海角视频

As part of our latest series of interviews for The Edit Magazine, we hear from a number of our specialist consultants from across the practice.

Here we speak to Associate Director Dr Becky Hayward about life as a people flow and smart space expert in our Analytics team. In particular, how she’s using analytics to improve people’s experiences in buildings, support their wellbeing and improve sustainability.

What is analytics?

In a nutshell, analytics is the use of data and different types of predictive modelling to inform insights and facilitate decision making. We started off using predictive modelling to resolve crowd issues in spaces that contain large volumes of people 鈥� such as new stadiums, or train stations 鈥� and that helped us optimise the design.

We then realised we could use this data-driven approach to improve people鈥檚 experiences and their productivity, as well as finding ways to spark spontaneous interactions. We now use it across a wide range of projects.

How much of your analytics work is data-based, and how much is drawn from psychology?

We incorporate both these elements, as they each have different strengths and weaknesses. Typically, what we do is more data-driven, but we’re increasingly trying to broaden our understanding of psychology and how it impacts human behaviour. A lot of research is coming out about the feedback loop between the spaces we live and work in, and the impact they have on our cognitive performance and wellbeing.

Factors that affect us include everything from ceiling height and room temperature, to light levels and smells 鈥� even the colour of the walls changes the way we think and feel. It鈥檚 fascinating.

We鈥檙e looking to use analytics to support wellbeing, improve sustainability and make the world a better place.

Is it an ever-evolving specialism?

Definitely. As well as the psychology, there鈥檚 also new technologies that change how we behave. For example, we now have to take smartphones into account when we鈥檙e working on masterplans, as when people are moving they鈥檙e likely looking at their phone and not what鈥檚 going on around them. This can change walking speeds, or increase the risk of people bumping into each other. But smartphones also have the advantage of helping people with wayfinding. So we have to be aware of evolving technologies, understand how we can use them and leverage the advantages they offer in our designs.

Do you find it hard to switch off your analytics brain?

Like most people in our team 鈥� and I鈥檓 not sure if it鈥檚 a product of our work, or if we鈥檙e just born this way 鈥� I can鈥檛 help but start looking at places through that lens, even in my downtime. I鈥檒l go to an exhibition at a museum, or see a performance in a concert hall, and on the way out I鈥檒l be watching how people are leaving to see if there are any areas of congestion. Everyone in our team has the same mindset. Wherever you go, you can鈥檛 help but look and notice.

Is analytics unique to 海角视频 in the engineering field?

Yes. Other consultants may carry out elements of our work, but the strength of what we offer is that we bring everything together. By collaborating with other disciplines and specialisms within 海角视频, we can undertake the modelling, the testing, the data analytics and the consultancy, and then present a full picture back to our client.

The way we鈥檙e able to demonstrate our analytics is also a key differentiator. The outputs are highly visual, and we鈥檝e developed a set of simple dashboards with slider bars that allow us to play out different parameters 鈥� such as more people in a space, or the backlog from a delayed train 鈥� and visually see the impact of the changes we make. That makes our work very easy to interpret.

Can you tell me more about the team behind this approach?

We all come from different backgrounds. There are a couple of engineers, as well as physicists, computer scientists, anthropologists, architects and transport planners on the team. One of our graduates even has a computational arts degree. I think this diversity, and as a result our ability to draw on a wide range of expertise, makes our analytics approach very creative. It鈥檚 also really interesting and valuable to work with people from such a variety of backgrounds.

How did you get into analytics?

I studied maths and biology, and my PhD research at Bath University focused on examining ant colonies. I was looking at how ants interact, what social networks they form, how they distribute resources, and using lots of modelling techniques to understand their efficiency.

When I finished, a friend told me about 海角视频鈥檚 Analytics team, which Shrikant Sharma heads up. I approached him and we had an informal conversation, followed by an interview, and I joined the team as an intern. There鈥檚 definitely synergy between my PhD and what the team is doing 鈥� I graduated from looking at little ants to big people!

What鈥檚 been your favourite project to work on at 海角视频?

There are so many, but it鈥檚 been a real privilege to work with the Natural History Museum on and off for the last five years. When they were refurbishing Hintz Hall, we helped them optimise visitor flow so they could keep the museum open during the works, and still deliver a really positive experience even though this central area was closed. During that time, the museum received great visitor feedback and an increase in donations, which they attributed to us providing a more streamlined and calm visitor experience. We鈥檙e now working with them to redesign the external gardens 鈥� and help make them a destination in their own right.

I also loved visiting The High Line in New York. That was a very exciting project to be involved with, and it鈥檚 rewarding to be able to see the outputs of our work at such a popular attraction.

Where do you go from here?

Even though we鈥檝e worked on all sorts of international projects 鈥� from the Museum of the Future in Dubai, to the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie 鈥� I still feel like we鈥檙e at the tip of the iceberg of what can be achieved with analytics. We focus a lot on solving small term issues 鈥� be that cost-saving, crowd concerns, or even how businesses can reopen in compliance with social distancing post-Covid-19. But that鈥檚 just one part of the puzzle.

There鈥檚 so much data being generated around us, every second of every day, and I think the real power will come from tapping into that in a positive and transparent way.

We鈥檙e planning to link up with the other specialisms within 海角视频, as well as external collaborators to use analytics to realise built environments that support mental health and wellbeing, improve sustainability, and make the world a better place for us all.