Green Gown Awards 2011 - Space Efficiency - Nottingham Trent University - Winner

Continuous Utilisation Survey

Commencing in April 2010, the survey gives an invaluable insight into the use of the NTU estate, recording the utilisation of over 300 rooms every hour. The resulting analysis has been used to inform decisions on future development, quantify demand for different types of space and for academic planning. For years, Nottingham Trent University has carried out a two-week snapshot survey on space utilisation, which however does not provide adequate information on the changing patterns of use.

In April 2010, to obtain a thorough understanding of the space utilisation, the university conducted a continuous survey across the three campuses, covering a total of 300 spaces on an hourly basis throughout the week, using iPads and Dropbox to streamline data recording. As a result, space utilisation improved in the following year. For example, it informed the planned regeneration of the Clifton campus, leading to the closure of over 570m of inefficient teaching space. It also enabled rescheduling of building opening times in line with demand, achieving energy savings.

Nottingham Trent University (NTU) has embarked on a comprehensive utilisation survey for the whole academic year in order to gain an insight into the use of the estate. The Continuous Utilisation Survey is a physical check of 335 rooms every hour between 9am and 6pm to count the number of occupants. To avoid excessive paper waste while saving £570 in printing costs, temporary staff used iPads to record data. Drop box was used to synchronise records and mitigate the need to manually transfer all information. This significantly streamlined data capture and analysis. Following its success in the teaching space category, the utilisation survey is now being rolled out into staff offices. This will also ensure that NTU is making progress towards the government guidelines of a 0.8:1 ratio of desks per FTE.

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