schedules A B C D E F
the participants is shown in the table. Plan E has a flexibility bonus: it
was suggested by the participants
Most popular was the schedule in which provides the option of adding movable in stage 1 of the exercise; and the
the 80 students are divided into eight partitions in the future. number of microstates associated
small seminars, each of 10 students; 11 of the 14 participants There are other possible plans, such as plan F, which with the schedules.
suggested this schedule. The least popular schedules with no was not offered at the Workshop; it can accommodate 22 of the Plan C performed well when
suggestions were {40,30,10} and {40,10,10,10,10}. suggested schedules and 3290 microstates. compared to the suggested
The number of microstates associated with each schedules, and plan E performed
schedule of groupings can be calculated using a counting Which plan is most flexible? well when compared with the
microstates. 1 20 20 20 20 80
formula (given on page 51), treating 10 students as one ‘unit’ for If the 84 suggested schedules are regarded as representative of
this calculation. On this basis, by far the most probable schedule the seminar demand, then plan C is a flexible selection. Perhaps Plan D, which was not popular, 2 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 80
performed as well as C with
is {30,20,20,10} with three times as many microstates as the this indicates consistency by the participants. respect to the suggested
next, {30,20,10,10,10}. These two schedules were suggested by If, on the other hand, the microstates are regarded as a schedules (39) and better than C 3 10 20 10 20 10 10 80
some participants, but less often than others with many fewer better indicator of probable seminar demand, then Plan E is the or E with respect to microstates
microstates. best of the five Workshop alternatives, and plan F is better still. (2955). Arguably, it was the best 4 10 20 10 20 20 80
It seems that the participants had a ‘modularity bias’, This exercise reinforces the message that flexibility can only of the five plans offered to the
participants. 5 10 20 10 10 10 10 10 80
preferring schedules that divided the population into equal or be evaluated against a well-researched and credible statement of
near equal group sizes; whereas schedules with a variety of expected activities – flexibility is not an inherent attribute of plans. There are many alternative plans,
including plan F; it performed 6 30 30 30 80
groups sizes have more microstates. significantly better than E against
both measures of flexibility. Total
SCENARIO-BUILDING
People ask for flexibility when they don't know what's going Implicit enumeration In simplified cases all possible Population of four Most probable group sizing for population = 1600
to happen in the future, but flexibility can only be measured Implicit enumeration involves defining the critical activity scenarios can be identified Size 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
explicitly.
and designed if a range of relevant futures can be defined. attributes, together with the range of possible values that they No. 5 16 31 43 48 46 37 26 16 9 4 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
could take in the future, and, if specifiable, an estimate of their Suppose that we are only
concerned with the way that a Possible groupings
Changing activities probabilities. Trees of possible future activity states can be population divides into groups:
50
Flexibility can only be designed for activity change that can generated by systematic variation from known current states, there is a finite number – for a 1
be imagined. Planning for flexibility therefore requires that perhaps in proportion to past volatility. population of four people there are 40
a range of possible activities is defined. Other changes may Even when there are too many permutations to list precisely five groupings.
2
number of groups
take place, but it is a matter of luck, exhaustively, it is easy to generate If the members of the population
30
not design, whether or not they can be a representative set of specimen are regarded as individuals we
3
accommodated. states, showing the range of possible can also look at microstates.
There are more of them, and they
The range of possible activities future activities. 4
20
are not evenly distributed across
could be defined explicitly, by providing groupings.
an exhaustive list of every relevant Evaluating flexibility 5 10
If a designer does not know
activity state. More often it would Having defined a set of future activity how a building will be used, it is
be done implicitly, by specifying the states, explicitly or implicitly, they reasonable to provide for growing Groupings of four distinct
0
extent to which activity attributes can be used to test the flexibility of with the largest number of individuals – ‘microstates’
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
might change; then, by permuting a building or design proposal. Taking microstates.
size of group
these attributes, every relevant activity each of the future sates in turn, they The number of microstates 1
state could be generated. be compared against a design - in associated with a pattern of 1.0 0.5
grouping can be found with a 2 λ = 1.0 λ = 5.0
principle, each activity state can be: 0.8 0.4
counting expression (right).
Explicit enumeration (i) accommodated, This is cumbersome for large 0.6 0.3
An example of explicit enumeration is (ii) accommodated after modification
Pr
Pr
populations. 0.4 0.2
the group-sizing analysis shown in the to the design, or N!
diagram. (iii) not accommodated. W= N N
0.2 0.1
qr
(r!) qr !
It turns out that the most Alternative designs can be r =1 r =1
0.0 0.0
0 2 4 6 8 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 15 16 20
probable size distribution of groups compared against the same activity r r
3
in a population of individuals follow a states, and will perform differently in 0.5 0.5
λ = 2.5 λ = 10.0
positive Poisson distribution [Fawcett, 1979]. This applies in the terms of those than can or cannot be accommodated. 0.4 0.4
probability Pr
absence of constraints that skew the distribution; for example, Designs that can accommodate more of the relevant set
0.3 0.3
in school there are many more class-size groups than in an of activity states are more flexible.
Pr
0.2 0.2
unconstrained situation. Note that a design’s flexibility depends on the set of
In a survey of room sizes in hospitals in the 1960s, activity states used for the test. The same design will perform 4 0.1 0.1
Peter Cowan found that the size distribution followed the differently with different sets of activity states; and if the 0.0 0.0
characteristic shape of a positive Poisson distribution [Cowan, flexibility of alternative designs is being compared, the ranking 0 2 4 6 8 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 15 16 20
r size of group r
1964]. may change according to the set of activity states used for
evaluation. The groupings with the highest groups, and very few large groups.
number of microstates can be The shape of the distribution
estimated mathematically. It turns depend on the parameter λ
The sizing of the seminar rooms in the
new Faculty of English building in the
out that the size and number of (lambda), approximately equal to
University of Cambridge (Allies and groups approximate to a positive average group size.
Morrison, architects) was chosen to Poisson distribution. These
This is a reasonable basis for
approximate to the positive Poisson distributions usually have few very
5 room-sizing in buildings where the
distribution. small groups, many fairly small
pattern of use is uncertain.
THE REAL OPTIONS SYNTHESIS
The real options approach can accommodate all forms of and so on. Many buildings also incorporate embedded options A decision-maker who believes
flexibility in a uniform way, and it establishes the basis for that do not require special input by the designer, for example, that the future can be predicted
(or ignores the future change) Z
calculating not only the level of flexibility provided by a design the option to make ad hoc alterations. may make an unchangeable
but also its value. This is crucial for decision-making. There are two ways of planning for the future. commitment to a specific decision,
The first is to make predictions, and design what is effectively say decision X. It might be about
Enhancing flexibility a phased project to match the sequence of predicted future the type of use in a building, the
When flexibility is a project objective designers introduce events. The second is to accept that predictions are impossible type of material or technology to
use (above right).
features that they believe will enhance this attribute. This often and provide a design that can evolve in a variety of ways as Impossible
In the future, however, it may to predict
leads to larger, more highly specified future events unfold. Present
transpire that alternatives Y or Z X X ? the most
designs, which are often (but not The two approaches can Situation favorable
would have been preferable – but outcome
always) more flexible – but they are be characterised as aiming for there is no possibility of changing.
also more expensive. Are they a good optimality or robustness [Rosenhead
If the design incorporates lifecycle
investment? – only if the value that is et al, 1972]. options, then the present decision
gained from the flexibility is greater The first approach is usually a X can be modeled during the
than the cost of acquiring it. lost cause; the later phases of multi- service life, if it turns out that
phase master-plans are practically alternatives Y or Z are in fact
preferable (below right). Y
Lifecycle options never implemented as initially
The extra investment in flexible expected. Effectively, in all long-term Lifecycle option are valuable if
there is uncertainty about what
features can be seen as buying projects new decisions are made in
will be required in the future; the
‘lifecycle options’ on a wider range response to unfolding events. more uncertainty there is, the
of future scenarios, with the options There are two benefits of higher the value of having lifecycle
being exercised at nil or low cost if the acknowledging uncertainty at the options.
scenarios actually occur [Ellingham & time of design. First, the early stages Lifecycle options avoid the need Z
Fawcett, 2006]. The extra cost can be of a multi-phase plan can be designed for precise predictions about the
regarded as a ‘flexibility premium’. to work reasonably well even if later future.
Impossible
Option value for alternative phases are abandoned; and second, to predict
designs can be calculated with respect opportunities for the widest variety the most
favorable
to a given set of scenarios; and this of future development paths can be outcome
option value can be compared against the flexibility premium: built in – these are lifecycle options.
only if the option value exceeds the flexibility premium is the Present
X X ?
Cost-effectiveness Situation
design good value.
Note that the greater the future uncertainty, the higher Flexibility can be defined a ‘the probability that a building will Lifecycle
will be the option value of flexible designs, thus justifying not become functionally obsolete’. It is not determined by the options do
higher flexibility premiums (ie. an inverse of the situation with ability to make physical changes – a static building may have not reply on
accurate
no uncertainty, when there would be no need for flexibility and all the flexibility you need; and a movable building may not. It is predictions
lifecycle options would have no value). easy to over-design for flexibility – as in the case of Greenwich
District Hospital. Y
Robust design If the need for flexibility is defined by the extent of
Flexibility is best understood as a type of lifecycle option. relevant activity change, then it is possible to evaluate the
Whenever a designer provides the opportunity for other people flexibility provided by alternative designs, and select the most Movable partitions cost more than
later decision points
to make new decisions in the future in response to unfolding cost-effective design. studwork, the extra cost buys the
lifecycle option to rearrange the office
events, a lifecycle option is created. Typical lifecycle options layout economically and with minimum
include the options to extend, adapt, change use, refurbish, disruption.
[5]
BEHAVIOURAL
ISSUES IN ASR
56 BEHAVIOURAL ISSUES IN ASR 57 BEHAVIOURAL ISSUES IN ASR
NOT JUST EVENTS, EVENTS… ALSO PEOPLE, PEOPLE!

Ziona Strelitz
A decade into the 21st of demand, but also for venue or that. However, are both demographic and buying food, running one’s individuals – to go to the [1] Melvin M Webber, The Urban
century, one is struck by two relevant innovation in built qualitative research on fiscal, and they change home, keeping fit, remaining office or to work from home. Place and the Non-Place Urban
apparently contradictory environment concepts and people’s choices expands the over time, generating new culturally engaged, playing A more distributed range of Realm, in Explorations into
Urban Structure ed Webber et al.,
phenomena. The previously products. repertoire of identified factors confluences and disjunctions. sport, attending to ageing networked work venues may
Pennsylvania University Press,
vaunted (or for real estate that influence individuals’ The point is easily made parents, seeing friends, having involve a more productive
Effective prediction is about Philadelphia, 1964.
developers and investors behaviour. Drawing from by reference to women’s time to read, and so on. This set of choices for individuals
anticipation at scale. The [2] Ziona Strelitz, Liveable Lives, Office
dreaded) prospect of an decisions regarding where to extensive involvement in the tiny sequence of examples seeking to optimise their
choices that any specific Push and Pull: Common Employee
entirely virtual world has work as an index, significant contemporary world of work indicates the substance and engagement in all spheres
individuals make in shaping Predicaments, Regus, London, 2010.
not come to be, but Mel positive forces are evidenced relative to several decades rich detail that a responsively of life, including work. It also
how and where they spend [3] Rhona and Robert N Rapoport
Webber’s ‘non-place urban at play. These include ago, resulting in new pressures expanded definition of offers the promise to be more
their time are not pertinent, and Ziona Strelitz, Fathers, Mothers
realm’ or ‘community without sociability at the workplace, at the interface of people’s ‘convenience’ will comprise. sustainable environmentally.
but they are relevant in and Others, Routledge & Kegan Paul,
propinquity’ is indeed with the image that a given work, family and personal On the supply side, it implies
aggregate. And the factors Whilst individuals make their London and Henley, 1977.
us, existing in parallel workplace projects – and then lives. a different cost base. Enriched
that underpin them are own choices with the cards
with the continued use of confers on its users, the sense Activity-Space modelling [4] Ziona Strelitz and Michael
relevant to our understanding And whilst technology has and values that they hold, and Edwards, Getting it Together: The
buildings as places of physical of privilege, endorsement can help to inform, test and
of what shapes demand for catalysed the significant the options and constraints Work-life Agenda and Offices, British
congregation. This includes and belonging that people optimise these possibilities.
existing settings, as well as potential for new ways of that they perceive, there are Council for Offices, London, 2006.
buildings’ continued elective associate with being there,
our potential to generate organising ourselves in work consistencies across them, as
use – much of the presence the access to colleagues’ skills
productive innovations in as well as other spheres of evident in the existence of
in buildings is by people and experience, the potential
Ziona Strelitz is the founder director of supply. activity, it has also fuelled social patterns and trends,
who have a choice over practical advantages of
ZZA Responsive User Environments the new sense of autonomy even though the range of
whether to be there or not; What do we know about being present in a physical
ziona.strelitz@zza.co.uk that individuals feel – relative patterns in work and life styles
their physical attendance in the behavioural factors that marketplace where one’s
to their work choices, family may be expanding. One
Copyright © Ziona Strelitz, the space is not mandatory. influence people’s decision- visibility and encounters can
choices, other salient interests strong current driver is the
March 2010 At the same time, building making regarding when trigger new opportunities, and
and commitments, and widespread interest in work-
utilisation rates are frequently and where they undertake the sheer contrast from home.
the trade-offs and linkages life alignment . This influences
far below design capacity, activities over which they have
Other relevant factors they seek to make between many specific decisions
with occupancy rates of 40% temporal and / or locational
represent negatives. Rather these in holding their lives about where and when to
or so not uncommon. This discretion? What can we learn
than home being presumed together. Thus the realm of work, encompassing factors
involves many inefficiencies: from empirical research to
to be a venue of preference – people’s interests, values that Activity-Space Research
for those providing the inform relevant model-building
typified as relaxed, physically and emotions have acquired models can be scoped to
space, unnecessary rent; for and calibration? And how
close to personal and family increased importance in incorporate.
those operating the space, can the thought required for
involvements, and dispensing the way they shape their
wasted resources on building effective modelling help shape Attention to a wider range of
with the time and energy activities, through the specific
servicing; for those using the useful approaches in evolving behavioural factors derived
spent on travel, individuals decisions on how they invest
space, too little activity or buzz; the built environment? from research on living
might find it too constrained their time and other resources
from a societal perspective, patterns and aspirations can
In support of both conceptual and constraining – physically in given spheres like work
undue environmental impact also contribute to Activity-
clarity and better base data, and / or socially, and it and family, and in optimising
with an excess of buildings Space modelling for new
we need to widen the notion of might feel isolating, lonely, their fulfilment of interests and
that thereby entail superfluous supply strategies. People’s
‘convenience’ that we define unstimulating, unmotivating commitments across their
land use, embodied energy current choices are heavily
as central in Activity-Space and disassociated from the range of involvements. This is
and energy in use. If influenced by existing patterns
decision-making. The vantage goals and nerve centre of the guts of life: writing a good
simulation can better predict of urban development. In
points of the corporate real work. report, playing a part in the
demand for building use, it respect of the workplace,
estate supplier and theoretical work team, being in touch
promises obvious benefits There is a whole raft of this frequently involves large
modeller typically focus on when your manager wants
in terms of sizing the supply factors that shape who is buildings and campuses,
a framework of utilitarian to connect, avoiding being
of built space. In addition, available for work, at what delivered in support of real
rationalism, prioritising factors made redundant, reaching
the thinking involved to stage of the life cycle, and estate economics, with the
like travel time and cost and your baby’s nursery in time,
inform effective modelling with what associated pulls, focus on office consolidation.
the availability and quality being ‘there’ when your child
is itself instructive, nor just counter-pulls and pressures The solution forces a largely
of support resources in this comes back from school,
for more realistic assessment in their lives . These forces binary decision for many
INFORMAL CONTACTS Chance encounters – simulation

A small-scale simulation of
main entrance to hall
Pembroke College hall shows the 66 seats, 42 people

impact of seating conventions on
cross-disciplinary encounters. The
simulation is of a lunchtime when
both the main part of the hall and
the high table are a little over half
It has become a truism that in the digital future the primary full.
role of buildings (other than homes) will be to provide places
The people in both parts are from
to meet, rather than places for individual activities. And not five disciplines of varying size,
just places for planned meetings, but also, perhaps more The Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge (Annand & Mustoe, shown by colours. The numbers
importantly, for unplanned encounters – chance events that architects) is for three- to six-month workshops for visiting from each discipline in the two
can trigger the unpredictable creative spark. mathematicians. There are studies for the visitors’ private parts of the hall are generated
work, all opening off galleries around a central atrium with using random numbers. The
seating sequence on the high table
Dispersed activities the stairs and a generous coffee area. This was a deliberate is simulated; in the main part of
In the era of ubiquitous digital design strategy intended to maximise the hall the clusters are placed
connectivity, there are fewer and fewer encounters and interaction, and it manually.
reasons for travelling to particular has proved very successful. Where neighbours are from the
locations at particular times to carry same discipline they are linked by
out activities – as we used to go to Chance encounters – management a dashed line; where they are from
shops for shopping, to libraries for Chance encounters also depend on different disciplines a thick line is
used.
journals, and so on. Now we can do Activity-Space management.
these things by computer wherever In many organisations people In the simulation shown, each
person in the main part of the hall,
we are, whenever we choose. There’s mix in social or refreshment areas,
where most people sit in ‘private’
a huge gain in convenience, but one so the provision of these areas is discipline clusters, has an average
penalty is that we don’t meet other vital – this is a design issue. But that of 2.1 neighbours; of these 64%
people. isn’t the end of the story. There is an are from the same discipline and
To counter this trend, the instructive comparison between what 36% are cross-disciplinary.
entrance to high table

encouragement of person-to-person happens at lunchtime in two parts of On high table, with sequential
encounters is increasingly put forward the dining hall at Pembroke College. seating, each person has an
average of 4.1 neighbours, 16%
as a primary objective in the design and People using the main part of
within-discipline and 84% cross-
management of the built environment. the hall come in groups and choose disciplinary.
It’s an attractive idea, although the a table with a clear area that is large
On high table there is four
benefits are rather hard to quantify. enough for their group, preferably times the likelihood of a cross-
leaving a gap separating them from disciplinary encounter.
Chance encounters – design neighbouring groups. When the hall is full the groups have to
How can opportunities for chance encounters be maximised? join up, but the preferred arrangement is dominated by distinct
32 seats, 21 people
Two examples that depend on spatial layout – one occurring by clusters of people who already know each other.
chance and the other planned. At the high table quite a different convention applies.
Open-air circulation in the traditional
In a traditional Oxbridge college, to go from one part to Each newcomer always takes the next available seat, regardless Oxbridge college creates many
another you walk in the open air – and, as well as getting wet of who is already seated. This means that there is a degree opportunities for informal encounters
on rainy days, you meet people. In contrast, buildings that are of randomness in neighbour-pairs. Assuming that there is (Pembroke College, Cambridge, right).
The Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge
designed for ‘efficiency’ have related functions close to one conversation and exchange of ideas when people sit next to (far right), was designed to maximise
another and connected by short circulation routes, minimising each other, the high table convention with random neighbours encounters between occupants, whose
opportunities for encounter. means that once in a while there will be an unplanned creative rooms all open onto a central atrium. One
professor said that when he had important
spark that would otherwise have been lost. work to do, he would use the lift to get to
To maximise opportunities for unplanned encounters it his room unobserved.
is not enough to have people in the same space at the same
time – the social conventions of behaviour and interaction are
also crucial.
GROUPING AND SOCIAL NETWORKS A social network can be

represented by a graph.
The social network of six
individuals is shown in the first
graph in the diagram (top right). A B C D E F
All the individuals are included
in the whole-group network, but
they have different individual
There is a correspondence between the structuring of networks, shown in the six sub- Strong Activity-Space patterns
activities in a society and the building types it erects – the graphs (top right). The owner of can emerge purely from people’s
industrial revolution brought a proliferation of new activities the sub-graph is coloured green; tendency towards habitual
and an array of novel building types. The same applies at the a heavy line joins the owner and behaviour.
scale of an organisation and it's building: the nature of the his/her acquaintances, coloured In an experiment twenty agents
black, and a dashed light line
activities calls for matching spatial provision. Defensive behaviour shows whether the acquaintances
choose between five alternative
rooms (left). Their initial choice on
People are naturally anxious about change to an Activity-Space also know each other; people not day 1 is completely random.
Is behaviour predictable? convention with which they are familiar. known by the owner of the sub-
Building designers and managers One type of change that is graph are shown in outline only. The agents are from three
different groups, and they like to
sometimes express frustration at the often regarded as a threat is space- C and D are the most fully share the same room with others
perverse behaviour of users. sharing. It is a reasonable Activity- integrated with the whole group, from their group. So whenever an
At the least, this shows a and share the same sub-graph
Space strategy in buildings where agent encounters a member of the
connectivity. A has the same
mismatch between real users and people are away from ‘their’ space number of acquaintances, but
same group in a room, that room’s
designers’ or managers’ expectations. for much of the time, and utilisation attractiveness score goes up by
their mutual connectivity is lower. 1
one point.
People are varied and behaviour is of is therefore low and wasteful. This is B is ‘trapped’ in the A-B-C-D
course very complex, but that should an increasing trend with the take-up clique. E and F are connected to When choosing rooms on
the group, but only weakly. successive days, the agents’
not excuse bad outcomes but lead to of digital technology.
5 choices are weighted by previous
more effective user research (Fawcett, When a space-sharing scheme Real social networks are much encounters; and their new
1995). is introduced it is common for people larger. The sub-graph of a mid- encounters in turn modify the
20s knowledge worker in London
Some aspects of behaviour to cling on to ownership of space. An rooms’ attractiveness scores.
time steps
(above right) shows acquaintances
appear to be complex but turn out environmental psychologist made in distinct clusters; people in 10 Over time some rooms become
to be surprisingly simple. Often this observations of this phenomenon separate clusters do not usually popular for one particular
applies to the aggregate behaviour of (Brown, 2009), and classified anti- know each other. The size and group, whereas other groups
density of these graphs vary favour different rooms. This is
many individuals. For example, the sharing strategies into four types:
between individuals. 15 from a random starting point;
number of journeys per day between - identity-oriented marking every time the simulation is
two cities can be estimated from their - control-oriented marking run it produces a different, and
populations and the distance between - anticipatory defending therefore unpredictable, pattern of
them – without having to know the - reactive defending behaviour.
20
specific reason for a single one of the journeys. Within the four types he observed 32 distinct defensive Twenty days were simulated –
A valuable regularity is found in the way that a population actions and counted their frequency of occurrence. He then every fifth day is shown. By the end
room 1 room 2 room 3 room 4 room 5 of this simulation the green group
of individuals divides itself into groups. Observational data on interviewed the actors in this drama applied personality tests. tended to favour rooms 1 and 3,
‘free forming’ groups in the 1940s and ’50s found patterns that One has a shock of recognition in seeing these all-too- and the red group rooms 4 and 5;
There are innumerable reasons why
followed the positive Poisson distribution (Coleman & James, familar territorial strategies dissected. The implication is that visitors on the steps of the Metropolitan the blue group’s preferences were
1961) – the same result can be derived mathematically without they are negative behaviour patterns, but that is probably wrong Museum, New York, at 4.29pm on 11 April less stable.
observations (see page 51). – they reflect most people’s desire to minimise the perceived 2008 (left), or people enjoying the sun in
Even with emerging preferences,
the City of London at 1.08pm on 7 May
This regularity in group sizing is of immense value in risk of situations that impede the achievement of objectives, or 2008 (right), happened to fall into groups
there is still an element of
predicting behaviour and ensuring a match between activity that would be uncomfortable or embarrassing. of 1, 2, 3 … or more people, but regardless randomness in room choice that
demand and spatial provision. runs counter to the dominant
Activity-Space planning must attempt to understand and of the reasons we can be confident that
pattern. This would diminish but
the group sizing followed the positive
to take account of behavioural realities. Poisson distribution that is characteristic not disappear in a longer model
of free-forming groups. run.
WORK-LIFE HARMONISATION The components of the agent-

based simulation model of work-
The performance and convenience
scores are combined using the
office (O) home work (H) non-work (N)
life harmonisation. work-life index to produce a traditional environment

ranking of the alternatives (below performance 3 1 0
The alternatives between which
right). Because the work-life index convenience 5 2 5
the agents choose are described
varies though the day, the agents modern environment
by their performance and
choose different alternatives at
convenience scores, on the scale performance 5 4.5 0
different times; and because the
0–5 (far right). In this example convenience 2 3.75 5
For most people in the pre-digital world, the times and places model this is described by a reference work-life index in which there are three alternatives at
agents have unique work-life
for work were imposed by employers and non-negotiable. performance has a high weighting for weekday mornings and index values, they make different
two levels of digital adaptation
What happens when the boundaries become blurred? afternoons, and convenience a high weighting at other times. choices from each other.
– traditional or pre-digital, and
People are not all the same and in the model each modern when digital opportunities
Work is changing individual agent has a work-life index with values that vary from are fully exploited (in the future).
The content and context of work is changing in the digital the reference – the amount of variation reflecting the take-up
economy. This has not gone unnoticed. But studies of new of digital opportunities. The reference work-life index 100 environment work-life index ranking
The simulation model evaluates and ranks the (right) shows the weight given to
ways of working do not provide insights about knowledge P
% weight given to performance

performance at different time of 80
workers’ use of space and time, or alternative places of work for each the day. It is derived from census O 2
how demand at employers’ premises agent, creating a weekly diary. data. Peformance dominates C
60
can be expected to change. Analysis of the diaries of many during the middle of the day,
In the absence of survey data agents indicates behavioural change, but is secondary at other times.
and the changing pattern of demand Individual agents’ work-life index 40
the Activity-Space Research initiative P
values vary randomly from the
has addressed this question with an at employers’ premises. reference. H 1
20
agent-based simulation model. C
Emergence
0
Performance and convenience An important feature of agent-based dawn morning afternoon evening night
When they have a choice of times and models is emergent behaviour that P
places for work, people evaluate and was not anticipated in the model N 3
rank the alternatives, and choose the design. C
one that is most favourable. Home-based work was an
This is simulated by scoring emergent outcome in this model.
against two attributes: In pre-digital scenarios there was Graph showing the emergent 40
finding from the work-life current workstyle
- performance: effectiveness for no home-working, unsurprisingly. advanced workstyle
harmonisation simulation model,
performing work tasks With moderate take-up of digital about the timing of home-based
- convenience: effectiveness for opportunities some daytime office work.
percentage of agents home-working

30
dealing with non-work commitments. work transferred to evening home- With current workstyle (purple
With old-style conventions, based work – this is familiar today. line) most home-based work
offices have a high score for work-related performance and a With a more complete digital take-up the model suggested that takes place before and after the
low score for non-work convenience, whereas homes have a home-based work would increase further, and that it would conventional working period in the
middle of the day. 20
low score for performance and a high score for convenience. mostly take place during the daytime, not the evening.
In the modern world, the convenience scores of offices are This would be a significant reversal of the perceived With advanced workstyle (blue
higher, and (with distributed computing) the performance trend towards a 24-hour working day. line) the pattern is inverted. There
is more home-based working,
scores of homes are also higher. but it is now concentrated in the 10
Looking ahead middle of the day, with reductions
Individual variation The findings from such a simple model are not definitive, but in early and late work.
When combining the two atribute scores, the balance varies they should stimulate fresh thinking about trends in knowledge The graph lines are irregular
with time, so that different alternatives are selected at different work – and re-thinking of the conventional wisdom. because they are the average of 0
100 independent agents’ diaries. Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
times. They should also stimulate the development of more
There are strong social conventions about the hours of advanced modelling studies. With 1000 or 10,000 agents the
graphs would be smoother, but
the day that are devoted to work or to personal life – in the For more information about this model, see Chapter 8. with the same contrast between
current and advanced workstyles.
BUILDINGS IN USE In each case study, data was

collected about the size, character
A B C D E F G
and location of spaces for informal

interaction (corridors, local areas,
cafeteria), formal interaction
(lecture halls, seminar and
meeting rooms), and laboratories.
The quality of spaces for informal
The Activity-Space Research initiative has prioritised the use were agreeable, so the effort put into the selection process, interaction and their distances
of simulation models. But simulation models must reflect which took several months, was ultimately rewarded by a set of from the workpaces were
real world situations. This section outlines a case study recently built case studies in Germany and Britain. compared. The cafeteria in Case
investigation of real buildings designed for knowledge work. A, for example, is distant from the
Case studies: data collection workplaces and rarely occupied,
while the Case C cafeteria is more
Environments for knowledge work A full day visit was made to four case study buildings, and the attractive, more central and better
Many architects and interior designers have put forward ideas following information assembled: used. The variation in distances is
for the digital workplace (including Andrew Chadwick’s radical - personal impressions, observations and photographs shown on the chart.
proposal of 1982 that a portable - architectural drawings These characteristics of the Laboratories Configuration diagrams shortlisted
computer would be the ‘Office of - information about the use of space spaces for informal interaction Offices research and development buildings,
classified by their basic plan arrangement.
the Year 2000’ (see page 20). Many and time in the buildings can be compared with the Meeting Rooms
The case study set included one example
ideas have been acted on, so there is - building managers’ report of overall levels of satisfaction Corridors each from types A to E, marked with
in the four buildings: Case A
now a stock of buildings in existence experience in use. with an unattractive and distant
asterisks.
that can be considered as full-scale In addition a web-based cafeteria is the least well liked of
experiments in design for knowledge questionnaire was circulated to users the buildings. Of the other three
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
work, funded on a scale that academic of the buildings. In this project it was better-liked buildings, Case C has
researchers could never dream of. not feasible to carry out systematic the more distant cafeteria and a
somewhat lower satisfaction level. A
These buildings, or experiments, monitoring at the case study sites.
are an immensely valuable research
Case studies: interpretation B
resource.
How can case study Every building and building user is
investigations extract knowledge from unique, so a great deal of case study C
these full-scale experiments? data is site-specific. Comparison
of features that vary between case
D
Case studies: selection studies is only worthwhile if the
Data collection at case study sites variations occur in a similar context. very dissatisfied dissatisfied indifferent satisfied very satisfied
requires a great deal of time and The literature on research and
effort, so it is essential to choose only development buildings suggested
the most valuable sites. that four key factors should be considered: interaction, privacy,
100% A
In a case study project on recent buildings for research flexibility and perception of comfort. B
Cafe A 90%
and development organisations, a very long list of candidate These factors were analysed in the case studies, C
projects built was drawn up from publications and website providing empirical evidence to support three findings. 80%
D
percentages of workplaces
queries. In total 180 buildings were identified, located in Europe 1. There is a positive relationship between: a) physical provision 70%
and the USA. for interaction and b) satisfaction with physical surroundings. 60%
A review of these projects led to a long list of 86 candidate 2. There is a positive relationship between: a) perception of 50%
projects where the building configuration was predominantly comfort and b) satisfaction with physical surroundings.
40%
horizontal and interaction or flexibility was mentioned as an 3. There is a positive relationship between: a) physical
conditions conducive to interaction and b) physical conditions 30%
explicit design objective. The 86 designs were classification
into seven types. providing privacy. 20%
This case study research by Dr Erika
A shortlist of 20 buildings was then chosen – examples Despite the challenges of undertaking case study 10% Bataglia of the University of Sao Paolo,
with a clear expression of the features of the types and an research, and the difficulty of deriving general principles from 0%
Brazil, was carried out when she was
a visiting scholar at the Activity-Space
accessible geographical location. The owners were contacted site-specific data, case studies are essential for validating the 10 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Research initiative in Cambridge in
with a request to allow research access. A sufficient number theories of Activity-Space Research. Cafe C distance from workplaces to meeting places (m) 2008-09.
INPUT FROM WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS The participants at Workshop

10 were asked about the risk
A. Level of congestion-aversion disagree agree
of congestion when shared It would be a disaster if someone came to work and there
workstations are used. wasn’t a desk for them.
They indicated agreement It’s much more important to have enough space so that the
or disagreement with six work can get done, rather than saving a bit from the rent.
propositions, three about I don’t mind some empty desks if it avoids people complaining
congestion-aversion and three about having nowhere to work.
Up to now the Activity-Space Research initiative has been about estimation of demand;
university-based, and has relied on the experience of the these are critical for the yield B. Accuracy of demand estimation
Workshop participants to ensure that the research enganges management model. The I never know how many people will turn up looking for a desk.
results (right) show a mixture of
with real world issues. This is a provisional position, until the confidence and caution. This may
ASR approach is applied directly to real world problems. indicate inconsistency, or more The workstyles in this organisation are very unpredictable.
likely that the issues have not yet
Access to real-world data To investigate these factors the participants at the Workshop been fully thought through. This is I can not really specify the average number of people who need
a challenge for applying the yield desks.
Most of the Activity-Space Research studies have taken the were asked to imagine themselves in the position of the facilities
management model.
modelling approach, building and manager in their organisation, and
testing a large number of abstract and indicate how strongly they agreed At Workshop 14 the participants
were asked about their attitudes agreement
simplified models, in contrast to the or disagreed with six statements to prediction and scenario-
case study approach that investigates covering these issues. building, by indicating agreement Rather than making a single prediction about the future,
we should define a handful of alternative projections
a small number of real buildings in The result are shown opposite. or disagreement with twelve
detail. However, the ASR models have They seem to indicate an interesting propositions, six of them
to be based on real situations. mixture of confidence and caution – optimistic and six pessimistic. The Although we can't make precise predictions, it is
results (right) are mixed, but over- Any forecast we make is at risk of being overturned by possible to define a credible range of possible futures
The participants at the ASR downplaying the problem of potential optimism and extreme scepticism unanticipated technical, economic or political events
We have to act now on the assumption that the
Research Workshops have acted congestion but accepting fairly are both rejected. There is more current climate change predictions are correct
as external critics of the modelling extreme measures to ensure that it support for exploring a range of
studies, and by taking part in never occurs. scenarios than attmeping to make
If we don't go into too much detail, possible
Workshop exercises they have provided This suggests that it will be precise predictions. Fashion is a huge driver of events of all future scenarios can be generated by varying
kinds and defies any attempt at prediction the attributes of a system
valuable datasets. The participants important to explain to facilities
Our actions in response to forecasts will lead to
were self-selecting and interested managers that yield management changes that invalidate the forecasts
in architectural research, but even requires trade-offs – it can bring
pessimistic view optimistic view
so they brought a wide variety of real tremendous benefits, but only in
world experience. exchange for a calculated risk of It's generally better to wait and see than to make
major investments in situations of high uncertainty Projecting current trends into the future
This section presents the congestion. is the least bad way of planning
results of some Workshop exercises The broad trends of long-term development

are firmly based and can be anticipated
that have not been reported earlier in ASR Workshop 14
the book. This Workshop was about ‘Scenario-building – preparing for
the future’. The argument for scenario-building is that you can Investing now for future benefits it
ASR Workshop 10 only prepare for future events that you can identify; everything likely to be a waste of resources
This Workshop was about ‘Space management for uncertain else has to be left to chance. The future is so uncertain that it's a waste
demand’. It included the first presentation of the yield In the Workshop exercise the participants were asked to of time trying to make any forecasts
management model for the optimal capacity of shared mark their level of agreement with twelve propositions about
accommodation (see page 38). scenario-building – six optimistic and six pessimistic.
The optimum number of workstations given by the Overall there was more agreement with the optimistic
yield management model depends on two factors – first, the than the pessimistic statements, but the participants did not disagreement
importance attached to avoiding congestion, when more people display over-confidence.
turn up than can be accommodated; and second, the level of This result may confirm a key point about scenario-
unpredictability of demand for accommodation. building – that it is very different from prediction. Scenarios How much theoretical knowledge do of London amounts to very little and investors who want to look ahead ten or
people in the real world need? In 1936 sometimes nothing’, yet new projects are more years could benefit from the Activity-
should broad in scope and not over-detailed.
J M Keynes remarked that, ‘our basis of built (left British Land’s 165m Broadgate Space Research modelling studies.
knowledge for estimating the yield ten Tower, SOM architects, completed 2009).
years hence of… a building in the City This is risk-taking on an epic scale, but
[6]
ASR PAPERS: 1
Space-time management and office
floorspace demand: applied experience
and mathematical simulations
William Fawcett & Andrew Chadwick

Orginally published in the Journal of Corporate Real Estate
vol.9, no.1, pp.5-24, 2007
70 SPACE-TIME MANAGEMENT AND OFFICE FLOORSPACE DEMAND 71 SPACE-TIME MANAGEMENT AND OFFICE FLOORSPACE DEMAND
SPACE-TIME MANAGEMENT AND OFFICE FLOORSPACE DEMAND
Introduction recently completed building where buildings or tenancies actually practices (Figure 1). Data about the space-time showing the workspaces, storage the number of workspaces is equal
the space-use strategy was crucial occupied by the organisation at the utilisation of workstations is areas and support facilities that to the number of people reporting. Space to think
Large office-based organisations
incur very substantial premises to both economic viability and the time of the study. It is equal to the Applied experience: data and collected by an observed head- are required to support the current If the number of workspaces is
costs, yet workplaces are architectural solution is the new current supply and therefore easy analysis count in all departments on forty pattern of working, following fewer than the number of people
commonly found to be under- Salvation Army headquarters in to quantify. Data collection for virtual estate separate occasions – morning and current space standards and reporting the ratio STM is greater
occupied. This phenomenon is the City of London (Kucharek, (type 1 and type 2) afternoon observations on twenty workspace types (see Figure than 1 – this indicates efficient
Virtual estate (type 1)
exacerbated by new styles of 2005). working days. This is laborious to 4). Local circulation within the space-time management. If the
This is derived from the When studying an office-
work in which employees are not The applied experience in real collect. department is included. Although STM is less than 1 there is waste,
organisation’s current personnel based organisation it is usual to
tied to working a fixed location projects leads to rules of thumb Each observation records: the departmental plans are with more workspaces than could
and activities, assuming that the find that basic data is missing or
at fixed times (Harrison et al, about the efficiency gains that - the number of workstations in ‘virtual space’, they can be ever be occupied.
existing style of work is continued. uncertain, so the data collection
2004; Felstead et al, 2005). This are typically achievable, but real occupied understood and evaluated by the The analysis of virtual estate
A schedule of spatial elements is task is significant. Data is
inefficiency should be a focus of projects are not a good vehicle organisation to ensure accuracy. (type 2) uses observations of
generated – workplaces, meeting collected at the department - the number allocated to
attention in the modern, intensely for exploring the boundaries of The aggregation of departmental actual workspace occupancy in
rooms, etc, corresponding to the level – there are up to 80 of these people who are in the office on
competitive economy, where feasible efficiency improvements. plan areas, plus the ‘fit factor’ of each department to establish
organisations present activities ‘indivisible operational units’ for that day but temporarily absent
office premises are subject to This aspect has been investigated 10%, gives the floor area of the the number of workspaces
and space management. The a large organisation. Typically the - the number allocated to
the twin businesses pressures to with mathematical simulations. virtual estate (type 1). simultaneously occupied (see
spatial elements are drawn following data is collected for each people who are not in the office
drive down costs and stimulate a In combination, the findings from department through interviews The virtual estate (type 1) is Table 1). With a mobile workforce,
and dimensioned so their total on that day
creative workforce (Duffy, 2000). the two approaches begin to and questionnaires: compared with the real estate – this will often be fewer than
area can be calculated, even
In the extensive literature build up a quantified model of the - the number that are not the floorspace actually occupied by the number of workspaces in
though there is no layout plan. - function
on ways of making offices serve floorspace demand of office-based occupied and not allocated to a the organisation. This is a striking virtual estate (type 1). Revised
Experience has indicated that a - working practices
the needs of businesses more organisations. particular member of staff. headline figure, immediately departmental virtual plans are
10% ‘fit factor’ should be added
effectively, there is greater - structure revealing opportunities for greater generated based on the revised
to allow for a realistic layout in a
emphasis on strategies to increase Applied experience: supply and - headcount – current and Analysis efficiency. number of workspaces, and their
real building. The schedule of the
the productivity of employees demand for floorspace projected Further analysis takes account aggregate floor area plus the
spatial elements plus a 10% fit In analysing the data, the first
through workplace design, the The Organisational Modelling of static occupancy and dynamic 10% fit factor gives the virtual
factor gives the virtual estate (type - number of workstations output is a chart setting out the
relationship of workgroups, approach separates the supply and occupancy. Static occupancy is estate (type 2) – the organisation’s
1) demand, measured in square departments and their spatial
environmental stimuli, etc (for - space-sharing opportunities the number of workspaces in floorspace demand after space-
demand for floorspace in office- metres. relationships. An affinities
example, Brill et al, 1984, 1985; based organisations. The supply - strength of links with other the department and therefore time efficiency improvements.
Virtual estate (type 2) matrix assigns the strength of
Duffy, 1992; Clements-Croome, is much easier to quantify. Every departments connections between departments the maximum number of The same statistics are derived
2000; Becker, 2002; DEGW, This introduces space-time simultaneous occupants. Dynamic for the virtual estate (type 2) as
office building or tenancy can be - storage and filing to four levels (see Figure 2):
2005). Without discounting the analysis. It begins with a survey of occupancy is the number of people for the virtual estate (type 1) – the
measured with well-established requirements - strong (same or adjacent
importance of these efforts, the the current space-time utilisation reporting to the department – it is overall floor area comparison with
conventions – gross internal - equipment floor)
work reported here concentrates of workspaces in the organisation: greater than the static occupancy the real estate, and the measures
area, net internal area, lettable
on the second objective identified in practically all cases workspaces - need for dedicated or shared - medium (nearby or adjacent if people who spend part of their of static occupancy ratio (SOR2),
area, etc. The conventions vary
by Duffy (2000): reducing costs by have periods of non-use, facilities floor) time away from the office do not dynamic occupancy ratio (DOR2)
somewhat in different countries
tackling the inefficiency of under- sometimes long periods. The - IT, environmental, security - weak (accessible/same have dedicated workspaces. and space-time multiplier (STM2).
(for example, Stoy & Kytzia, 2005,
occupied workplaces. number of workspaces that are and other requirements. building) Two measures are calculated: These studies demonstrate
describe how Swiss conventions
An innovative approach to in fact simultaneously occupied opportunities for reducing an
vary from UK practice), but in In addition, data is collected - none. - static occupancy ratio (SOR1)
analysing the floorspace needs is established – fewer than in organisation’s floorspace demand,
principle, two surveyors should from the people who manage This often highlights – the floor area of the virtual
of large office-based commercial the virtual estate (type 1). A new based on explicit assumptions
arrive at the same figures when shared services – entrance and mismatches between the estate (type 1) divided by the
organisations has been developed schedule of spatial elements is about the management of
measuring given office premises. reception, car parks, meeting existing spatial arrangement static occupancy
by Chadwick International, an produced and the 10% fit factor space and time. The models are
Any office premises offers a supply rooms, plant rooms, etc. and organisational objectives, - dynamic occupancy ratio
architect-led consultancy based in added to arrive at the virtual estate held in spreadsheet form, so
of floorspace measured in square Policy-level data is collected and stimulates rethinking of (DOR1) – the floor area of the
London. The work was initiated in (type 2) demand, again measured it is straightforward to explore
metres. from senior management. This the workplace. An example of virtual estate (type 1) divided by
a 1987 commission to assess the in square metres. the demand for floorspace
An organisation’s demand for reveals the organisation’s view of an assignment of departments the dynamic occupancy.
needs of a major bank that was The virtual estate (type 2) before a strategy is selected for
space is harder to establish and its premises needs and intentions, to floor levels in a large office
relocating over 3600 people from demand would only be viable The ratio between them implementation.
is often poorly understood by the as well as its ethos, aims and building in a ‘stacking diagram’,
twenty buildings to a single, new with new methods of space-time establishes a third measure:
organisation itself. In the approach intentions. based on an affinities matrix, is The demand models can be
headquarters building. Since then management, because the same - space-time multiplier used in various ways. The first is
described here, three different The existing workspace shown in Figure 3.
the method, termed Organisational number of employees share a (STM1) – the ratio of the static in the selection of office premises
models of demand are proposed. standards are recorded: The next step is the production
Modelling, has been developed smaller number of workspaces. (SOR1) to the dynamic (DOR1) to rent. The floorspace demand
Real estate In contrast, the virtual estate (type space standards, workspace of virtual plans. For virtual estate occupancy ratios.
and systematised, and applied allows candidate premises to be
This is the floor area of the 1) requires no change in operating arrangement, workstation sizes (type 1), each department’s virtual
to many clients’ office needs. A The ratio STM is equal to 1 if shortlisted. The CAD-based spatial
and facilities, meeting rooms, etc. plan (type 1) is a CAD drawing
descriptions of the departments Mathematical simulations own premises and partly accordance with the individual’s For variable activities If an employee wishes to begin period 38, employee J encounters
can be compared to the plans of elsewhere. The proportion of time specified proportion of time on there is a greater probability of an on-site session when all six was blocked and began an Space to think
When seeking to eliminate under-
the shortlisted premises to assess use of office floorspace, there is an spent on site is known for each site. The number of people on satisfying demand as the number workspaces are already occupied, away session of 7 time periods,
goodness of fit. implicit ‘ideal’ outcome in which all individual, but the actual times site, between 0 and 20, gives the of workspaces is increased, the employee is said to be blocked. compared to the preferred away
A second use is in briefing workspaces in a department are when each individual decides to demand for workspaces in that but each additional workspace The employee begins another away session length of 5 time periods.
a new building, when there is fully utilised. It is highly unlikely come to the premises are random. simulation run. For each of the provides a diminishing benefit. session, with its length extended This unlucky employee had
greater control of dimensions and that this ideal outcome could ever The demand for workspaces is five scenarios, there were 250,000 To achieve certainty of satisfying by one time period compared to previously been blocked, when the
configuration than when occupying be achieved in practice, but it is of equal to the number of employees simulation runs; if each simulation demand an extremely large the away session just completed. away session length extended from
exiting buildings. considerable interest to investigate who decide to work in the represents half a working day, number of workspaces is needed – 5 to 6 time periods.
Rule 2
A third use is for auditing the feasible upper limits of organisation’s premises at a given 250,000 simulations corresponds approximately 50% more than the
After completing an on-site
the space utilisation of an efficiency improvement. This has time. to about 500 years. average demand. This is unlikely Results
session, an employee begins an
organisation. This is revealed by been done with mathematical Five scenarios with different to be cost-effective, but simulation Some statistics from the
Results away session of the employee’s
the comparison between the real simulations, exploring scenarios in proportions of on-site time for the does not identify the optimum level simulation are given in Table 7
For the five scenarios, Table 4 sets preferred away session length, or
estate and the virtual estate (type 1 a way that would be impossible in 20 individuals are set out in Table of provision. for each individual, plus average
out the percentage of the 250,000 if the employee’s last away session
and type 2). practical situations. 3; in all scenarios the employees values; these are averages of
simulations for which the demand was longer than the preferred
Because some or all of spend half their time on site on Simulation 2: fixed spatial ten 100-period simulations.
for workspaces would be satisfied length due to the application of
Applied experience: findings the employees in modern average. The scenarios form a resource Although the overall preference
by a supply of one, two, three, Rule 1, the length of the new away
organisations work off-site for part sequence from the one in which of the 12 employees was to spend
The method of analysis has etc, workspaces. The highlighted Data session is one time period less
of the time, the pattern of space behaviour of individual employees 50% of their time on-site, and
been applied to well-established row shows the percentage Suppose and office organisation than the last away session.
use in the organisation’s premises is most predictable, Scenario the 6 workspaces was equal
businesses occupying large office of simulations that can be or department has 12 employees The decision rules represent
is inherently variable. There will 1, to the one in which it is most to the average demand, in the
buildings, generally leased but accommodated by 10 workspaces. who are based for part of their the system of space-time
be an average level of demand for unpredictable, Scenario 5. In simulations only 42% of the
sometimes owner-occupied. The In Scenario 1, the demand for time in the organisation’s own management that determines
workspaces, but frequently the Scenario 1 there are effectively ten employees’ time was spent on-site
headline statistics for a sample of workspaces is precisely known: 10 premises and partly elsewhere. the use of workstations in the
number of employees seeking employees who are always on site due to blocking. This equates to
the projects are shown in Table 2. workspaces are needed – fewer Each employee has a preferred simulation. They are a very
workspaces will be either greater and ten who are never on site: in 85% of their time-on-site target
Note the following points than 10 are never sufficient and sequence of alternating ‘on-site’ important part of the simulation.
than or less than the average this scenario there is no difficulty being met.
- The reduction in floor area more than 10 are never needed. and ‘away’ half-day sessions,
demand. The expected demand in predicting demand. In Scenario Model
In Scenario 5, the demand for shown in Table 5. The average Table 8 summaries the
from the real estate to the virtual will not be a single number. 5 all individuals spend half their The simulation model was written
workspaces is most variable: proportion of their time that the occupancy of the workspaces.
estate is generally over 25%; the Systematic studies of systems with time on site and half away: this using Visual Basic in Micrsoft
for all but a few extreme cases 12 individuals wish to spend on Although the preferred activity
highest figure is 63%. variable demand began about 100 is the worst possible case of Excel. It covers 110 time periods;
demand varies between 6 and site is 50%. However, the actual pattern of the 12 individuals
- The floor area per workspace years ago with Erlang’s pioneering unpredictability in demand. The time periods 1-10 are used to corresponded to an average
14 workstations; although the times when each individual wishes
(SOR) and member of staff work on telephone systems, and remaining cases form a sequence initialise they system and periods demand for 6 workplaces, all 6
average demand is 10 workspaces, to begin an ‘on-site’ session are
(DOR) vary considerably between a substantial body of knowledge with gradually increasing 11-110 are used for analysis. The workspaces were only occupied
41% of simulation runs in Scenario random.
organisations, reflecting has been built up in fields such as unpredictability. simulation builds up a line of data for 49% of the time periods in
5 generate a demand for 11 or The organisation’s premises
different workstyles and operational research and systems The concept of unpredictability for each employee, recording the simulation. In 25% of the
more workspaces. provide six workspaces, matching
corporate culture. There is much engineering (Brockmeyer et al, used here corresponds to ‘entropy’ whether an on-site or away time periods one workspace was
greater variation in the real Two points are worth noting. the average level of demand by
1948; Hillier & Lieberman, 2001). in information theory: ‘The entropy session is in progress in each unused, and in 26% two or more
estate than the virtual estate. First, although Scenario 2 appears the employees. No more than six
Two simulations are described associated with a situation is time period, and also any blocking workspaces were unused. The
to be a reasonable approximation people can be accommodated in
- The space-time multiplier below. The first is concerned with the measure of the degree of events. The order in which the overall workspace occupancy,
to Scenario 1, it has a much any time period.
(STM) also varies between the demand of variable activities, randomness, or of “shuffledness” employees are considered is or utilisation, was 85% (5.04
more variable demand for space:
organisations, but here there and the second examines the if you will, in the situation’ Decision rules randomised at each time period, workspaces occupied on average).
thus, even a small amount of
is greater variation in the interaction between variable (Shannon & Weaver, 1949). Unlike the first simulation in which so the simulation is slightly
uncertainty in behaviour has a
virtual estate, as it is affected demand and a fixed spatial The number of workspaces demand was generated without different each time it is run.
large impact on the variability of Synthesis of findings
by organisation-specific resource. in the organisation’s premises reference to spatial constraints, An extract from a sample
space demand. The findings from applied
opportunities for space-time is not specified: the demand for in the second simulation the simulation is shown in Table cc.
Second, Scenarios 3 to 5 show experience indicate the efficiency
efficiencies. Simulation 1: probabilistic workspaces is simulated. spatial constraint is fixed, so it Each employee has an ‘on-site’
wide differences in the activity gains that have been achieved in
- The least space-demanding demand is necessary to consider what and ‘away’ line. The on-site and
Simulation model patterns of individuals (Table 3), practice, and simulations indicate
organisation was a consultancy happens if the demand for away sessions are recorded in a
Data The simulation model was written but relatively small variations in the probable upper limits for
with employees who spent a workplaces exceeds the number ‘countdown’ format, with changes
Suppose than an office-based using Visual Basic in Micrsoft the demand for space (Table 4): efficiency gains. These findings
large proportion of their time available. This is done by specifying taking place in the next time
organisation or department has 20 Excel. In a simulation run, the when behaviour is unpredictable, can be integrated on a chart
at client sites, and where the decision rules. In this simulation period after the entry ‘1’. Blocking
employees who are based for part program determines whether or the precise pattern of behaviour of (Figure 5). In this chart, efficiency
corporate culture allowed there are two decision rules: events are recorded by an X in
of their time in the organisation’s not each individual is on site, using individuals has only a small impact gains are expressed as increases
intensive workspace-sharing. the on-site line. Note that in time
a random number weighted in on the demand for space. Rule 1 in utilisation.
There are three critical sophisticated approaches to demand is much greater than the argument can also marginalise virtually impossible in real case
thresholds: space-time management, since further reduction that might be efforts to bear down on premises studies, by investigation many Space to think
- ‘full demand’ – one there must be fewer workspaces obtainable if the ideal demand costs. The twin objectives noted by more permutations of variables
workspace is provided per than employees. Without space- could be attained. The expected Duffy (2000), of reducing premises than could be encountered in
employee, regardless of how time management, these efficiency demand seems to be a reasonable costs and stimulating employee the real world, and by exploring
much time the employee gains are impossible. New working target for practical management. creativity, are both important and ‘failing’ scenarios that could not
spends at the workspaces practices that reduce territoriality These findings can be managers with responsibility for be definition be found in reality.
(STM (space-time multiplier) have been widely discussed compared to the reported premises costs should retain their To produce worthwhile results, it
= 1) in recent years (for example, example of 33% reduction focus. The two objectives are not is essential that simulations are
Worthington, 2005). However, if in office floorspace demand necessarily in competition: moves calibrated with real-world data,
- ‘expected demand’ – the
the transition from current to new (Duffy, 2000), achieved by two to increase efficiency can act as so there is a strong connection
number of workspaces
space-time management practices strategies: space-time efficiency, a stimulus for radical thinking between case studies and
approximates to the maximum
is not handled effectively, the new and a more compact physical about working practices, leading simulation.
number of employees who
practices may fail (Van der Voordt, layout that reduced the floor to the benefits which flow from The work reported here
are expected to work on site
2004). area per workspace. This new working styles. Floorspace has been focused on the study
simultaneously (established
Moving beyond the expected paper is concerned with the efficiency, with easily-measured of office-based organisations.
by probabilistic analysis of
demand, which provides enough first strategy, but the second benefits, can be a catalyst for However, many of the same
variable demand) (STM > 1)
workspaces to cope with should also be exploited. In a changes with more intangible, but principles and methods of data
- ‘ideal demand’ – the number possibly larger, benefits.
reasonable peaks in demand, major reorganisation exercise collection, analysis and simulation
of workspaces is equal to the
towards the ideal demand in which it makes sense to address both could be applied in other contexts,
average number of people who
workspaces are fully occupied simultaneously. An upper limit to Conclusions and further work for example, in the education,
are expected to work on site
all the time, is extremely difficult efficiency gains by more compact There is considerable scope for healthcare and hospitality sectors.
simultaneously (no provision
when there is variability in layouts has been discussed by further research on the space- These sectors have their own
is made for the peaks and
activities. It might be achievable, Becker & Sims (2001). time management of office-based facilities management constraints
troughs of demand by variable
for example, by maintaining a In matching the supply and organisations: there are two and objectives. It is believed that
activities).
perpetual queue of people who demand for office floorspace, approaches, mirroring the content the concentration on floorspace
The general shape of the can be assigned to workspaces as the dynamic nature of modern efficiency in the work reported
of this paper.
chart is likely to apply to all soon as they are vacated, or the organisations must also be here provides a firm basis from
First, practical methods like
organisations, but calibration imposition of a strict timetable considered. Constant monitoring which other more elusive issues
Organisational Modelling which
will vary from case to case. on activities; approaches that and response is required, can be explored.
provide efficiency benefits to
Calibration of the utilisatiion axis are unlikely to be consistent especially with new working office-based organisations are
is shown for an organisation in with modern styles of work. By methods which may have less also a valuable source of empirical
which employees spend 40% of comparison, even in UK hospitals redundancy and tolerance (Preiser, data. An extremely important
their time away from the office on where there is intense pressure 2002). Provision for change over contribution to research would
average, as is fairly typical of the of demand, the utilisation of time may act as a constraint be made by a data source about
Organisational Modelling studies in-patent beds is close to 85% on achievable utilisation at a different methods of space-
and findings reported by others (Department of Health, 2006), particular point in time. This time management and the
(McLennan, 1992). similar to the figure generated in requires further investigation, utilisation levels they achieve, and
If demand exceeds the ‘full the second simulation. for example using the concept of performance with respect to other
demand’ there appears to be The statistics of utilisation ‘lifecycle options’ where short- indicators like user satisfaction
waste that could be eliminated may give a false impression of term costs are incurred in order to and productivity. It is highly
without imposing any limitation the benefits of moving from full manage medium- and long-term desirable that case study data
on activities: demand can be demand to expected demand. uncertainty (Ellingham & Fawcett, should be published.
reduced to the full demand while Table 9 gives the utilisation 2006). Case study data for
still providing each employee figures from Figure 5 and also It is often pointed out that research can also be collected
with a non-shared workspace. the corresponding number of an organisation’s premises independently of office replanning
This should be achievable without workspaces required for 100 costs are small by comparison initiatives.
requiring any special space-time employees, and the STM (space- with staff costs. This argument
management. Second, mathematical
time multiplier). It can be seen can be used to justify increased simulations can supplement the
The gains in efficiency and that the reduction in the number premises expenditures that lead somewhat inflexible nature of
utilisation that result from moving of workspaces per 100 employees to productivity gains, although case studies. With simulation
from ‘full demand’ to ‘expected that is achieved by moving from productivity gains are extremely it is possible to carry out
demand’ rely on increasingly the full demand to the expected hard to quantify. However, the experiments that would be
FIGURES
Figure 1 – Space, time and space- Womens Figure 2 – The affinities matrix
time efficiency between departments
Per Una
The Real Estate is usually found A typical affinity matrix between
to make inefficient use of space. Mens the departments in a large
By increasing space efficiency Virtual Estate Childrens organisation. The matrix is
the Virtual Estate (level 1) (level 2) relatively sparse, concentrating
Lingerie
accommodates the same activities on important linkages. It is used
and working patterns within a Beauty when allocating departments to a
smaller floorspace demand; real building, to ensure efficient
Increasing time efficiency
Home
when time efficiency is also communication between linked
increased, Virtual Estate (level 2) Foods departments.
accommodates the same activities Marketing
with new working patterns in an New selling channels Strong (same or adjacent floor)
even smaller floorspace demand.
In theory, increased time efficiency Real Estate Virtual Estate Central procurement
(level 1) Medium (adjacent or nearby floor)
could be applied without increased Central design
space efficiency, but in practice
Central stock Weak (accessible / same building)
this would be unusual.
Technical services
Logistics
GRD / Central planning
Hops
Stops
Store support
Increasing space efficiency Customer services
Finance
Audit
Legal / CDY Secretariat
Personnel
Information technology
Corporate conns
Figure 3 – Departmental ‘stacking Level 10 11722 sqft dirs legal corp comms Special assignments
diagram’ based on the affinities Level 9 11722 sqft spec ass grd audit health services Outlets
matrix Level 8 16038 sqft pty store support services childrens cs Franchising
A typical ‘stacking diagram’ Level 7 16038 sqft mens nsc cs
Property
Fit Factory
showing how the virtual estate Level 6 23627 sqft womans cs

plan areas of the departments of Level 5 24305 sqft lingerie home beauty processing cs Board directors
an organisation could be allocated
Level 4 23627 sqft marketing design log tech serv cs
to the floors of a multi-storey
office building. The stacking is Level 3 24305 sqft foods cs
chosen to minimise the ‘fit factor’ Level 2 23627 sqft franchising foods central support
Legal / CDY Secretariat

GRD / Central planning
Information technology
wastage on each floor level whilst Level 1 24305 sqft restaurant central support
New selling channels

Central procurement
Special assignments
respecting the linkages identified Level UG 17869 sqft hops conferencing central support
Customer services
Technical services
Corporate conns
in the affinity matrix. Stacking
Board directors
Central design
diagrams are used to evaluate
Store support
Central stock
Franchising
the suitability of alternative office
Personnel
Marketing
Childrens
Logistics
Womens
Property
buildings, and to guide the fit-out
Lingerie
Per Una
Finance
Outlets
Beauty
Foods
Home
of the chosen building.
Stops
Mens
Audit
Hops
FIGURES CONTINUED TABLES
Figure 4 – Virtual plan of a Table 1 – Typical results of a W-S W-S tempoarily W-S allocated W-S W-S
department survey of space-time occupancy Week occupied unoccupied but unoccupied unallocated unallocated
The virtual plan of a department of Each week’s results are the 1 1112 847 888 146 2993
a typical organisation, showing an average of ten observations 2 1148 623 1114 108 2993
efficient layout for the workspaces carried out in morning and
3 1073 484 1290 146 2993
with areas for meetings and afternoon sessions of each day,
storage, plus local circulation. It is so the overall average is based 4 1099 544 1321 29 2993
based on the space standards and on 40 observations. ‘Workspaces Average 1108 625 1153 107
workplace layout conventions of temporarily unoccupied’ are
37% 20% 39% 4%
the organisation. Although it is not allocated to someone who uses it
located in any particular building, at some time during the session,
the virtual plan has dimensions but is absent at the time of the
and can be viewed, evaluated, and survey. ‘Workspaces allocated
most importantly measured. but unoccupied’ are allocated to
someone who makes no use of
it during the session. Note that
there is variation from week to
week, but on average only 57% of
workspaces are used in a given
morning or afternoon session.
W-S: work space
Figure 5 – Synthesis of utilisation ideal demand Table 2 – Summary of the results Real estate
and space-time managment 100 Case
of space-time analysis carried out Year Sector NIA (m2) Headcount Seats SOR DOR STM Opcost p/p Opcost (GBP)
The threshold levels of utilisation in office-based organisations
are the ideal demand, the 85 1995 Consultancy 10,889 1,076 825 13.2 10.1 1.3 £ 3,717 £ 4.0m
expected demand The impact of space-time
expected demand and the full 1996 Consultancy 7,040 1,408 538 13.1 5.0 2.6 £ 1,750 £ 2.5m
management on the floorspace
demand. Utilisation below the demand of commercial 1999 Charity 8,738 219 219 39.9 39.9 1.0
ful demand indicates waste. 2001 Oil 11,546 382 395 29.2 30.2 £ 2.8m
utilisation (%)
organisations. 1.0 £ 7,330

Space-time management allows 60
utilisation to move from the full full demand
demand to the expected demand. 2001 Oil 33,415 1,200 1,214 27.5 27.8 1.0 £ 18,694 £ 22.4m
p/p: per person
Rigorous space-time managment 2001 Retail 58,806 3,365 4,274 13.8 17.5 0.8 £ 11,359 £ 38.2m
would be required to move from waste efficiency gains crisis
the expected demand to the 2004 Charity 3,328 133 148 22.5 25.0 0.9
ideal demand. Typical values are
marked on the utilisation axis.
Case Virtual estate
Year Sector V-P (m2) Headcount Seats SOR DOR STM Opcost p/p Opcost (GBP) S-T level
none sophisticated
space-time management 1995 Consultancy 7,030 1,123 498 14.1 6.3 2.3 £ 2,297 £ 2.6m Type 2
1996 Consultancy 6,787 1,753 463 14.7 3.9 3.8 £ 1,421 £ 2.5m Type 2
1999 Charity 3,242 219 219 14.8 14.8 1.0 Type 1
2001 Oil 6,609 382 395 16.7 17.3 1.0 £ 4,204 £ 1.6m Type 1
5,067 382 280 18.1 13.3 1.4 £ 3,223 £ 1.2m Type 2
2001 Oil 25,180 1,200 1,214 20.7 21.0 1.0 £ 14,080 £ 16.9m Type 1
2001 Retail 38,270 3,365 3,191 12.0 11.4 1.1 £ 7,392 £ 24.9m Type 1
29,952 3,365 2,438 12.3 8.9 1.4 £ 5,786 £ 19.5m Type 2
2004 Charity 3,328 225 225 14.8 14.8 1.0 Type 1
TABLES CONTINUED
Table 3 – Occupancy patterns Scenario Table 5 – Preferred activity Sessions on site Sessions away Preferred % of
for twenty individuals in five Employee 1 2 3 4 5 patterns for 12 individuals in Individual (half-days) (half-days) time on site
scenarios in Simulation 1 Simulation 2
1 0.9999 0.90 0.90 0.70 0.50 A 5 1 83%
The proportion of time spent on 2 0.9999 0.90 0.90 0.70 0.50 Each individuals preferred activity B 4 5 44%
site by 20 individuals, for seven patteren comprises a sequence
3 0.9999 0.90 0.80 0.70 0.50 C 3 4 43%
scenarios. of ‘on-site’ and ‘away’ sessions of
4 0.9999 0.90 0.80 0.70 0.50 the duration indicated. D 2 2 50%
5 0.9999 0.90 0.70 0.70 0.50 E 1 1 50%
6 0.9999 0.90 0.70 0.60 0.50 F 5 2 71%
7 0.9999 0.90 0.60 0.60 0.50 G 4 3 57%
8 0.9999 0.90 0.60 0.60 0.50 H 2 4 33%
9 0.9999 0.90 0.50 0.60 0.50 J 1 5 17%
10 0.9999 0.90 0.50 0.60 0.50 K 2 4 33%
11 0.0001 0.10 0.40 0.40 0.50 L 3 3 50%
12 0.0001 0.10 0.40 0.40 0.50 M 4 2 67%
13 0.0001 0.10 0.40 0.40 0.50 Total 36 36 50%
14 0.0001 0.10 0.40 0.40 0.50
15 0.0001 0.10 0.40 0.40 0.50
16 0.0001 0.10 0.30 0.30 0.50
Table 6 – Extract from a typical Employee Time period 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45
17 0.0001 0.10 0.30 0.30 0.50
run of Simulation 2
18 0.0001 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.50 A on-site 1 5 4 3 2 1 5 4
Sample of a simulation record away 1 1
19 0.0001 0.10 0.10 0.30 0.50
from time periods 36 to 45. The
20 0.0001 0.10 0.10 0.30 0.50 symbol X indicates that the B on-site 4 3 2 1
Average 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 employee wished to start on away 2 1 5 4 3 2
on-site session but found no free C on-site 3 2 1 3
workplaces and was blocked.
away 2 1 4 3 2 1
D on-site 1 2 1 2 1
Table 4 – Simulated workspace No. of Scenario
demand in Simulation 1 away 2 1 2 1 2
W-S 1 2 3 4 5
E on-site 1 1 X 1 1
The proportion of simulation runs 4 0% 0% 0% 0% 1%
with a demand that is satisfied by away 1 1 2 1 1 1
5 0% 0% 1% 2% 2%
the given number of workplaces, F on-site X 5 4 3 2 1
6 0% 0% 4% 5% 6%
for the five scenarios. away 2 1 3 2 1
7 0% 3% 10% 12% 13%
8 0% 12% 22% 24% 25% G on-site 4 3 2 1 X
W-S: work spaces 9 0% 34% 40% 41% 41% away 1 3 2 1 4 3
10 100% 66% 60% 59% 59% H on-site 2 1 2
11 100% 88% 78% 76% 75% away 3 2 1 4 3 2 1
12 100% 97% 90% 88% 87% J on-site X 1
13 100% 99% 96% 95% 94% away 2 1 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
14 100% 100% 99% 98% 98% K on-site 1 2 1
15 100% 100% 100% 100% 99% away 4 3 2 1 4 3 2
16 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
L on-site 3 2 1 3 2 1
away 3 2 1 3
M on-site 1 X 4 3 2 1
away 2 1 3 2 1
TABLES CONTINUED
Table 7 – Data from 10 Individual Blocking events in Preferred % of Simulated % of Preferred/Simulated

simulations of 100 time-periods Space to think
100 time periods time on site time on site time on site
for Simulation 2
A 4.5 83% 73% 88%
The number of blocking events B 3.0 44% 35% 79%
experienced by each individual,
C 3.5 43% 36% 83%
their preferred and simulated
proportion of time on-site, and the D 3.5 50% 45% 89%
ratio of these values. E 14.0 50% 32% 64%
F 2.6 71% 66% 92%
G 3.6 57% 50% 86%
H 2.8 33% 28% 85%
J 4.5 17% 12% 72%
K 3.1 33% 28% 84%
L 4.5 50% 40% 81%
M 1.0 67% 64% 96%
Average 4.2 50% 42% 85%
Table 8 – Workspace occupancy in No. of workplaces Number of

Simulation 2 occupied time periods
Workplace occupancy: the number 6 49
of time periods in the simulation 5 25
for which the specified number of
4 13
workplaces were occupied.
3 9
2 4
1 0
Total 100
Table 9 – Efficiency measures at Utilisation Workspace STM (space-time

different levels of demand for 100 employees multiplier)
Efficiency gains: the typical Ideal demand 100% 60 1.67
utilisation statistics from Figure 5 Expected demand 85% 70 1.42
and corresponding figures for the
Full demand 60% 100 1
number of workspaces per 100
employees and the values for the > Full demand < 60% >100 <1
STM (space-time multiplier).
[7]
ASR PAPERS: 2
The interaction of activity, space and cost
variables in office workstation sharing
William Fawcett & Danny Rigby

Orginally published in Journal of Corporate Real Estate
vol.11, no.1, pp.38-51, 2009
86 THE INTERACTION OF ACTIVITY, SPACE AND COST VARIABLES IN OFFICE WORKSTATION SHARING 87 THE INTERACTION OF ACTIVITY, SPACE AND COST VARIABLES IN OFFICE WORKSTATION SHARING
THE INTERACTION OF ACTIVITY, SPACE AND COST VARIABLES IN OFFICE WORKSTATION SHARING
Introduction to personalise is relentless’ giving greater saving in facilities In addition, the enhanced The number of workstations is activity pattern. averaging over more simulation
(Felstead et al, 2005, p.53) costs, could result in congestion model allows costs to be attached a variable that can be changed runs, would lead to smoother Space to think
With pervasive computing and Simulation runs
flexible working practices, the - the risk that the number of and dissatisfied employees at to the simulated scenarios, so between model runs. results, but of course the real
Each model run simulates the
traditional conventions governing employees wishing to work in peak times. It is impossible to that the efficiency of workstation- world is lumpy and it is useful to
Assignment of employees to behaviour of the 12 employees
people’s working habits are the office would sometimes avoid simultaneously both the sharing strategies can be remember that simulation results
workstations over 110 time units. In each time
becoming more flexible, especially exceed the number of shared risk of wastage and the risk of evaluated. give only a probabilistic picture
When an employee ends an away unit the employees are considered
in knowledge-based sectors of workstations, causing some congestion: there has to be a of what would be encountered in
session and wishes to begin an in turn, in random order; the
the economy. The management employees to be blocked. trade-off between the risks, and The simulation model reality – they are not predictions.
office-based session, and there is order changes in every time unit.
and planning of office premises therefore identifying the best This is an agent-based model
There is some discussion of a free workstation, the employee If an employee is in the midst of Costs
should respond to this new strategy is a matter of probabilistic of building use, in which the
the first issue in the literature (for occupies the workstation until the an office-based or away session, For office-based organisations,
situation. Traditionally, when most analysis. behaviour of individual agents/
example, van der Voort, 2004), but end of the office-based session, the session continues. If the the work of its employees is the
employees worked at prescribed This paper reports on the employees is simulated, based
less about the second. This paper when it becomes free in the next previous time period was the last primary productive resource;
times in the employer’s office, use of a simulation model to on their own preferences (how
focuses on the second issue: the time period. of an office-based session, the premises costs are an overhead
one workstation was provided explore workstation sharing in they react to a blocking event) and
balance between the demand next away session begins. If the which should be minimised. There
for each employee. If this a probabilistic way. It is a more Blocking and response to blocking
for shared workstations and the environmental constraints (the previous time period was the last is a risk that excessive premises
provision is retained with new advanced version of a simulation number of workstations in the If an employee wishes to begin
supply, and the consequences if of an away session, the employee cost-saving could detract from the
working practices there will be model described in an earlier employer’s premises). Statistics an office-based session and
demand exceeds supply. requests an office workstation employees’ productivity, as noted
low workstation utilisation and paper (Fawcett & Chadwick, 2007). about the overall use of the there are no free workstations,
to begin the next office-based in the Introduction. This trade-off
consequently wasted premises In the earlier version an office with building are derived by aggregating the employee is blocked and the
Probabilistic demand session. If a workstation is is explored by attaching three
costs. A rational response is 6 workstations was used by an the individuals’ behaviour. office-based session cannot begin.
The facilities management free, the office-based session types of cost penalty to the output
to provide fewer workstations organisation with 12 employees The employee responds by taking
literature has little quantified data The components of the model are begins. If no workstation is free, from a simulation run:
than employees, with some who wished to work on average an extra away session before
about how many workstations as follows: the employee’s blocked and an - Premises cost: the cost
arrangement for workstation 50% of their time in the employer’s coming back again to seek a
should be provided for a given extra away session is started, of providing workstations;
sharing. This should result in premises. Although average Working pattern workstation and start the deferred
number of flexibly-working as described above. At the end measured in units per
higher workstation utilisation and demand (6 employees) equalled There are 12 agents/employees. office-based session. The length
employees – this is sometimes of this extra away session the workstation per time period
reduced premises costs. the capacity (6 workstations), Each has a preferred activity of the away session after blocking
called the workstation-sharing employee requests a workstation
This proposition, sometimes the employees chose to work at pattern that consists of sequence is randomly generated between 1 - Blocking cost: cost incurred
ratio. Some approximate figures in the usual way, to begin the
called hot-desking or hotelling, the employer’s office at random of alternating ‘office-based’ and time unit and an upper limit that when employees experiences a
about the impact of sharing are office-based session that had been
has been current since at least times, generating peaks and ‘away’ working sessions; each that can be changed between blocking events; measured in
given, for example, 33% reduction deferred.
the early 1990s (eg, Duffy, 1992), troughs of demand. When demand session is of a random length model runs; the average length is units per blocking event
in office floorspace demand The simulation model runs
but employers remain naturally was lower than 6 employees between 1 and 6 units of time (the half the upper limit plus 0.5. If the - Displacement cost: cost
achieved by a combination of begin with each employee being
cautious about whether and to there were unused workstations; duration of a unit of time is not upper limit is one time unit, the for the time that employees
workplace sharing and a more assigned an away session of
what extent they should adopt when demand was higher than defined), so office-based and away blocked employee effectively waits would prefer to work in the
compact physical layout (Duffy, random length between 1 and 6
it. Harrison et al note the need 6 employees some people were sessions both have an average in a queue for a free workstation. employer’s premises but do
2000); and Harrison et al report time units. The first 10 ‘settling
for ‘rules for the use of shared ‘blocked’, that is, they were unable length of 3.5 time units. On In a given simulation run, all not do so; measured in units
a rather broad research finding down’ time units in the simulation
workstations to ensure that an to find a workstation. In a number average 50% of each employee’s employees are assumed to have per employee per time period
that, ‘The number of workstations run are ignored in the analysis.
appropriate working culture of simulation runs over 100 cycles, working time spent in the office the same upper limit. of displacement.
provided in desk-sharing systems Analysis is based on data from
is established’ (2004, p.20). average workstation utilisation and 50% away. The simulation The length of the away Costing is applied to the data
corresponds normally to only time units 11–110. A segment of a
Employers are concerned about was 85% and the employees model could be run with a different session reflects the employees’ from a simulation run after it has
50–80% of the actual number of typical simulation run is shown in
the risk of alienating their experienced an average of 4.2 ratio between the length of behavioural response to blocking been completed, and alternative
employees’ (2004, p.21). Figure 1.
employees, whose salaries are blocking events. office-based and away sessions or – a short away session indicated cost regimes can be applied
typically about ten times greater The problem is difficult In the new simulation studies with variation between individual a willingness to wait patiently for Each model run starts with input
without re-running the simulation.
than premises costs (Oseland because the demand at the there are still 12 employees who employees. It is assumed that a workstation, whereas a long values for:
Facilities managers typically
& Willis, 2000, p.163): it might employer’s office generated by wish to work on average 50% the employer cannot control the session indicates strong aversion - Average length of the extra
measure the facilities costs of
be false economy to save on flexibly-working employees varies of their time in the employer’s employees’ preferred activity to being blocked. away sessions after blocking
an organisation in term of the
premises costs if it lowered staff at different times. If sufficient premises, but the enhanced model patterns. Displacement - Number of workstations. Baseline Occupancy Cost for
morale or performance. Negative capacity is provided to meet the allows for variation in two factors:
Space A consequence of employees being The simulation model was run each employee, rather than for
staff reactions could occur at two highest conceivable demand, - the employees’ response to
The employer provides premises blocked and taking extra away five times with each set of input each workstation; if there is one
levels: there will be considerable blocking events – an ‘activity’
with a fixed number of identical sessions is that they spend less data values, and the results of the workstation per employee, the two
- the loss of a familiar wastage at times of non-peak variable
workstations, each capable of than 50% of their working time five runs averaged. The results are figures will be the same. If there is
work environment that is demand, and little saving in
- the number of workstations accommodating one employee. at the employer’s premises – for still fairly ‘lumpy’, reflecting the workstation sharing, the Baseline
personsalised or private – ‘it facilities costs compared to
in the employer’s premises – a The workstations have no these extra away sessions they random factors in the simulation. Occupancy Cost per employee
would seem that the urge providing one workstation per
‘space’ variable. individual features or identity. are displaced from their preferred A longer period of simulation, or will be reduced in proportion to
employee; but a smaller capacity,
the reduction in the number of employees work for 50% of their alternative high and low values of workstations, bringing low of time units in which peaks premises fewer. It could plausibly assumes that employees have a
workstations, even though the cost time in the employer’s office. In were used for each factor, as utilisation, low blocking and low and troughs of demand occur be argued that capacity is preferred pattern of locations for Space to think
per workstation remains constant. scenarios with 6 or 7 workstations follows: displacement. randomly, but in reality work defined by gradually increasing work; they are displaced when they
there is higher utilisation but a - Premises cost Table 5 shows the costs for all patterns are geared to the daily or pressure on space or congestion, have to work at a location that is
Output and analysis
great deal of blocking; longer away 56 activity-space scenarios for cost weekly cycle. Greater regularity in with ultimate capacity set by not the preferred one. This could
After a model run, the data for high: 0.25 units per
sessions after blocking reduce the regimes (4) and (5), and Figure 3 the timing of peaks and troughs employees’ willingness to tolerate be queried for flexible employees
analysis consists of the ‘diaries’ workstation per time period
amount of blocking and also the shows this information graphically. would not have a great impact on the working conditions. This in knowledge-based organisations,
of the 12 employees for 100 time low: 0.025 units per
utilisation. One clear message from the findings from the simulation, would replace a precise capacity who should be able to work equally
units. The diary entry for each time workstation per time period
In all scenarios there is the simulation model results is but if the peaks were stronger with a measure of congestion well in a diversity of locations.
unit says whether the agent was at
the same demand from the 12 - Blocking cost that it is not possible to specify or weaker it would be important. that ramps up from zero to However, if the location of work
the employer’s office or away, and,
employees who wish to spend 50% high: 10 units per blocking a standard solution to the Comparison with empirical data an upper limit. It is not clear was of no consequence, the
if away, whether the agent had
of their time in the employer’s event workstation-sharing problem. would allow the simulation model whether it would greatly affect employer’s premises could always
been blocked in the time unit.
premises. With blocking events With changes in activity, space to calibrated to produce realistic the findings of the simulation; be reduced in size, ultimately
Various statistics can be low: 1 unit per blocking event
there are extra away sessions and cost variables, quite different variations in demand over time. it would have no impact when to zero. In real office situations
extracted from this data. The main - Displacement cost demand was well below or well empty workstations and low
after blocking, and therefore the solutions perform best. Strategies Scale
statistics are: high: 1 unit per person per above capacity; and the difference utilisation are more commonly
employees’ preferred activity for workstation sharing should
- Workstation utilisation: high The model simulates the
pattern is not achieved: they are time period be customised on a case-by-case between a precise capacity and observed than congestion, but this
values desirable behaviour of 12 employees,
displaced from the employer’s low: 0.1 units per person per basis. congestion threshold might not may be because employees have
whereas most organisation have
- Amount of blocking: low premises for some time units. time period be considerable. This could be been displaced, not that there
more employees. However, space
values desirable The total amount of displacement investigated by simulations. The is no demand for office-based
By combining these values Discussion management is often handled
- Amount of displacement: low for each scenario – the difference issue of the capacity threshold work. Anecdotally, it is said that
in all possible ways, 8 cost The simulation model is highly at the smaller, departmental
values desirable between 50% of employees’ is more important for intensively when organisations respond to
regimes are generated. These 8 simplified compared to real office- scale (Fawcett & Chadwick,
time and the actual number of used premises with higher low workstation utilisation by
- Cost: low values desirable. cost regimes were applied to the based organisations. Some of 2007). Simulation with a larger
office-based working sessions in utilisation values, compared to reducing capacity, utilisation does
results from the 56 activity-space the simplifications are discussed population would probably lead to
a simulation – is shown in Table less intensively used premises that not rise but remains the same:
scenarios. The premises cost can below. There are two aspects: smoothing of peaks and troughs
Results 3. Blocking is the trigger for rarely reach capacity. this suggests a displacement
be applied in two ways, measuring model structure and calibration. in demand, with somewhat lower
The simulation model was run five displacement – when there is no reaction by employees. The
the full premises cost or premises incidence of blocking events and Employees’ response to blocking
times for each of 56 scenarios, blocking there is no displacement, A. Model structure simulations show that the
waste: the former being the cost higher utilisation. The impact of The simulation model assumes
representing all combinations of and in the scenarios where complete elimination of blocking
of providing all workstations for Description of employees scale could be investigated with that the employees’ way of
eight values for the activity variable blocking increases so does and displacement requires quite
the duration of the simulation In the model all employees are a larger version of the simulation reacting to a blocking event is to
– average away period after displacement; but displacement low levels of utilisation.
run, whether occupied or not; identical, even though their model. withdraw from the employer’s
blocking (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 20 or 40 is also strongly affected by the Workstation sharing
and the latter being the cost of behaviour varies due to randomly premises, with the duration of
time units), and seven values for length of the away period after Capacity
the unoccupied workstations generated session lengths. In the withdrawal reflecting the The simulation model assumes
the space variable ¬– the number blocking events. When employees The simulation model assumes
only. The Baseline Occupancy real organisations there might severity of the reaction. This perfect workstation sharing,
of workstations in the employer’s are willing to wait in a queue that an employer’s office has
Cost corresponds to the full be greater variation between has the effect of changing the so that an employee can never
premises (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12 for workstations (1 time unit a precise capacity that cannot
cost approach. The number of employees, but there must always employees’ activity patterns, with be blocked so long as there
workstations). The simulation away session after blocking), be exceeded, defined by the
workstations with the lowest cost be an average of all individuals’ a reduced proportion of time is an empty workstation. In
model could of course be run with even very high levels of blocking number of workstations – like,
are given in Table 4, for all 8 cost behaviour. The exact behaviour spent at the employer’s premises. reality, workstations can acquire
any other input data values. cause a relatively modest level of for example, the number of
regimes. This shows that it made of individuals may make little An alternative approach might constraints on sharing, by
The average output data from displacement. seats in a passenger aircraft. A
very little difference whether the difference to the results of the be to change the proportion restricting the permitted user
the five simulation runs for each The three desirable outcomes precise capacity is a prerequisite
full premises cost or premises simulation. In previous simulation explicitly after blocking. If capacity group, or by being classified as
of the 56 scenarios is summarised – high utilisation, low blocking for identifying blocking events
waste was considered. experiments it was observed that, were replaced by a congestion non-available when they are
in tables. Tables 1 and 2 give and low displacement – cannot be and hence displacement. It
Table 4 indicates that high ‘when behaviour is unpredictable, threshold, then blocking and the not actually occupied. These
the workstation utilisation and achieved simultaneously. Trade- is sometimes argued that in
premises cost and low blocking the precise pattern of behaviour of away period after blocking could constraints would lower utilisation
the amount of blocking; the offs between the objectives have practice the capacity of an office
and displacement costs (cost individuals has only a small impact be replaced by changes in the compared to the simulation runs,
relationship between them is to be made. Any trade-off implies building is elastic and a few extra
regime 4) favours a smaller on the demand for space’ (Fawcett employees’ activity patterns in and increase the occurrence of
charted in Figure 2. There is a a relative weighting of the three people can virtually always be
number of workstations, which & Chadwick, 2007). This could be response to congestion. It is likely blocking events and displacement.
clear coupling between utilisation factors and this can be formalised accommodated, if necessary in
brings high utilisation, high investigated with further model that the overall trade-off between
and blocking. At one extreme, by attaching appropriate cost secondary or informal space.
blocking and high displacement. studies. capacity and congestion would B. Model calibration
scenarios with 12 workstations, penalties to the factors: then the While this is probably true at the
On the other hand, low premises remain similar. If the structure of the simulation
providing one workstation per optimal scenario will be the one Description of time margin, there can be no doubt that
cost and high blocking and larger premises can accommodate Displacement model is capable of representing
employee, have no blocking, but with the lowest cost. The simulation model runs
displacement costs (cost regime more employees and smaller The concept of displacement the workstation-sharing problem
utilisation is only 50%, because In the current study, through a continuous series
5) favours a larger number in real organisations, then it
FIGURES
should be possible to describe variety of outcomes that result before embarking on a policy of Figure 1 – Utilisation and blocking 100% Series 1
real organisations by attaching from combining of a relatively workstation sharing. Space to think Series 2
Average utilisation and number
appropriate values to the activity, small number of variables is very While the simulations model of blocking events for simulation Series 3
away period = 1
space and cost variables. The large, making it useful to carry could make a quantified case runs, for all combinations of the Series 4
results of the simulation model out a systematic study in which for improved performance, number of workstations and the Series 5
90%
could be compared to real the outcomes are viewed as a it is important to realise that average length of away periods Series 6
performance. This crucial test has broad panorama. This immediately improvements can only be after a blocking event. Each Series 7
yet to be undertaken. implies that a single workspace- successfully achieved with data series corresponds to the
The simulation model currently sharing response cannot be effective change management number of workstations – Series
uses hypothetical values, but the appropriate for all organisations. procedures, as emphasised by 1 = 6 workstations, Series 2 = 80%
range of values is wide, probably Calibration studies with Van der Voordt (2004). One aspect
utilisation
7 workstations, … Series 7 = 12
wider than would be encountered empirical data will be required to is the procedure for assigning workstations. The marks on the
in real organisations; so it would ascertain whether this simulation individual employees to shared series correspond to the average
be expected that real organisations model, or an amended version, workstations, where there is a length of the away period after 70%
would fall somewhere within the can credibly represent the choice between ‘free address’ a blocking event – short away
solution space of the present workstation-sharing problem or ‘pre-booking’ systems. These periods correspond to a high
study. in real organisations. If so, the pragmatic factors should be number of blocking events; this is away period = 40
When choosing values for model could be used by facilities considered in parallel with the marked for Series 1. Irregularities
activity, space and cost variables managers to explore alternative model studies; if they showed in the data series are due to 60%
to describe a real organisation, management strategies, and to that some model predictions were the random ‘lumpiness’ in the
those relating to space – the identify cost-saving opportunities. unfeasible, the model should be simulation model.
number of workstations and It could provide a basis for revised.
the premises cost – should be productive collaboration between The modelling studies 50%
easiest to quantify. The activity- advocates of space-efficiency on reported here could provide useful
related variables – the employees’ one hand and human resources guidance for facilities managers 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
response to blocking and the objectives on the other – objectives who are faced with the challenge cost
cost attached to blocking and that sometimes seem to be of new working practices in the
displacement – would often be in conflict. The model shows knowledge economy. Perhaps
more problematic. However, that an exclusive focus on high more importantly, the theoretical
even without precise numbers it workstation utilisation, which can studies are part of to an on-going
is possible that managers could sometimes dominate the facilities effort to provide a mathematical
estimate the relative weight of manager’s perspective, is only a foundation for facilities
blocking events or congestion partial view, and must be taken management, to complement and
compared to premises costs; together with other considerations hopefully integrate the insights
for example, if low utilisation is to identify the solutions that accumulated by practitioners in
acceptable in order to minimise perform best for an organisation. real organisations.
the risk of blocking, it implies that The simulation runs show that in
the cost of wasted space is much some cases the optimal strategies
lower than the cost of blocking. involve relatively low workstation
By considering relative values in utilisation.
this way, it might be possible to Because flexible working, and
locate the real organisation within the consequent low utilisation
the solution-space of the model, in the employer’s premises, is
allowing general inferences to be increasing, it is likely that most
drawn. facilities managers would use the
model to explore the implications
Conclusions and further research of increased workstation sharing,
This simulation model of the to improve utilisation. There are
workstation-sharing problem risks attached to moving from
shows the intimate connection established working practices, and
between activity, space and cost managers would rightly need to be
variables. The connections are convinced that potential savings
not inherently complex, but the were substantial and achievable
FIGURES CONTINUED TABLES
Figure 2A & 2B – Utilisation and 100% A. Utilisation Table 1 – Simulation model run Employee Time period 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45
cost vs. cost – high Extract from a typical model run, A on-site 1 5 4 3 2 1 5 4
Average utilisation and cost premises from time units 36 to 45, showing
cost, low away 1 1
for simulation runs, for all the sequence of office-based and
combinations of the number of blocking and away sessions for each of the 12 B on-site 4 3 2 1
90%
workstations and the average displacement employees. An ‘X’ indicates that away 2 1 5 4 3 2
length of away periods after a cost the employee is blocked at the end C on-site 3 2 1 3
blocking event: Figure 3A (above) of an away session, and starts an
with high premises cost and low extra away session (from Fawcett away 2 1 4 3 2 1
blocking and displacement costs 80% Series 1 & Chadwick, 2007). D on-site 1 2 1 2 1
utilisation
(cost regime 4 – as Table 5A) – 7 Series 2 away 2 1 2 1 2

workstations (series 2) have the Series 3 E on-site 1 1 X 1 1
lowest cost; Figure 3B (below) Series 4
with low premises cost and high away 1 1 2 1 1 1
70% Series 5
blocking and displacement costs F on-site X 5 4 3 2 1
Series 6
(cost regime 5 – as Table 5B) – 11 away 2 1 3 2 1
or 12 workstations (series 6 and 7) Series 7
have the lowest cost. G on-site 4 3 2 1 X
60% away 1 3 2 1 4 3
H on-site 2 1 2
away 3 2 1 4 3 2 1
J on-site X 1
50%
away 2 1 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
K on-site 1 2 1
cost away 4 3 2 1 4 3 2
L on-site 3 2 1 3 2 1
100% B. Utilisation
vs. cost – low away 3 2 1 3
premises M on-site 1 X 4 3 2 1
cost, high away 2 1 3 2 1
blocking and
90%
displacement
cost
80% Series 1
utilisation
Series 2
Series 3
Series 4
70% Series 5
Series 6
Series 7
60%
50%
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
cost
TABLES CONTINUED
Table 2 – Utilisation Average length of Number of workstations Table 5 – Cost regimes and Cost Premises Blocking Displacement Optimum number of Optimum number of
Average workstation utilisation extra away period 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 optimum number of workstations regime cost cost cost workstations (full cost) workstations (waste)
in simulation runs, for all 56 1 92% 84% 75% 66% 61% 56% 50% The eight cost regimes and the 1 high high high 10 10
combinations of the number of 2 90% 81% 74% 67% 59% 55% 51% number of workstations in the 2 high high low 9 or 10 9
workstations and the average lowest-cost scenarios, using
length of extra away periods 3 87% 81% 73% 66% 60% 55% 50% 3 high low high 8 8 or 9
both the full premises cost and
after a blocking event. Utilisation 4 85% 79% 74% 66% 59% 54% 50% premises waste methods. The 4 high low low 6 or 7 7
increases as the number of 6 83% 76% 74% 66% 60% 54% 50% optimum number of workstations 5 low high high 11 or 12 11 or 12
workstations and the average 10 79% 75% 70% 66% 60% 54% 50% is not sensitive to the way that 6 low high low 10 10 or 11
length of extra away periods after 20 76% 71% 69% 65% 59% 53% 50% premises costs are calculated. 7 low low high 10 10
blocking are reduced.
40 70% 70% 65% 63% 60% 55% 50% 8 low low low 9 or 10 9 or 10
Table 3 – Blocking Average length of Number of workstations Tables 6A & 6B – Cost A. High premises cost and low blocking and displacement costs (cost regime 4)
The average number of blocking extra away period 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 The average cost penalty
events in simulation runs of 1 61.2 23.6 9.6 2.6 0.2 0.0 0.0 for simulation runs, for all Average length of Number of workstations
100 time periods, for all 56 2 52.6 19.4 7.4 2.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 combinations of the number of extra away period 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
combinations of the number of workstations and the average
3 44.6 25.0 9.8 3.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 1 78 53 59 81 98 122 151
workstations and the average length of away periods after a
length of extra away periods 4 41.6 24.2 7.6 3.0 0.6 0.0 0.0 blocking event: Table 5A with 2 75 56 61 77 102 123 148
after a blocking event. Blocking 6 31.5 18.5 6.5 2.2 0.5 0.0 0.0 high premises cost and low 3 73 62 65 79 102 125 149
increases dramatically as the 10 22.8 14.8 7.2 2.6 0.0 0.2 0.0 blocking and displacement costs 4 74 66 61 79 105 126 149
number of workstations and 20 15.2 10.4 4.6 2.0 0.6 0.0 0.0 (cost regime 4), and Table 5B 6 68 67 60 80 102 126 150
the average length of extra with low premises cost and high
40 8.60 5.60 2.6 0.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 10 68 67 71 80 99 127 149
away periods after blocking are blocking and displacement costs
reduced. (cost regime 5). The number 20 65 71 70 81 103 129 150
of workstations with lowest 40 72 70 81 87 101 125 149
overall costs are highlighted: 7 Average 72 64 66 81 102 125 149
workstations when premises costs
are relatively high compared to
Table 4 – Displacement Average length of Number of workstations blocking and displacement, and 11
extra away period 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 or 12 workstations when premises
The average proportion of the
costs are relatively low. B. Low premises cost and high blocking and displacement costs (cost regime 5)
work sessions that that are 1 8% 2% 0% 2% 0% 0% 0%
displaced from the employer’s 2 11% 6% 2% 0% 1% 0% 0%
premises, for all 56 combinations Average length of Number of workstations
of the number of workstations 3 13% 6% 3% 1% 1% 0% 0% extra away period 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
and the average length of extra 4 15% 8% 2% 0% 2% 0% 0%
1 662 253 101 44 12 12 17
away periods after a blocking 6 17% 11% 2% 1% 1% 0% 0%
2 591 231 90 35 17 12 15
event. Displacement increases 10 21% 13% 7% 1% 0% 1% 0%
as the number of workstations is 3 528 288 118 43 15 12 15
20 24% 17% 7% 2% 1% 2% 0%
reduced, and the average length of 4 510 292 91 39 30 15 15
extra away periods after blocking 40 30% 19% 14% 6% 0% 0% 0%
6 421 257 81 38 18 15 16
is increased. 10 360 229 119 42 10 20 15
20 298 210 97 39 22 25 15
40 273 173 114 48 12 12 15
Average 455 242 101 41 17 15 15
[8]
ASR PAPERS: 3
Modelling the use of space and time in the
knowledge economy
William Fawcett & Ji-Young Song

Orginally published in Building Research and Information
vol.37, no.3, pp.312-324, May/June 2009
98 MODELLING THE USE OF SPACE AND TIME IN THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY 99 MODELLING THE USE OF SPACE AND TIME IN THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY
MODELLING THE USE OF SPACE AND TIME IN THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

Published in Building Research and Information vol.37, no.3, pp.312-324, May/June 2009
Introduction Hyman et al, 2005) balance’, ‘work-life integration’ to case study investigations is propose that they use weighted p.176), but despite this desire ‘the in the office to maintain credibility
or ‘work-life harmonisation’ that it is not limited to the study of averages of the performance technology played a key role in with senior staff, or the need for Space to think
It is widely accepted that working - architectural case studies of
patterns are changing in the new office design (eg. Myerson (Lewis & Cooper, 2005, p.8). Due present-day situations, but allows and convenience scores, and extending business into spaces meetings or informal contacts.
emerging ‘knowledge economy’ & Ross, 2006) to the great diversity of different the exploration of hypothetical select the place with the highest and times traditionally reserved for This scoring method was
of developed countries. Crucial people’s non-work commitments, scenarios of change. weighted average score. The personal activities’ (p.177). used to describe three different
- predictions/speculations
drivers are: individual control can be expected relative weighting is specified In the knowledge economy, environments: ‘traditional’,
about future trends (eg.
- mobile telecoms and to increase variability between Conceptual model of employee in a work-life index. This index therefore, there does not seem ‘intermediate’ and ‘modern’. The
Worthington, 2006; DEGW,
distributed computing employees’ work patterns. decision-making varies over time, in contrast to to be any reason to expect that main differences are:
2008).
Both the provision by When they can choose between the performance and convenience employees will move to a radically - traditional offices make
- educated, self-motivating Transportation/telecommuting employers of opportunities for alternative places and times for scores that are fixed: the varying new time use convention with the almost no provision for non-
and highly-valued employees. impacts of new workstyles are work-life harmonisation and work and non-work activities, we work-life index causes different concentration of work activities work commitments so have a
This results in a considerable another fertile branch of study (eg. the take-up by employees are places to be selected at different at other times than weekday
assume that employees have a very low convenience score;
expansion of individual choice Robert & Borjesson, 2006). increasing. A 2006 survey in the times. mornings and afternoons.
decision-making process in which this rises in intermediate and
about how, when and where Most references to changing UK, for example, reported that Development of the work-life Although some individuals may
each alternative is evaluated modern offices
work activities take place. ways that employees manage their about 90% of employees had index starts with the observation choose to, for example, work at
on the basis of constraints and - traditional homes make
Work activities by employees work activities are qualitative, access to some kind of flexible that there are strong social night and use the day for non-work
personal values, and ranked; almost no provision for work
used to be concentrated in the such as, ‘… there are many ways working arrangement (Hooker et conventions about the hours of the activities, it seems likely that most
and then the most favourable activities so have a very low
employers’ premises during in which to personalise time’ al, 2007). In the UK the trend is day that are devoted to work or to people will choose relatively small
alternative is selected. performance score; this rises
specified working hours, but (Felstead et al, 2005, p.28); ‘The reinforced by public policy, with personal life, as shown in time-use deviations from the conventional
are becoming dispersed: many In constructing a model of in intermediate and modern
potential of distributed working in legislation introduced in 2003 surveys (Michelson, 2005). There time use pattern. The core
people can now work in their this decision-making process homes with distributed
enabling office workers to shape giving specified types of employees are strong concentrations of work concepts of
employer’s premises, at home, at we first consider the alternative computing.
their work schedules and thus the right to request flexible activities in weekday mornings (i) independent performance
client sites, in fact more or less places that have to be evaluated. Therefore the convenience
their work/life balance’ (Katsikakis working, and requiring employers and afternoons (pp.117-119). This and convenience scores, and
anywhere, at any time of the day We propose that evaluation takes scores of offices and the
in Worthington, 2006, p.100); ‘… to consider their requests corresponds to a work-life index
account of two attributes: (ii) a time-varying work-life
or night. Commentators have work teams take control over their seriously. In 2007 the legislation in which performance would have performance scores of homes both
- performance: how good each index, form the basis for the
been discussing these changes use of time’ (Lewis & Cooper, was extended to cover a broader high weighting during weekday rise in intermediate and modern
place is for performing work computational model of employee
for some time; for example, in 2005, p.39). Quantified studies range of employees (DBERR, mornings and afternoons, and environments.
tasks, and decision-making.
1992 Duffy wrote, ‘The key to the usually focus on the total hours 2007), and further extensions are convenience would have high The performance and
new office interior is the freedom of work (eg. Bonney, 2005); the planned. Four-fifths of statutory - convenience: how convenient weighting at other times. convenience scores that represent
in use of time which information literature contains little quantified each place is for dealing with Computational model of employee these environments are shown in
requests for flexible work have In assessing how this
technology beings. The nine-to- data about day-to-day time non-work commitments. decision-making Table 1. They are on a scale from 0
been accepted by employers, conventional time-use pattern
five office day is anachronistic. The management. either fully or partially (Fitzner & Performance and convenience (bad) to 5 (good). The values used
Thus each alternative place might change in the knowledge
office is likely to become a meeting There is a consensus that Grainger, 2007). scores for the preliminary studies were
has a performance score and economy, it is interesting to
place rather than a place for so workstyles are changing, but a convenience score. The two Each employee i has to choose estimates chosen to represent
It is proposed that the activity note that a comparison between
many desks’ (Duffy, 1992, p.235). little information about the attributes are independent: for between three alternatives j: discrete steps in the move to the
patterns adopted by the large and Canadians working at employers’
The study reported in this paper quantified impact of change, example, in the traditional style of - work in the employer’s office knowledge economy; they were not
increasing number of employees workplaces and those working
was developed in the context of creating uncertainty for those office and home, the office would derived from surveys.
with choice about the times and at home showed only a slight - work at home or away from
office-based organisations, but the involved in the briefing, design be given a high score for work-
places for carrying out work change in the pattern of time-use the office The work-life index
principles should be relvant to any and management of buildings for related performance and a low
activities result from individual (Michelson & Crouse, 2004). A - non-work. The model considers five time-
building type in which individual organisations in the knowledge score for non-work convenience,
decision-making in response study of home-based white-collar periods in a day – dawn, morning,
users have freedom of choice economy. The preliminary study whereas the home would be given There could be more
to individual constraints and workers reported that, ‘None of afternoon, evening, night – over
about when and where they carry reported here addressed this a low score for performance and alternatives, but the current model
opportunities. To model this the respondents described any five working days, making 25 time-
out activities; this could apply, for problem by investigating possible a high score for convenience. In uses these three.
complexity a simulation model difficulties with time boundaries periods in a week.
example, to buildings for higher activity patterns using an agent- more modern environments, the Employee i assigns two
was developed with an element at the end of the day or with Each employee i has a work-
education and retailing. based simulation model. convenience scores of offices scores to each alternative
of randomness in the decision- switching off from work’ (Halford, life index Wi which comprises
There is now an extensive making of individual employees. would be higher as greater 2005, p.27). A further survey of j – one for performance, Pij, a
literature on new ways of working, work-centred perspective, and 25 values, one for each of the 25
New workstyles The model allows numerical provision is made for employees’ ‘nomadic’ workers who relied on
including: one for convenience, Cij, a non- time-periods, Wi = {Wit , t = 1, 2,
Employees in the knowledge values to be assigned to some of non-work commitments; and mobile telecoms and distributed
work-centred perspective. The … 25}. The work-life index value for
- surveys of current practices, economy are able to adjust the factors that characterise new the performance scores of computing reported that they
performance score takes account each time period is between 0 and
emphasising the social science their activities to fit in with their working practices, and generates a homes would also be higher with ‘expressed a desire to separate
of factors relating to productivity, 1 and expresses the relative weight
perspective (eg. Felstead et al, personal priorities, not just quantified picture of the resulting distributed computing. business and personal roles using
such as access to data and of performance (work) compared
2005; Lewis & Cooper, 2005; their employer’s. This is often pattern of work activities. An How do individuals use the two traditional boundaries of space
telecoms, and also cultural to convenience (non-work) – high
Strelitz & Edwards, 2005; described as a move to ‘work-life advantage of modelling compared scores to rank alternatives? We and time’ (Cousins & Robey, 2005,
factors, like the need to be visible index values mean that work is
given priority. the inverse of a cumulative normal values for five flexible employees. - Environment: performance the number working at home for is a considerable change in home- inverted with most taking place
The estimation of values for distribution. For employee i in time Note that the flexible employees and convenience scores each of the 25 time periods in a based work: the favoured times during the morning and afternoon Space to think
the work-life index began with the period t, the work-life index value, show much greater individual for the three activity-space week; and also the average and change form non-peak to peak time periods. This phenomenon
observed data about the time use Wit, is given by: variation, but they still inherit the alternatives (office work, home peak demand at the employer’s times. Home-based work at non- was not anticipated when the
of employed people in Canada in Wit = NORMINV (RAND(), rt, σ) reference index’s morning and work, non-work) premises at each time of the five peak times is greatly reduced. model was developed and data
1998, reported by Michelson (2005) where: afternoon concentration of work - Behaviour: the value of σ time periods in a day – this was In the modern environment values estimated; it is an emergent
(see Table 2). This data recorded activities. Because employees’ (sigma) that generates each averaged over the five days. (F-M), the amount of office-based property generated by the model.
RAND() is a random number
the proportion of non-home-based work-life indexes are generated employee’s work-life index The results for unreformed work at peak times falls further
between 0 and 1
employees who were at home at as random variations from the values. employees are shown in Figure 3, to 50-60% of employees, and Findings of the simulation model
rt is the reference work-life
different times of the day, and this reference work-life index, the for traditional, intermediate and office-based work at non-peak
index value for time period t (the In a model run it is assumed Importance of both environmental
proportion was used as a measure average of many employees’ modern environments. As might times also falls, to about 10%.
mean of the normal distribution) that all employees share the same and behavioural change
of the priority given to non-work indexes will approximate to the be expected, the unreformed Virtually all this work transfers to
σ (sigma) is a parameter performance and convenience The experiments explored
activities; time away from home reference index. behaviour/traditional environment home-based work at peak times,
controlling the amount of scores, and that their work-life the impact of changes to the
was used as a measure of the Decision-making combination (U-T) leads to typical accounting for about 20% of
variation from the mean (the indexes are all generated with environment (performance
priority given to work activities. pre-knowledge economy pattern, employees; home-based work at
standard deviation of the normal The employees’ decision- the same value of σ (sigma). The and convenience scores) and
However, when away from home with all work being carried out in non-peak times remains low.
distribution); values of wit are making procedure for choosing model could be adapted to allow employees’ behaviour (work-life
people would have carried out the employer’s office on weekday These simulations suggest
closer to rt for low values of σ. between the ‘office’, ‘home work’ for model input describing more index). Changing both factors
other activities as well as working, mornings and afternoons, and no that environmental change
This sometimes generates and ‘non-work’ alternatives uses diverse populations. (moving from scenario U-T to
so the reference work-life index home-based work. The move to has much more impact on the
work-life index values that are the performance and convenience Having simulated the diaries of F-M) led to a significant impact
may over-estimate the weight intermediate environment (U-I) activities of flexible employees
greater than 1 or less than 0. scores and the work-life index. A all employees, the model outputs on working patterns. However,
given to work activities. If better brings virtually no change, and in than those of unreformed
These values are replaced by weighted average attractiveness 100 lines of data specifying the if only one factor was changed
empirical data can be obtained, the modern environment (U-M) employees.Regarding the demand
random numbers between 0.9 score Aijt is calculated for activity-space alternatives selected (from scenario U-T to either
the values could be substituted in there is only a small amount at the employer’s office shown in
and 1 or between 0 and 0.1 employee i, for each alternative j, by each employee for the 25 time F-T or to U-M) the impact was
the simulation model. of home-based work in the Figures 3 and 4, the occupancy
respectively. and each time-period t, using the periods. This data can be analysed much reduced. This implies that
The source data was an morning time periods. There is rate starts at effectively 100%
employee’s work-life index, wit : in various ways after the model environmental and behavioural
average over all weekdays. Employee types no work outside the morning and for unreformed employees in
Aijt = Pij x Wit + Cij x (1 – run. changes are complementary
These values were adjusted for The amount of variation from afternoon time periods, either at a traditional environment; with
Wit) aspects of changing workstyles
the different days of the week in the reference work-life index is the employer’s office or at home. flexible employees it drops to
It is assumed that each Experiments with simulation The simulation suggests that if in the knowledge economy, and
accordance with travel to work controlled by the parameter σ below 70% in traditional and
employee has working time budget model employees are strongly rooted that one or other in isolation has
data for the UK (DfT, 2005), which (sigma); higher values of σ (sigma) intermediate environments,
of 10 time-periods in a week, so The simulation model was run in traditional working patterns, limited impact.
suggested that there were slightly generate more variation. In the and below 60% in the modern
the higher scoring of the ‘office’ for a series of scenarios based changing the environment at both Demand at the employer’s
higher than average work activity model, this parameter was used environment – this last scenario
and ‘home work’ alternatives is on systematic variation of office and home has little impact premises
on Wednesdays and Thursdays, to distinguish between two types representing knowledge-based
identified for all 25 time periods, environment and behaviour input on their decision-making.
and lower on Fridays, although of employee, ‘unreformed’ and organisations. In general, moving New workstyles reduce demand
and then the 10 time periods data. As described, there were
the differences were quite small. ‘flexible’. The work-life index The results for flexible from the unreformed/traditional at the employer’s premises.
with the highest of these scores, three different environments,
The average weekday values were values of unreformed employees employees are shown in Figure scenario leads to graphs of The number of employees
whether ‘office’ and ‘home work’, ‘traditional’, ‘intermediate’
multiplied by adjustment factors were assumed to show only small 4. Faced with a traditional occupation with a more flattened selecting this location for work
are selected. The other 15 time and ‘modern’, defined by the
derived from the travel data variation from the reference environment (F-T), they transfer shape, indicating longer periods of in the mornings and afternoons
periods are assigned to ‘non- performance and convenience
(see Table 3). This gave a set of work-life index, whereas there was about 30% of work from occupation and lower numbers of was lower and also less stable.
work’. scores (see Table 1); and two
average, or ‘reference’ work-life much greater variation for flexible employer’s office at peak times, occupants. However, even flexible/ This creates an opportunity for
index values for the 25 time- This completes the simulated types of employee behaviour, some to home-based work modern scenario more work still reducing the capacity of the
employees.
periods in a week (see Table 4). week’s diary for one employee; the ‘unreformed’ and ‘flexible’, with at peak times, but mostly to takes place in the employer’s employer’s premises. However,
The work-life index values
same process is carried out for work-life index values generated office- and home-based work at premises than in employees’ with variable demand, if capacity is
In the simulation model each of unreformed employees were
each employee in turn. by different values of σ (sigma) other times – evening, night and homes. set at the top end of the range, it
individual employee’s work-life generated using a value of σ
index is generated by random Simulation model (see Table 4). The simulation dawn. Approximately 10-20% of The home-based working will still be over-sized most of the
(sigma) equal to 0.02, and for
deviations from the reference model was run for 100 employees, employees are in the office at non- pattern of flexible employees is time. This might result in a move
flexible employees the value of σ The simulation is implemented
work-life index, the size of for all six combinations of peak times. highlighted in Figure 5. In the from traditional premises with
(sigma) was 0.35. Table 4 shows in Microsoft Excel. Each time the
deviations following a normal environment and behaviour (see In the intermediate traditional environment, it is high capacity and high utilisation
the reference work-life index and model is run it generates the
distribution in which small Table 5). environment (F-I), there is much concentrated in the time periods to modern premises with lower
specimen values for unreformed ‘diaries’ of 100 employees over one
deviations occur more often than and flexible employees. Figure 1 week. The output of each scenario the same amount of work in the before and after the usual working capacity and lower utilisation.
wide deviations. The generation plots the work-life index values for was presented graphically to employer’s office at peak times, day; in the modern environment If capacity is reduced it is no
The input data describing
is performed with the Excel five unreformed employees, and show the number of employees and some increase in office-based the amount of home-based longer feasible to assign ‘private’
a scenario for a model run
function NORMINV which gives Figure 2 shows the work-life index at the employer’s premises and work at non-peak times, but there work increases and the timing is workstations to individuals, as was
comprises:
possible when most employees 2008. The analysis reported here the simulation model. They also developed to generate sequences (sigma), the model can produce the environmental impact
worked routinely at the employer’s is based on 161 responses, 105 suggest that the organisations and repeating cycles in individuals’ output corresponding to survey of buildings is much greater Space to think
premises. The change to shared from commercial companies and surveyed had not yet fully work-life index values. However, observations in real organisations. when the hours of operation
workstations presents a challenge 56 from academia. Demographic adopted the potential of modern, the overall pattern of variability If this can be done successfully are extended, and it would be
to premises managers. information is shown in Table 6. knowledge economy workstyles. between individuals may be more for several organisations, with unnecessary to extend operating
Two survey questions are significant than accuracy with the model parameters varying in house in the absence of activity
Timing of home-based work
of interest. Question 5 asked Future work which individuals’ diaries are a systematic way to reflect the demand.
The remarkable transformation
participants about the typical modelled, if the model is used to different types of organisation, Although this is a preliminary
in flexible employees’ home- A. Model development
workplaces they used during the assess overall patterns of activity confidence in the model, and study, it shows the value of
based working patterns, and The preliminary simulation
week. The wording was, ‘Please and demand. its forecasts, would be greatly agent-based simulation for
non-peak hour work at the model offers many opportunities
select times and places when and Modes of flexible work increased. the investigation of emerging
employer’s office, suggest that for enhancement.
where you work during a typical The model concentrates on or hypothetical scenarios –
evening, night or dawn work is Sensitivity analysis The input
week’. Participants answered by home-based work, but there Conclusions something that cannot be done
not desired but a response to data values were estimated and
selecting from drop-down menus are also other forms of flexible These preliminary studies of new by observing current situations.
environmental constraints. In it would be a useful exercise to
set out on a diary grid for the working, including part-time workstyles using an agent-based However, simulation model must
the modern environment with undertake further model runs
fives sessions per day on the five work, flexitime, career breaks, simulation model have generated be developed and calibrated in
fewer constraints (that is, higher with a wider range of input data
weekdays. The drop-down menus annualised hours, sabbaticals interesting results. The significant parallel with empirical studies
performance and convenience values, possibly including values
offered seven alternatives: non- and unpaid leave. The model indications are: of current situations, to give
scores at both the home and that do not appear to be realistic.
work, office, home-working, café, of a week’s activities could be - new workstyles depend on credibility to model findings for
office) flexible employees are able This would improve understanding
train, library, other. developed to allow for part-time change to both behaviour hypothetical scenarios.
to concentrate their work activities of how the output changes with
Question 6 asked about work and flexitime, but the others and environment – if only one Simulation models are always
in the morning and afternoon varying input data, allowing the
participants’ preferred workplaces. operate on a longer timescale and aspect is changed the impact simplified compared to reality, and
periods that are conventionally model’s findings to be interpreted
The wording was, ‘Please select would require a different modelling on working practices is limited it is vital that the model captures
preferred for work activities. with greater confidence.
times and places when and where approach. the key aspects of the system
This implies that new workstyles - new workstyles reduce
you would PREFER to work. Individuals or types of Capacity constraint at being studied, eliminating only
unlikely to lead to round-the-clock demand at the employer’s
(Imagine you can choose any time individuals In the simulations employer’s premises There is secondary or peripheral factors.
working. Indeed, an increase in premises
and place to work!!)’. Participants each individual employee is no capacity constraint at the The choice of model structure is
out-of-hours work by flexible
answered by selecting from the modelled separately, but they are employer’s premises. In practice, - high levels of employee an implicit proposal regarding
employees in the traditional
same drop-down menus on a of just two types (unreformed and if the demand approaches choice may reinforce the the aspects that are believed
environment (F-T) compared to
second diary grid. flexible). It would be possible for capacity, employees would be established conventions about to be significant. The model
unreformed employees (U-T) may
The answers show that each employee to have unique expected to respond by changing preferred working times. described here is put forward
not indicate is rising trend, but
currently there is more home- descriptive data. An intermediate to home-based work or non-work. The first indication is as a contribution to an on-going
instead a temporary phenomenon
based work by participants in the step would be to introduce a larger The model could be developed of greatest significance for programme of research into the
that disappears when the
evening and night rather than number of employee types. to include a congestion-averse managers in organisations that architectural implications of the
environment is modernised (F-M).
the day. This pattern is similar Unique descriptions would feedback mechanism. are contemplating or undergoing move to the knowledge economy.
to model scenario F-T (Flexible involve assigning each employee Travel to work time No account change, emphasising that
Comparison with survey data
agent-Traditional environment). a set of performance and is taken of employees’ travel to environment and behaviour are
The simulation model was based convenience scores, reflecting, for
However, the participants’ work times, which are likely to interdependent factors in the
on a theoretical proposition example, personal workstyles and
preferred workstyles showed affect decisions about office- or process of change.
about activities in the knowledge facilities for home-based work;
a move to home-based work home-based work. Changing the The second indication is
economy. Empirical confirmation and a set of unique work-life index
during the day, with a reduction model to take account of travel familiar, but rarely quantified.
would increase confidence in the values, as opposed to relying on
in office-based work at this time. times would require significant Estimates of the scale of demand
model and the findings. random generation with the σ
This is similar to model scenario developement. are crucial information for the
The model findings can be F-M (Flexible agent-Modern (sigma) parameter.
B. Empirical comparison briefing, design and management
compared with a survey of modern environment). The survey results Routine activity patterns of buildings for organisations in
organisations that was conducted Work-life index values for each Up to now the simulation
are shown in Figure 6, averaged the knowledge economy.
as part of a current research time-period are generated without model has relied on estimated
over all days in the week. The The third indication questions
project ‘Environmental Impact of reference to the preceding or data values derived from published
typical and preferred levels of the common assumption that
Flexible Working’. In this project following values, whereas in sources and discussions with
home-based work over the whole future activities will increasingly
an on-line questionnaire was sent reality people organise their daily experts. An important step
week are shown in Figure 7. extend over the 24-hour cycle:
to nine commercial organisations activities in a sequence, and often in validation would be to test
Although the survey findings if validated, the model finding
in the UK and two academic form routines that repeat from whether, by adjusting model
are limited in scope they are would have direct implications for
institutions, one in the UK and day to day. The model could be parameters (performance/
consistent with the results of building management, because
one in the US, in May and August convenience scores and σ
FIGURES
Figure 1 1.0 Figure 3 Work locations & times (U-T) Average / peak demand (U-T)
Five typical unreformed employees 0.9 Unreformed employees: work
work-life index values (σ (sigma) locations and times, and demand 100% 100%
0.8
= 0.02). at the employers office, for
0.7 traditional, intermediate and 80% 80%
worklife index 0.6 modern environments.
d: Dawn, m: Morning, 60% 60%
a: Afternoon, e: Evening, n: Night 0.5
40% 40%
0.4
U-T: Unreformed employees –
Traditional environment 20% 20%
0.3
U-I: Unreformed employees –
0% 0%
0.2 Intermediate environment dmaendmaendmaendmaendmaen d m a e n
0.1 U-M: Unreformed employees – Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri
0.0
Modern environment
d m a e n d m a e n d m a e n d m a e n d m a e n HW: Home work Work locations & times (U-I) Average / peak demand (U-I)
Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri
OW: Office work
100% 100%
Figure 2 1.0
Five typical flexible employees 0.9 d: Dawn, m: Morning, 80% 80%
work-life index values (σ (sigma) a: Afternoon, e: Evening, n: Night
0.8 60% 60%
= 0.35).
0.7 40% 40%
worklife index
0.6
d: Dawn, m: Morning, 20% 20%
a: Afternoon, e: Evening, n: Night 0.5
0% 0%
0.4 dmaendmaendmaendmaendmaen d m a e n
0.3 Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri
0.2
Work locations & times (U-M) Average / peak demand (U-M)
0.1
0.0
100% 100%
d m a e n d m a e n d m a e n d m a e n d m a e n
Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri 80% 80%
Figure 5 25 60% 60%

F-T
Home-based working of flexible F-I 40% 40%
employees in traditional, F-M
20 20% 20%
intermediate and modern
number of employees
environments.
0% 0%
15 dmaendmaendmaendmaendmaen d m a e n
Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri
F-T: Flexible employees –
Traditional environment 10
F-I: Flexible employees – HW Average (OW)
Intermediate environment OW Peak (OW)
5
F-M: Flexible employees –
Modern environment
0
d: Dawn, m: Morning,
a: Afternoon, e: Evening, n: Night
FIGURES CONTINUED
Figure 4 Work locations & times (F-T) Average / peak demand (F-T) Figure 6 Academic as is Academic preferred
Flexible employees: work locations Work locations and times (data 100% 100%
and times, and demand at the 100% 100% collected in May and August 2008).
employers office, for traditional, 80% 80%
80% 80%
environments. HW: Home work 60% 60%
60% 60%
OW: Office work 40% 40%
40% 40%
F-T: Flexible employees – 20% 20%
Traditional environment 20% 20% d: Dawn, m: Morning,
F-I: Flexible employees – a: Afternoon, e: Evening, n: Night 0% 0%
0% 0% d m a e n d m a e n
Intermediate environment dmaendmaendmaendmaendmaen d m a e n
F-M: Flexible employees – Modern Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri
environment Academic as is Academic preferred
HW: Home work Work locations & times (F-I) Average / peak demand (F-I) 100% 100%
OW: Office work
100% 100% 80% 80%
80% 80% 60% 60%

a: Afternoon, e: Evening, n: Night 40% 40%
60% 60%
40% 40% 20% 20%
20% 20% 0% 0%
d m a e n d m a e n
0% 0%
dmaendmaendmaendmaendmaen d m a e n
Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri HM
OW
others
Work locations & times (F-M) Average / peak demand (F-M)
100% 100% Figure 7 40%
80% 80% Proportion of participants 35%

reporting home-based work.
60% 60% 30%
40% 40% d: Dawn, m: Morning,
worklife index
25%
20% 20% 20%
0% 0%
dmaendmaendmaendmaendmaen d m a e n 15%
Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri
10%
5%
HW Average (OW)
OW Peak (OW) 0%
as it is
preferred
TABLES
Table 1 Traditional Intermediate Modern Table 5 Behaviour

The performance and convenience performance convenience performance convenience performance convenience Six scenarios used for the Environment Unreformed Flexible
scores of activity-space Office 3 0 4 1 5 2 simulation modelling experiments. Traditional 1. Unreformed-Traditional 4. Flexible-Traditional
alternatives for traditional, Home-work 1 2 3 2.75 4.5 3.75 Intermediate 2. Unreformed-Intermediate 5. Flexible-Intermediate
Non-work 0 5 0 5 0 5 Modern 3. Unreformed-Modern 6. Flexible-Modern
environments, as used in
systematic model runs.
Table 2 – Conventional daily time- Modern Table 6 Sex Male: 49%, Female: 51%
use data dawn morning afternoon evening night Demographic information of the Age group below 20: 0.5%, 20s: 29.4%, 30s: 30.2%, 40s: 15.5%, 50s: 11.7%, over 60: 12.7%
From Percentages of Non-home- % of employed people away from home 17 79 85 35 10 sample. Job Administration: 21.0%, Marketing: 2.0%, Finance: 4.1%, Engineer: 4.1%,
based Workers at Home on a % of employed people at home 84 21 15 65 90 Characteristics Operations: 4.4%, Research: 32.4%, Teaching: 6.2%, Design: 15.7%, Others: 10.1%
Working Weekday by Minutes
through the Day, Canada, 1998
(Michelson, 2005, p.60).
Table 3 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Daily adjustment to the reference Adjustment factor 1.00 1.00 1.01 1.02 0.97
work-life index; the average values
in the reference work-life index
were multiplied by these factors to
give daily work-life index values.
From Focus on Personal Travel,
UK, 1998-2003 (DfT, 2005).
Table 4 Monday Tuesday

Reference work-life index and d m a e n d m a e n
typical work-life index values Reference work-life index 0.17 0.79 0.85 0.35 0.10 0.17 0.79 0.85 0.35 0.10
for unreformed and flexible Unreformed employee σ (sigma) = 0.02 0.16 0.76 0.85 0.36 0.11 0.18 0.77 0.81 0.33 0.12
employees.
Flexible employee σ (sigma) = 0.35 0.04 0.48 0.95 0.03 0.02 0.70 0.41 0.88 0.02 0.41
Wednesday Thursday
d m a e n d m a e n
Reference work-life index 0.17 0.80 0.86 0.36 0.10 0.18 0.80 0.86 0.36 0.11
Unreformed employee σ (sigma) = 0.02 0.15 0.79 0.85 0.37 0.06 0.16 0.77 0.84 0.34 0.09
Flexible employee σ (sigma) = 0.35 0.71 0.82 0.43 0.16 0.07 0.27 0.95 0.97 0.24 0.03
Friday
d m a e n
Reference work-life index 0.15 0.78 0.84 0.34 0.08
Unreformed employee σ (sigma) = 0.02 0.12 0.74 0.82 0.30 0.08
Flexible employee σ (sigma) = 0.35 0.12 0.37 0.92 0.61 0.24
[9]
ASR PAPERS: 4
Optimum capacity of shared accommodation:
yield management analysis
William Fawcett
Orginally published in Facilities vol.27, no.9/10, pp.339-356, 2009
112 OPTIMUM CAPACITY OF SHARED ACCOMMODATION: YIELD MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS 113 OPTIMUM CAPACITY OF SHARED ACCOMMODATION: YIELD MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS
OPTIMUM CAPACITY OF SHARED ACCOMMODATION: YIELD MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS
Introduction unoccupied for periods of time used to investigate the problem of sharing problem as a sequence a wholesaler, and sells them to management’s airline overbooking amounts of useless capacity’
and workplace utilisation falls. concern. In particular, the process of one-day exercises in which a the public at a profit. The number problem (Phillips, 2005, p.207; (Phillips, 2005, p.207). This Space to think
Many facilities managers are
troubled by low levels of utilisation In this situation it is logical that begins by carefully observing stock of workspaces is offered to of customers varies from day Talluri & Van Ryzin, 2004, p.129). motivation is equally compelling
in buildings that are expensive to employees should share fewer and formulating the problem. … employees who make reservations to day. The newsvendor seeks When airlines take bookings for for the facilities manager.
build and run. They set themselves desks, thus improving utilisation. The next step is to construct a for the whole day, it is more to maximise profit, and when a flight, they generally find that The following sections apply
the goal of improving utilisation The idea of space-sharing, scientific (typically mathematical) like an inventory problem. In deciding how many copies of the some people fail to turn up. If key aspects of yield management
levels that are intuitively felt to also called non-territorial working, model that attempts to abstract this formulation, the time when paper to stock he has to trade-off seats are kept empty for these to the workspace-sharing
be too low, but what utilisation is not new. In 1990 Laing said that, the essence of the real problem. employees arrive is not critical two competing objectives: he people, the plane will fly with problem.
targets should be aimed for? It ‘it has long been common practice It is then hypothesised that this and workspaces are not passed wishes to avoid ending the day with unused capacity; and if other
is possible to start a campaign in City firms’ (Laing, 1990, p.12), model is a sufficiently precise between employees during unsold papers that cannot be sold passengers would have paid Mathematical model of optimum
for improved utilisation without a and the term ‘hot-desking’ was representation of the essential the day; this is in contrast to a on the following day, favouring a to take the flight, the empty capacity
credible target, but the enterprise first recorded in 1991 (OED, 2008). features of the situation, so queueing problem. smaller stock; but he does not seats cause a loss of income.
The workspace-sharing problem
is unlikely to reach a successful However, few references to space that the conclusions (solutions) Comparable reservation want to lose sales by running out To minimise lost income, it is
is formulated in the following
conclusion. sharing discuss quantification from the model are valid for problems are investigated in of papers when there are still accepted practice for airlines
way. A population of employees
Setting a realistic utilisation (but see Fawcett & Chadwick, the real problem. Next, suitable yield management or revenue customers willing to buy, favouring to ‘overbook’ popular flights,
make one-day reservations
target is different from saying, 2007; Fawcett & Rigby, 2009). With experiments are conducted to management (Phillips, 2005; a larger stock. The optimum that is, take more bookings than
for workspaces (or desks) in
for example, that ‘improving modern, more flexible workstyles, test this hypothesis, modify it if Ingold et al, 2000; Netessine & number of copies to stock is the number of seats available.
a workplace (or office) that
utilisation from 40% to 80% would demand at the employer’s needed, and eventually verify some Shumsky, 2002; Talluri & Van determined in yield management However, there is a risk that more
has a fixed number of shared
halve premises costs, giving a workplace is not only lower, it form of the hypothesis’ (Hillier & Ryzin, 2004). Yield management analysis, and depends on the people may turn up than can be
workspaces. The number of
saving of so many million pounds is also more uncertain, because Lieberman, 2005, p.2). This paper applies particularly to industries buying price, the selling price and accommodated. If this happens
employees who want to reserve a
per year.’ What-if comparisons of day-to-day variation in the applies the operations research that sell products with an expiry the demand probability. some people have to be displaced
workspace varies from day to day.
like this, based on arbitrary attendance of individual employees approach to the space-sharing time, such as airlines or hotels: This newsvendor problem or ‘bumped’, and the airline has
If fewer people want workspaces
higher utilisation levels, may be and the total number attending. problem. if there are empty seats on an is similar to the dilemma facing to pay them compensation; the
on a given day than the number
true, but they say nothing about Because of this uncertainty it Two topics in operations airline flight or if hotel rooms a facilities manager who wants cost of compensation exceeding
available, there are empty
whether it would be feasible or is not easy to decide how much research are especially relevant. are unoccupied overnight, the to know how many shared the income from a passenger
workspaces, reducing utilisation
desirable to move to the higher space-sharing can take place. The first topic, queueing theory, unused capacity is wasted – it workspaces to provide when that flies. Yield management
and incurring a penalty cost for
utilisation level. This paper offers New workstyles have wide- is used to establish the efficient cannot be held in stock and sold employee demand is uncertain. establishes the optimum
wastage. If more people want
a basis for setting organisation- ranging implications. Laing’s early capacity that should be provided to later. This ‘perishability’ is also Providing too many workspaces level of overbooking to reduce
workspaces than the number
specific utilisation targets. It study, for example, described serve the demand from customers a feature of an under-utilised incurs a cost penalty due to wasted capacity while keeping
available, some employees are
focuses on the management of desk-sharing as: ‘… an array of when there is uncertainty about workplace: if it operates with unused space (equivalent to the displacements to an acceptable
displaced, incurring a penalty
office buildings, but many of the strategies to support innovative, their arrival times and the duration unused capacity on one day, that newsvendor’s unsold papers); level.
cost for displacement. The
principles would also be applicable highly productive patterns of work of service they require (Hillier resource is lost forever. Yield and if there are not enough With good data about customer facilities manager’s problem is to
to other use types. in well-designed environments & Lieberman, 2005, p.765); the management strategies have workspaces for the employees behaviour and preferences, determine the optimum number
In the traditional model of … not just reclaiming space objective is to ‘design queueing proved extremely effective in who want to work at the office, overbooking can be fine-tuned. of workspaces, given the costs of
an office-based organisation, that is left unused when a large systems that minimise the total minimising wastage when there is some employee requests will not US airlines have many years’ wastage and displacement and
employees would be expected proportion of workers’ time is cost of service and waiting’ (p.766). uncertain demand for perishable be met (equivalent to customers experience and now there is the probability distribution for the
to work throughout a prescribed spent out of the office or away The second topic, inventory theory, goods: ‘Yield management is a who come to the newsvendor very little displacement despite number of employees expected.
working day at their ‘own’ desks from their desks’ (Laing, 1990, is used to establish the efficient method which can help a firm to after all the papers have been extensive overbooking – about 9
p.12). However, this paper stocks of goods that should sell [allocate] the right inventory sold). Because most employees passengers were displaced per Terminology
in their employer’s workplace.
Today, in many organisations in concentrates on the basic issue be provided to serve customer unit [workspace] to the right type do not actually pay to use their 10,000 in 2007, and of these 90% C – capacity – the maximum
the ‘knowledge economy’, working of quantification that applies demand, including cases when the of customer [employee] at the employer’s office, there is no loss accepted compensation and were number of users that can be
practices are diverging from this whenever new workstyles are demand is uncertain (p.833). There right time and for the right price’ of income if too few workspaces classified as voluntary, so fewer accommodated in the workplace
pattern (see for example, Felstead implemented: how much capacity are similarities between the topics, (Kimes, 2000, p.3). Analogous are provided, but there is a penalty than one passenger per 10,000 (ie. the number of workspaces/
et al, 2005; DEGW, 2008). With is required at the employers’ but a crucial difference is that in wording for the workspace-sharing cost from employee dissatisfaction experienced involuntary bumping desks)
modern business processes and premises where there is queueing theory the customers problem is suggested in brackets; and perhaps loss of productivity. (US Dept of Transportation, 2008). E – numbers of users (or
greater employee choice about the workspace sharing? make only temporary use of a the question of price is discussed Whereas the newsvendor aims Overbooking, like workspace employees) who share the
times and places for carrying out service and when their use ends below. to maximise profit, the facilities sharing, can bring problems but workplace, E > C
work activities (Lewis & Cooper, Operations research and yield another customer can use it; in The basic principles of yield manger’s task is to minimise the the reason for airline overbooking e – the demand for workspaces/
2005), many employees spend management inventory theory the customers management are encapsulated in penalty costs from unused space is compelling: ‘Without the ability desks on a particular day (ie. the
time away from the employer’s purchase products which are not the ‘newsvendor problem’ Phillips, and/or dissatisfied users. to overbook, not only would the number of users who want to use
Decision-making in situations of
office during the working day. If available for customers who arrive 2005, p.157; Nahmias, 2009, The facilities manager’s airline lose potential revenue, the workplace)
uncertainty has been extensively
a personal desk is retained by later. p.257). Each day a newsvendor concern with dissatisfied users it would be paying to purchase, Pi – probability that the demand is i
studied in operations research, in
each employee, some are left which, ‘… the scientific method is If we formulate the space- buys a stock of daily papers from is also encountered in yield maintain and support huge users, i = 0, 1, 2, … E; Σ Pi = 1
PS – probability that the capacity is Either the surplus capacity The expected penalty cost this case (Nahmias, 2009, p.261). with the infinitesimal increase in be less than the average demand,
greater than the demand (ie. there penalty or the displacement is the sum of surplus capacity At the ideal optimum capacity, capacity is: PS = Y / (1 + Y) to reduce surplus capacity at the Space to think
is surplus capacity, or unused penalty must be zero. Both are penalty and displacement penalty, C*, the expected surplus capacity expense of higher displacement
workspaces/desks) zero If the number of users exactly S + D. Figure 2 shows how penalty is: S’ − S = (S + s × n × PS) − S = In the last form, this is – but these situations would not
PD – probability that the demand matches the capacity, e = C. this varies with capacity for a often called the ‘critical ratio’ normally occur.
s × n × Ps
∑ (C* − i))
i<C*
is greater than capacity (ie. there Figure 1 shows how the probabilistic demand. The general (eg. Nahmias, 2009, p.260) or To apply these principles the
shape is similar to Figure 1, but S = s × (Pi ×
are displaced users for whom no penalty cost varies with capacity Littlewood’s Rule (Phillips, 2005, probability distribution of demand
the expected penalty cost never
i=0 and the decrease in the
workspace/desk is available) for a given demand. The p.155; Talluri & Van Ryzin, 2004, must be known, although the
reaches zero. The lowest point expected displacement penalty is:
s – cost of a unit of surplus displacement penalty costs (more and the expected displacement p.35). shape of the distribution does
capacity (ie. an unused workspace/ users than workspaces) rise more occurs at a capacity that is higher penalty cost is: not matter – the principles apply
The ideal optimum value
desk) steeply than the surplus capacity than the average demand. D − D’ = D − (D − d × n × PD) to any probability distribution.
occurs at the lowest point of the
∑
i=E
d – cost of a unit of excess demand penalty costs (more workspaces Optimal solution = d × n × PD Typically, however, the distribution
D=d× (Pi× (i − C*)) expected cost curve where there
(ie. the displacement of a single than users). are gentle gradients (see Fig.2), so has a peak around the average
If a very small capacity is i>C*
user); it is These are equal at the ideal demand, with decreasing
Probabilistic demand and penalty provided, the surplus capacity small variations from the optimum
If optimum capacity is optimum. Therefore: probabilities that the demand
larger than the surplus capacity costs penalty will be minimised, but the capacity do not significantly
increased by the infinitesimal increase the expected penalty cost; would be much lower or higher
cost, d > s The number of users wanting to displacement penalty will be very
margin to C* + n, then the this allows integer approximation than the average – corresponding
S – surplus capacity penalty – the use the workplace varies from day high; at the other extreme, a very s × n × PS = d × n × PD
expected surplus capacity penalty to the ideal optimum value to be to the familiar bell-shaped curve
aggregate penalty costs from to day and cannot be predicted large capacity will minimise the
would increase to: made safely. It also means that the when plotted as a graph. The
surplus capacity precisely, but suppose we know displacement penalty but result s × PS = d × PD
expected penalty cost is not highly strength of the peak and the
D – displacement penalty – the that the probability that i people in high surplus capacity penalty.
∑ (P × (C* + n − i))
i<C*
sensitive to small errors in the spread of the bell-shaped curve
aggregate penalty costs from will want workspaces is Pi, for i = Neither of these is a good solution. S’ = s × i PS = d/s × PD input data. can vary. Flatter distributions
users that are displaced 0, 1, 2, … E. The probability that The optimum capacity lies i=0
with lower peaks indicate greater
the capacity, C, is greater than between the extremes, at the point
Y – displacement:surplus penalty
∑ (P × (C* − i))
i<C* variability of demand; in effect,
the number of users, resulting in where the expected penalty, which PS = Y × PD Principles of optimal capacity
cost ratio, Y = d / s =s× greater uncertainty about demand.
a surplus capacity penalty, is PS; is the sum of the surplus capacity i=0
i
The derivation described The shape of the probability
∑ (P × n)
User numbers and penalty costs and the probability that than the and displacement penalties, is i<C*
This basic relationship is the
+s× above is encapsulated in the first distribution affects the optimum
The number of people who capacity is less than the number of mimimised. i
key to determining the optimum principle of optimal capacity:
want to use the workplace varies
i=0 capacity: with a flatter probability
users, resulting in a displacement Consider gradually increasing capacity. More rigorous proofs At optimum capacity, the distribution the optimum capacity
∑P
i<C*
on different days; suppose that on penalty, is PD: capacity from a very low initial are given in textbooks (such as
=S+s×n× probability of surplus capacity is higher (see Figure 3).
a particular day it is e. value (towards the left in Fig.2). At i Nahmias, 2009, p.259).
i=0 is equal to the probability of This leads to the third principle
∑
i<C
The surplus capacity penalty, first the expected penalty cost will For convenience in calculation displacement times the cost ratio;
PS = Pi of optimal capacity:
S, is the cost of providing unused i=0
fall, but if this process continues it is useful to rearrange the terms that is, PS = Y × PD.
space. If demand is greater beyond the optimum capacity, the = S + s × n × Ps As the uncertainty about
in the basic relationship. Because A consequence of this principle demand increases, the optimum
∑
i=E
than capacity, e > C, there is no expected penalty cost will start PS + PD = 1 at the ideal optimum
PD = Pi and the expected displacement is the second principle of optimal capacity increases.
surplus and no surplus penalty. If rising. At optimum capacity, C*, C* (there is no value for PC* for i =
i>C
penalty cost would decrease to: capacity: Examples showing the impact
demand is less than capacity the with minimum expected penalty C* because C* is not an integer),
surplus is C – e and the penalty is: cost, a small change in capacity As cost ratio between the of the three principles on optimal
In the special case that we can substitute the term:
∑ (P × (i - C* − n))
will make no difference to the
i<E surplus capacity cost and the capacity are given in Fig.4.
number of people is exactly equal D’ = d ×
expected penalty cost. i displacement cost increases, the Variant: optimal population
S = s × (C − e) to the capacity, i = C, there is i=C* PD = 1 – PS optimum capacity increases. served by a given capacity
no penalty. One of these three If the capacity increases
∑ (P × (i − C*))
i<E
outcomes must always occur, so: from the optimum, C*, by an If the optimum capacity The above discussion has
The displacement penalty, =d× i in the basic relationship, increases to reflect a high cost
D, is the cost resulting from PS + PD + PC = 1 infinitesimally small margin to C* i=C* considered the optimal capacity of
giving: ratio, then utilisation falls;
∑ (P × n)
i<E
displaced users. If demand is less The probable, or expected, + n, the increase in the expected a shared workplace serving a given
surplus capacity penalty will −d× i therefore, optimal utilisation falls population of users. It is equally
than capacity, e < C , no users surplus capacity and displacement i=C* with an increasing cost ratio.
penalty costs are: exactly equal the decrease in the PS = Y × PD = Y × (1 – PS) = possible to establish the optimal
are displaced and there is no
∑P
expected displacement penalty. i<E
Y – Y × PS As an aside, note that if the population that can be served
displacement penalty. If demand is =D−d×n× surplus capacity cost were the
∑ (P × (C − i))
greater than capacity the number
i<C Note that the ideal optimum i by a shared workplace of given
i=C*
S=s× capacity, C*, may not be a whole same as the displacement cost, Y capacity.
of people displaced is e − C and i and rearrange the terms:
i=0
number; for example, it could be = 1, the optimum capacity would The first principle of optimal
the penalty is: = D − d × n × Pd equal the average demand; and if
∑ (P × (i − C))
i=E 54.84, and would be rounded up loading for a given capacity is:
D=d× to the next larger whole number PS + Y × PS = Y the displacement cost were lower
D = d × (e − C)
i For the optimum population
i>C
to get the practical optimum The increase in the expected than the surplus capacity cost, Y
sharing a workplace of given
capacity, C+, which would be 55 in surplus capacity penalty cost PS × (1 + Y) = Y < 1, the optimum capacity would
capacity, the probability of workplace are displaced) (sigma) is equal to the square Worked examples of optimum The analysis of shared demand that is smaller than the less likely to be readily available
surplus capacity is equal to the Y - ratio of displacement:surplus root of ê × (1 – a). This reference capacity and observations accommodation in this paper margin, and cannot accommodate as it depends on factors outside Space to think
probability of displacement times capacity penalty costs value of σ (sigma) can be used to The above calculation can be is based on a model from the a demand that is substantially the facilities manager’s sphere of
the cost ratio; that is, PS = Y x PD. Z - critical ratio, Z = Y / (Y + 1) calculate the optimum capacity, applied with any combination yield management literature larger. Describing an imprecise responsibility.
The second principle of but if there is particularly low of input data values. Worked that is mathematically sound. margin by a single number is a The problem is mitigated,
σ - (sigma) uncertainty about
optimal loading for a given uncertainty it can be reduced, and examples are given in Table 1 for To be useful, the model must simplification, but its impact might however, because the model
demand
capacity is: for particularly high uncertainty it systematic variation in the average also be a good representation not be severe; as noted above, the uses the penalty cost ratio, not
A low value of σ (sigma)
As cost ratio between the can be increased. In the examples demand, ê (3 values), penalty cost of the space-sharing problem. optimum value of the expected the actual values. This should be
indicates a strong peak at the
surplus capacity cost and the in Table 1 the reference value is ratio, Y (6 values), and demand The model as described has a penalty cost is not highly sensitive easier for facilities managers to
average demand; a high value
displacement cost increases, the halved or doubled. uncertainty, σ (sigma) (3 values). number of simplifications that to small errors in the input data. estimate. For example, in office-
of σ (sigma) indicates a flatter
optimum size of the population With values for the input The tables show the optimum could be addressed with further based organisations salaries are
probability distribution. It is Response to environment
sharing a given capacity parameters, the following Excel capacity with the various input development. typically about ten times greater
also a measure of the facilities Currently it is assumed that the
decreases. formula can be used to determine data values. They give, first, the Homogenous categories than premises costs (Oseland &
manager’s state of knowledge or demand generated by a population
The third principle of optimal uncertainty about demand, higher
the ideal optimum capacity, C*: practical optimum capacity, C+, Currently, all users are assumed of users is independent of capacity.
Willis, 2000, p.163): this suggests
loading for a given capacity is: and second, the corresponding that 10 is a reasonable preliminary
values of σ (sigma) indicating to have identical probability of In practice, users will adjust their
Z = NORMDIST (C*, ê, σ, demand-capacity multiplier, M (M estimate for the cost ratio.
As the uncertainty about greater uncertainty. wanting a workspace, and all the demand in response to their
demand increases, the optimum TRUE) = 1 indicates 100% utilisation; as accommodation is assumed to experience at the workplace. After Imputed displacement cost
Calculating the optimum capacity M increases, utilisation falls). They
size of the population sharing a be equally suitable for all users. displacement, employees may If the penalty cost of displacement
The first principle of optimality show that the optimum capacity
given capacity decreases. For the reference level of But in most organisations the decrease their demand. This could is not known, it can be imputed
can be used to calculate the rises with the price ratio and with
uncertainty the following values users have varying activities, reduce employee satisfaction or from the model on the hypothesis
optimum capacity, C*, for a given demand uncertainty, in accordance
Applications and worked apply: workstyles and preferences; and productivity, imposing a cost on that the actual capacity is optimal.
population, E. This is simplest if it with the second and third
examples in most workplaces the individual the employer even though it is not If the imputed cost is much higher
is assumed that demand follows a principles of optimality. This is true
In this section the yield workstations vary in terms of exhibited by displacement at the than is considered reasonable,
normal distribution. The following Y / (Y + 1) = NORMDIST (C*, for all population sizes; however,
management-derived principles ownership, facilities and character. workplace. this implies that the capacity is
input parameters are required: ê, SQRT (ê × (1 – a)), TRUE) the tables show that demand-
of optimality are put in a context Diversity is handled in yield An important topic for in fact larger than the optimum.
1) the average attendance capacity multiplier, M, is greater
that should be familiar to most management by segmenting users investigation is the threshold at This type of reversed use of the
ratio, a, and average demand, All the values are defined for small populations – this is
facilities managers, using the and services and handling the which users of shared workplaces model has been described for
ê except C*; the Excel ‘goal seek’ because in larger populations
following terms: sub-problems separately (Kimes, begin to ‘displace themselves’, the airline overbooking problem:
2) the penalty cost ratio, Y, tool can be used to find this there is more ‘averaging out’, so 2000, p.9). This approach would equivalent to ‘balking’ in queueing ‘Often the imputed cost numbers
C – capacity of the workplace, variations in demand are smoother
which defines the critical ratio, unknown value. For example, for a be applicable for space-sharing. systems when ‘the customer provide useful feedback … [and]
measured by the number of and easier to accommodate.
Z population of 100 with an average A multi-segment model of the refuses to enter the system and … serve as a ‘sanity check’ on the
workspaces (ie. the maximum It is clear that the optimum
3) the value of σ (sigma), the attendance ratio of 0.5 (E = 100, a space-sharing problem would is lost if the queue is too long’ reasonableness of a given service
number of users) capacity varies widely in different
uncertainty of demand. = 0.5, ê = 50), a penalty cost ratio be feasible but more complex. (Hillier & Lieberman, 2005, p.767). level’ (Talluri & Van Ryzin, 2004,
C* – ideal optimum capacity (ie. of 10 (Y = 10), and the reference situations. When there is a
The values of these Experiments with a range of Anecdotal evidence suggests that p.146).
when the expected penalty cost is value of σ (sigma), the Excel goal high penalty cost ratio and
parameters vary from case to segment characteristics and this happens before workplaces
minimised) high demand uncertainty the B. Practical experience
seek tool is applied to the formula: allocation policies would be are occupied at full capacity.
C+ – practical optimum capacity – case. demand-capacity multiplier, M, It would be extremely interesting
extremely interesting. Perhaps effective capacity
the next larger whole number than The parameters are self- increases significantly, particularly to compare actual performance
10 / (10 + 1) = NORMDIST could be seen as a sliding scale
the ideal optimum capacity explanatory, with the exception for a small organisation or a Definition of capacity in shared workplaces with the
(C*, 50, SQRT (50 x (1 – 0.5)), that diminishes as occupancy
E – the number of people sharing of σ (sigma). To establish the small department in a large Currently, the workplace is results of the optimisation model
TRUE) approaches 100%, rather than a
a workplace value of σ (sigma) we can take organisation. In these situations, assumed to have a precise described here. In the newsvendor
binary variable that switches when
a – average attendance ratio as a reference case the situation which are not uncommon, the capacity, defined by a number problem, recent studies in the
occupancy equals 100%. It would
in which each individual in the This produces the value 54.84 multiplier value in the table of of workspaces which equals the operations research literature have
ê – average number of users be possible to build a model with
population decides independently for the ideal optimum capacity, worked examples reaches a value upper limit on the number of compared the behaviour of actual
wishing to use the workplace, or this feature, but it might be hard to
whether or not to use the C*. Taking the next larger whole of about 1.6, corresponding to users. This precise definition of decision-makers with optimum
average demand at the workplace, calibrate.
workplace, with probability equal number, the practical optimum utilisation of about 62% – not a capacity is realistic for an airliner, performance (Bolton & Katok,
ê=E×a Cost data
to the average attendance ratio, a. capacity, C+, is 55. very high figure, but optimal in but less so for many workplaces 2008; Schweitzer & Cachon, 2000;
M – demand-capacity multiplier where, in practice, it is often The model relies on the penalty Wang & Webster, 2009). These
In this case the demand probability The corresponding demand- these circumstances.
between the average demand and possible squeeze in one extra costs of surplus capacity and studies have shown the prevalence
follows a binomial distribution, capacity multiplier, M = C+
capacity, ê × M = C person. However, this lack of displaced users. It is likely that of sub-optimal performance by
and is closely approximated / ê , is 55 / 50 = 1.10; and Discussion
U – utilisation – as an by a normal distribution with precision only occurs around a the cost of unused space would real newsvendors and suggested
approximate utilisation, U = 1 /
approximation only, U = 1 / M an average of ê and standard A. Model congruence and margin of capacity: it is clear that be known to facilities managers, potential explanations, including
M, is 1 / 1.10 = 91%.
(actual utilisation is slightly lower deviation of σ (sigma), where σ development a workplace can accommodate a but the cost of displacement is inaccurate estimates of demand,
if some users who want to use the
FIGURES
risk aversion, or the pursuit of it is important to note that the complex. Figure 1 – Relationship between 120
strategies that do not lead to facilities managers must also take It is probable that the usability Space to think capacity and cost penalty Y = d/s = 5 e = 50
optimum solutions. Following account of the social and practical barrier can be overcome by The penalty cost for capacities
training, the performance of problems of change management, systematic investigation of data from 30 to 80 workplaces,
newsvendors was found to improve and put in place an effective 100
about activities and buildings that when there is demand is for 50
but not reach the optimum. reservation system for shared many organisations already hold workspaces. There is zero penalty
Similar studies could be space (Van der Voordt, 2004). but do not analyse. This would cost when capacity = demand. If
undertaken with facilities include non-facilities data. capacity is greater than demand, 80
managers. As noted in the Conclusions This paper presents a firm the penalty cost rises gently, by s
Introduction, lower levels of space- gradient = d
A well-established mathematical mathematical foundation for for each unit increase in capacity.
penalty cost
sharing than the optimum would model from the yield management the analysis of space-sharing. It If capacity is lower than demand,
be anticipated. The following literature provides a basis for requires further development with the penalty cost rises steeply, by d 60
hypotheses could be tested: determining the optimum capacity both theoretical and empirical for each unit reduction in capacity.
- If a facilities manager’s work, but these elaborations The ratio of gradients is the C = e = 55
of shared accommodation. The
overriding objective is to model involves simplification, should extend and not undermine penalty cost ratio, Y.
minimise the probability of but in yield management it has the basic mathematical principles 40
displacement, there would be been found that, ‘The justification of space-sharing. It is hoped that
a high imputed displacement for working with simplified the yield management approach
penalty cost, reflected in high described here will stimulate gradient = s
representations of the underlying
20
cost ratio, and high capacity problem is that it works. Real- practical improvements in the
and low utilisation. world applications have shown that design and management of shared
- If a facilities manager is this approach can lead to pricing accommodation.
anxious about displacement decisions that generate additional 0
and also uncertain about profitability. By capturing 75% or
30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
demand, risk aversion would so of the real-world complexity,
cause an even higher imputed mathematical analysis often capacity (workspaces)
displacement penalty cost, does better than either human
leading to higher capacity and judgment or other [traditional] Figure 2 – Relationship between 120
lower utilisation. approaches to pricing’ (Phillips, capacity and expected penalty Y = d/s = 5 ê = 50
2005, p.35). cost for probabilistic demand
- Decisions about premises
are long-lasting, making it Barriers to the practical The expected penalty cost for
application of the principles of 100
hard to correct errors, again capacities from 30 to 80 units, for
contributing to facilities optimality identified in this paper a probabilistic demand with an
managers’ risk aversion, are likely to include perceptions average of 50 people. The lowest
reinforcing the tendency to that: penalty cost occurs for a capacity 80
increase capacity and reduce - the workspace-sharing that exceeds the average demand.
problem is more complex than gradient = d
utilisation. The minimum is not sharply
penalty cost
established problems in the defined – neighbouring capacities
These are valid considerations,
yield management literature, have nearly the same expected 60
but excessive caution is not
weakening the relevance of the penalty cost.
justifiable. Management that C = 50
optimisation model
cannot accept any risk of
displacement is condemned to an - there is a lack of reliable C+ = 50
data about user demand 40
inefficient level of space utilisation.
Actual displacement costs should and displacement costs,
be quantified so that optimum weakening the usability of the
gradient = s
capacity can be identified and optimisation model.
20
used as a management target. Previous work in yield
Contingency plans for dealing with management suggests that the
displacement events should be relevance barrier may be overcome
prepared. by segmentation of employees and 0
If a move to higher levels of workspaces at an appropriate level 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
space-sharing is implemented, of detail, which need not be highly
capacity (workspaces)
FIGURES CONTINUED
Figure 3 – Demand uncertainty 120 Figure 4 – Impact of penalty cost

high Y low σ high Y low σ
and optimum capacity Y=5 σ = reference ratio and demand uncertainty on
optimum capacity
Graphs of demand probability for
an average demand of 50 people, 100 ê = 50 The charts are of the same
with reference uncertainty (above) type as in Fig,3, in which the
and high uncertainty (below). probability distribution of demand
With increasing uncertainty, the C+ = 55 is divided in proportion to the
peak at average demand is less penalty cost ratio to determine
probability of demand (p i )
80
pronounced, and higher and optimal capacity. The six charts
lower levels of demand are more show variation in the penalty cost
likely to occur. In both cases the ratio and demand uncertainty; ê C+ ê C+
optimum capacity is identified in 60 the average demand, ê, is the
Increasing penalty cost ratio, Y

accordance with the first principle same in all cases. The optimum high Y low σ high Y low σ
of optimality: the areas to the left capacity, C+, rises with increasing
(demand < capacity) and to the penalty cost ratio, Y. and demand
right (demand > capacity) of the 40 uncertainty, σ (sigma). The margin
optimum are in the ratio 5:1, equal between average emand and
to the penalty cost ratio. With PS = 83% optimum capacity, ê and C+, is
greater uncertainty the optimum measured by the ratio M.
occurs at a higher capacity; this 20
PD = 17%
is in accordance with the third
principle of optimality.
0 ê C+ ê C+
25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 high Y low σ high Y low σ

120
Y=5 σ = high
100
ê C+ ê C+
probability of demand (p i )
80
Increasing uncertainty about demand, σ (sigma)
C+ = 60
60
ê = 50
40
PS = 83%
20
PD = 17%
0
30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
TABLES
Table 1 – Worked examples of A. Penalty Uncertainty about demand C. Penalty Uncertainty about demand
optimum capacity Population, E = 40 people cost ratio low reference high Population, E = 500 people cost ratio low reference high
Optimum capacity and demand- Average attendance ratio, a = 0.5 Average attendance ratio, a = 0.5
Average demand, ê = 20 people 40 23 26 32 Average demand, ê = 250 people 40 261 272 294
capacity multiplier for variations
20 23 25 31 20 259 269 287
in average demand, penalty cost
ratio and demand uncertainty. 10 22 24 28 10 257 265 280
The results are derived from the 5 22 23 26 5 255 261 272
normal distribution. The binomial 2 21 21 23 2 252 255 260
approximation is used to derive 1 20 20 20 1 250 250 250
the reference value of uncertainty;
it is halved for low uncertainty and
doubled for high uncertainty. Optimum capacity, C+ Optimum capacity, C+
Penalty Uncertainty about demand Penalty Uncertainty about demand

cost ratio low reference high cost ratio low reference high
40 1.16 1.31 1.62 40 1.04 1.09 1.18
20 1.13 1.26 1.53 20 1.04 1.07 1.15
10 1.11 1.21 1.42 10 1.03 1.06 1.12
5 1.08 1.15 1.31 5 1.02 1.04 1.09
2 1.03 1.07 1.14 2 1.01 1.02 1.04
1 1.00 1.00 1.00 1 1.00 1.00 1.00
Demand-capacity multiplier, M Demand-capacity multiplier, M
B. Penalty Uncertainty about demand

Population, E = 100 people cost ratio low reference high
Average attendance ratio, a = 0.5
Average demand, ê = 50 people 40 55 60 70
20 54 58 67
10 53 57 63
5 52 55 60
2 51 52 54
1 50 50 50
Optimum capacity, C+
Penalty Uncertainty about demand

cost ratio low reference high
40 1.10 1.20 1.40
20 1.08 1.17 1.33
10 1.07 1.13 1.27
5 1.05 1.10 1.19
2 1.02 1.04 1.09
1 1.00 1.00 1.00
Demand-capacity multiplier, M
[10]
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ACTIVITY-SPACE RESEARCH

The role of built space in the digital world

William Fawcett MA PhD RIBA

Foreword by John Worthington 3

Overview by Andrew Chadwick 4

Chapter 1 – Built space in the digital world: research initiative 6

Chapter 2 – Transformational changes 16

Chapter 3 – Modelling and managing uncertain demand 28

Chapter 4 – Flexibility for activity change 40

Chapter 5 – Behavioral issues in ASR 53

Chapter 6 – ASR papers: 1 68

Chapter 7 – ASR papers: 2 84

Chapter 8 – ASR papers: 3 96

Chapter 9 – ASR papers: 4 110

Chapter 10 – Sources of information 124

Lorem Ipsum Publishing

Professor John Worthington

BUILT SPACE IN THE DIGITAL WORLD – A NEW ROLE?

Andrew Chadwick MA RIBA MCSD

THE ASR WORKSHOPS

MODELLING AS A RESEARCH METHOD

THE OFFICE OF THE FUTURE PRESENT

THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

millions of undergraduate students

of speculative ideas that were being 5

MODELLING AND MANAGING UNCERTAIN DEMAND

SIMULATION OF INTERACTING AGENTS ASR-S2 simulation process

SIMULATING A GENERIC ORGANISATION Components of ASR-S6

utilisation / queueing frequency / displacement frequency

YIELD MANAGEMENT AND THE Yield management in an airline

SHARED WORKPLACE 10 seats, but the airline overbooks

Increasing penalty cost ratio, Y

FLEXIBILITY IN PRACTICE – DESIGN RESPONSES

FLEXIBILITY: CHANGING ACTIVITIES

THE REAL OPTIONS SYNTHESIS

NOT JUST EVENTS, EVENTS… ALSO PEOPLE, PEOPLE!

INFORMAL CONTACTS Chance encounters – simulation

Pembroke College hall shows the 66 seats, 42 people

entrance to high table

GROUPING AND SOCIAL NETWORKS A social network can be

WORK-LIFE HARMONISATION The components of the agent-

life harmonisation. work-life index to produce a traditional environment

% weight given to performance

percentage of agents home-working

BUILDINGS IN USE In each case study, data was

and location of spaces for informal

INPUT FROM WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS The participants at Workshop

results of some Workshop exercises The broad trends of long-term development

William Fawcett & Andrew Chadwick

SPACE-TIME MANAGEMENT AND OFFICE FLOORSPACE DEMAND

showing how the virtual estate Level 6 23627 sqft womans cs

Legal / CDY Secretariat

New selling channels

FIGURES CONTINUED TABLES

W-S: work space

organisations. 1.0 £ 7,330

Table 7 – Data from 10 Individual Blocking events in Preferred % of Simulated % of Preferred/Simulated

Table 8 – Workspace occupancy in No. of workplaces Number of

Table 9 – Efficiency measures at Utilisation Workspace STM (space-time

William Fawcett & Danny Rigby

FIGURES CONTINUED TABLES

(cost regime 4 – as Table 5A) – 7 Series 2 away 2 1 2 1 2

William Fawcett & Ji-Young Song

MODELLING THE USE OF SPACE AND TIME IN THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY