Measuring the impact of a new $500-million precinct on a university campus

Engagement

Our team led a comprehensive data analysis exercise to index patterns of place use and activity across every building on the campus. Capturing a historical data point for the campus, before the new development came online, allowed our client to progressively measure the benefit and impact of their new investment.  

Our team built a comprehensive campus index to measure multiple years of place usage and movement in buildings and in public space. We established a baseline of campus usage to measure change over time, indexing yearly, monthly, weekly and daily activity.

Studies

• Campus precinct to highlight area footfall heat maps and statistical insights 
• Campus roads to show relative demand within and surrounding the campus
• Campus buildings to show demand and activity profiles for each campus building
• Cross building movement to highlight the relationships of movements between buildings over time
• Footpaths, parking lots and public open space to highlight patterns of activity in each asset class over time 
• Visitor origin analysis to highlight the home suburbs of campus users and students from across the metro area
• Human mobility data to analyse the performance of buildings and campus activity over time.

Impact

• The university was able to quantify place performance uplift after the completion of the new precinct 
• Indexed the most-used buildings on campus to help inform capital expenditure decision making and building prioritisation 
• Mapped the cross-precinct flow of people between each building, uncovering connections between faculty buildings, public spaces and campus precincts
• Quantified student activity patterns, to enable evidence-based planning and activation decisions 
• Validated and measured the change in campus usage over time, using yearly, monthly, weekly and daily activity indices
• Quantified lost opportunity, including $6 million of off-campus leakage to a nearby shopping centre
• Our work supported multiple stakeholders, including the campus asset team’s life-cycle planning, and the experience and campus activation teams’ placemaking work.

“Place Intelligence data was used to inform an investment strategy into buildings at the end of their lifecycle.”

— Norion Ubechel, CEO, Place Intelligence