Facts
Location
Brussels, Belgium
Nemetschek Group Brands
Spacewell
Sector
Smart Building
Client
Accenture
Gare Maritime
Gare Maritine, part of urban redevelopment project Tour & Taxis, is one of the city’s most iconic sustainable office space developments. It uses solar energy, rainwater recovery, and natural ventilation, and has lots of vegetation, all within a deeply renovated wooden construction from the 19th century. Here, Accenture set up an activity-based work environment with flexible work practices for a ‘nomadic’, highly mobile 1,000-strong workforce.
Sam Dils, Facility Specialist at Accenture
"I was surprised by the low occupancy rate while the perception was that we didn’t have enough space. Sensor-based space monitoring demonstrated incorrect use of the flex workplace, rather than a lack of space. It shows that even with our very mobile and nomadic workforce, some change management is required to make optimal use of an agile workplace concept. In a free-seating environment, you need to shift people’s mindset to get rid of old habits such as claiming a shared seat in the morning while spending most of the day in meetings elsewhere."
Accenture implemented Spacewell’s Space Monitor (with PIR motion sensors) and Comfort Monitor solutions shortly after moving into the new offices. The space occupancy rates – objectively measured – turned out to be much lower than people’s perception. IoT sensor monitoring – even after only 1 to 2 months’ data collection – uncovered opportunities to improve the overall space utilization. In some cases, poor comfort turned out to be at the root of underutilization, as was evident when comfort measurements were correlated with occupancy data. Temperature and humidity measurements also proved very useful to tune the HVAC system and resolve comfort issues reflected in the use of the rooms, e.g. small spaces that got too hot and uncomfortable.
