The Client
The University of Dundee is a public research university in Dundee, Scotland. Founded in 1881, the university serves around 16,000 students. The campus comprises 77 buildings, some of which date back to the 19th century. In addition to 150 teaching and meeting rooms, the buildings house offices and meeting rooms for the university’s 3,300 academic and administrative staff.
The Challenge
The university procured the FM:Systems workplace occupancy sensors solutions, FMS:Sensors, platform in 2018 to support space optimization initiatives on campus. Unfortunately, the pandemic took hold in Scotland before the system could be put to good use. In 2021, the university hired Caitlin Stevenson to serve as Property Assets and Space Coordinator, and part of her new role was to revive that project.
“We have a real need for central space – space that anybody can access. We’ve got a real problem with school-controlled spaces, areas that are only accessible to those belonging to a certain group or academic field,” explained Stevenson. “So, our first goal when we launched FMS:Sensors back in 2021 was to make as many of these limited access rooms into central space.”
As it turned out, that would take some time.
“I started at the University of Dundee during the second pandemic lockdown,” said Stevenson. “In my role, I look at how space is used and how the university can use that space more efficiently. It’s a little hard to get your arms around space utilization when everyone was working from home.”
Once the lockdowns ended and Stevenson returned to campus, it didn’t take her long to realize that FMS:Sensors was even more valuable in a post-pandemic world than it had been when the university first bought it.
“Since the pandemic, there’s been a huge change in how we’re all working and how we are responding to hybrid working,” explained Stevenson. “It’s been a big challenge getting people to understand that they can’t have all the space they want on campus and still work from home four days a week. We put the sensors into a whole host of school-controlled rooms to gain insights into how frequently they were being used.”
Another objective Stevenson hoped to achieve with the FM:Systems workplace occupancy sensors technology was to reduce the operating cost and carbon footprint of the university’s buildings by reining in energy waste.
“It just doesn’t make sense to heat and light a room when there’s nobody using it,” said Stevenson. “So, one of the things we’re looking at is how to make our campus more efficient.”
Finally, Stevenson and her colleagues wanted to better target the university’s investment in refurbishments.
“Identifying the spaces that are more popular for people to use for meetings allows us to make sure those rooms are prioritized for upgrades. We want to make sure those are the spaces that have nice seating and are kept in the best condition,” said Stevenson. “At the same time, that insight helps us figure out why other rooms don’t get used.”
Prior to deploying FMS:Sensors, the university had no process in place for monitoring the usage of rooms and buildings over time.
Identifying the spaces that are more popular for people to use for meetings allows us to make sure those rooms are prioritized for upgrades. We want to make sure those are the spaces that have nice seating and are kept in the best condition. At the same time, that insight helps us figure out why other rooms don’t get used.
Caitlin Stevenson, Property Assets and Space Coordinator, University of Dundee
The Solution
Stevenson inherited an FM:Systems workplace occupancy sensors system comprising 150 sensors and 40 hosts. These devices collect data and feed it via Wi-Fi into a subscription-based FM:Systems dashboard where the consolidated data can be viewed, queried and manipulated into visualizations and reports.
The type of system the University of Dundee procured is usually installed permanently in a set location, but Stevenson has opted to keep the system mobile.
“When we’ve deployed it, it’s always been on a case-by-case basis to gather data to make decisions about a specific space,” she explained. “That works really well for us so that, whether we want to run three smaller projects or one bigger project, we’ve got enough flexibility to do that with the number of sensors that we have.”
In one example, a room containing a piece of specialized equipment was set aside for the use of students and faculty belonging to a specific school. That school insisted that nobody else enter that space. Stevenson and her colleagues added a card swipe device on the door to the room and had data from that device fed into the FMS:Sensors system.
What that data revealed was that the room was only ever used between the hours of 8 and 9 in the morning… when the janitor would come in to clean the room.
“When we presented the dean of the school with the findings and our intention to move the room back to central control, there wasn’t much pushback,” added Stevenson.
In the end, the university decided to move all of the school-controlled rooms back into a central pool, giving staff more flexibility in how they work when they’re on campus.
“We wanted to give people more places to meet face-to-face and catch up with colleagues, so they’re not just stuck at their desks,” said Stevenson. “But to do that, we need to make sure we’ve got enough meeting spaces. FMS:Sensors has really helped us free up that pool of booking rooms.”
When we’ve deployed it, it’s always been on a case-by-case basis to gather data to make decisions about a specific space,” she explained. “That works really well for us so that, whether we want to run three smaller projects or one bigger project, we’ve got enough flexibility to do that with the number of sensors that we have.
Caitlin Stevenson, Property Assets and Space Coordinator, University of Dundee
The Results
Currently, Stevenson has the FMS:Sensors system deployed in central teaching rooms to understand exactly how they’re being used to inform space-related changes, if and when needed.Having the data on hand has also helped Stevenson address staff concerns about the changes the university has implemented.
“You can see staff panic a little bit, because they think you’re trying to take something away from them,” Stevenson explained. “But when they understand that we’re trying to improve it, not make it worse, that helps. Being able to make decisions based on evidence – and then share that evidence with the people impacted by those decisions – makes it easier for them to understand and accept what we’re trying to accomplish. That’s why FMS:Sensors has been really successful here.”
Stevenson quickly adapted to using FMS:Sensors, thanks to the FM:Systems team, who has been accessible and eager to help…
“I had no prior training in any sort of sensors or utilization software, so I had to get my head around setting up the hardware, figuring out where it goes in the room, and how I access and use the dashboards,” said Stevenson. “The training FM:Systems provided when I first started was really useful, and the support team at FM:Systems has been fantastic. Our contact, Brad, is always really helpful. I can jump on a call with him in five minutes and he’ll walk me through what I need to know.”
This year, Stevenson was appointed chairperson of the Scottish University Space Management Group, an informal group that gives professionals in her role a chance to get together and talk about what they’re struggling with and discuss potential solutions other institutions are using that might help them address those challenges.
“I hosted a gathering of the group here in March, in a room in which FMS:Sensors was deployed, and had a chance to explain how they work. People could see the devices and understand their size and form, and I walked them through the dashboard,” said Stevenson. “Sensors always come up in our conversations, so I think they’re going to become more and more common in the sector to address things like climate change, costs and cost of living. The technology is certainly on everyone’s radar
The training FM:Systems provided when I first started was really useful, and the support team at FM:Systems has been fantastic. Our contact, Brad, is always really helpful. I can jump on a call with him in five minutes and he’ll walk me through what I need to know.
Caitlin Stevenson, Property Assets and Space Coordinator, University of Dundee
