Using data to turn your workplace into a space that matters

With hybrid or fully remote work models now the norm, employees often question why they should return to the workplace.

MovePlan’s Stephen Fountain, a Senior Workplace Project Director, believes this is creating a problem for employers who are forced to define their workplace’s purpose. This new dilemma is fast moving to the top of the organisation’s agenda – and this is where data can help.

Stephen spoke to James Preston, the founder and CEO of Intuitive Workspaces, a company which customises workplaces using detailed data about workspace usage.

Here they discuss how data can be used to define the purpose of the workplace.

MovePlan has held a master service agreement with one of the US East Coast’s leading research and higher education facilities since 2017.

As a partner of choice for its laboratory moves, MovePlan has relocated over 1,200 staff, 5,300 assets and specialty equipment and been responsible for engaging with over 140 research labs / principal investigators, 80 different specialty equipment vendors (OEMs), and high-value assets.

Relocation of the university’s science building

The first project with the university was also the largest to date: a multidisciplinary site encompassing neuroscience and molecular biology research, comprising 16 stories and 365,000 square feet, including 10 floors of open and adaptable laboratory space.

The work undertaken covered all the laboratories used for education and research purposes, including wet labs. The careful removal and storage of equipment and samples is critical and the MovePlan team is highly experienced in moving not only sensitive, irreplaceable samples, but also high tech equipment, including incubators and freezers, with some newer and more specialised equipment costing over $1M alone. Both require focused planning to ensure items are kept at the correct temperature at all times.

Stacy Krepelka, Workplace Project Director at MovePlan, has overseen a number of the lab moves.

“Every laboratory move is unique and we face a number of challenges which require careful scheduling around the removal of individual items. This needs to take place in phases to ensure equipment is disconnected and reconnected in the right sequence, all the while managing a high number of vendors responsible for each piece of equipment. At any one time we can have upwards of 50 movers and specialist vendors on site. It quickly becomes a very complex operation.”

One of Philadelphia’s leading research universities was embarking on a refurbishment of one of its campus buildings.

With the focus on continuing to improve learning and innovation for wet bench research, the project was raising the bar for higher education R&D in the area.

Boston University’s Center for Computing & Data Sciences in Boston, Massachusetts, is a 19-storey building designed by KPMB Architects and is the most environmentally friendly building in the city.

While its exterior design has generated many of the headlines, it is its environmental credentials which will see it lead the way in building sustainability. At 350,000 square feet, it is the largest carbon-neutral building in Boston, free of fossil fuels, and relying on geothermal wells for heating and cooling. External shading and triple-glazed glass windows minimise energy consumption and the building’s electricity is matched with renewable energy generated from BU Wind, a power purchase agreement with a wind farm in South Dakota.

Relocating four faculties into one new building

MovePlan was the University’s move partner, chosen to relocate a number of disparate departments into one new building: the Faculty of Computing & Data Science, Computer Science, Mathematics and Statistics, and the Hariri Institute. With the new building seeking to place collaboration at the heart of its design, several aspects, such as whiteboard walls to encourage ideation, small gathering spaces to encourage conversations and a central atrium running the entire length of the building featuring platforms intended for group working, meant that many ways of working had to be revised.

As sustainability practices become more of a priority than ever before, and with greater awareness and prominence of ESG and required initiatives by employees and customers alike, corporations can’t afford to overlook any opportunity to innovate their workplaces and support a more conscious approach to business.