Movement Strategies
The way we move people – whether it’s through physical spaces, digital channels or other means – has a profound impact on your ability to achieve commercial and socioeconomic goals. Urbanisation is shifting demand for public spaces, and owners and operators are grappling with the everyday challenges of maximising capacity and supply in cost-constrained environments.
A deep understanding of people movement is at the core of planning and managing public spaces. Our experienced team of behaviour scientists and people movement professionals help you optimise spaces to meet your objectives.
Empowering you to make evidence-led decisions based on movement, behavioural and demographic data We apply cutting-edge technology to collect and analyse data on movement, behaviour, and demographics, allowing you to make informed decisions. Understanding crowd dynamics and applying innovative algorithms enables us to provide valuable insights to inform design and operations advice, generating tangible benefits and value for projects or assets.
At the heart of our work is a deep understanding of human behaviour and a commitment to creating successful public spaces that serve those who use them. To achieve this, our multidisciplinary team draws on expertise in urban planning, design, transportation engineering and technology to create solutions that optimise performance, efficiency and user experience.
Our pioneering analysis and expert people movement consultancy focuses on the following areas:
Sporting venues and events
- By advising on design standards, capacity, crowd flows, space, and process planning, we support planning and design of new venues, from feasibility through to opening
- Increasing the capacity and throughput of existing venues by advising on process design and management
- Optimising commercial performance and visitor experience
- Optimising operations and resilience
- Planning for security screening and Hostile Vehicle Mitigation (HVM) measures
- Planning venues and overlay for events - concerts, sports, and mega events
- Analysing transport accessibility and defining appropriate transport strategies to ensure that visitors can access and egress a venue safely and conveniently
- Providing ongoing support and post-occupancy evaluation services to ensure that venues adapt to changing demands
- Helping to re-open and manage venues for social distancing
Safety, security, and evacuation planning
- Safety, security, and evacuation planning
- Crowd safety design and planning
- Crowd planning for HVM
- Security checkpoint design
- Evacuation planning
Transport
- Planning, passenger simulation, and value engineering services (e.g., new station design, refurbishments, and capacity schemes)
- Risk assessment for crowd flow and safety, assessing the accessibility of platforms for all users and recommendations to improve passenger comfort
- Robust data collection using cameras, cellular and Wi-Fi data to inform decision-making for design, planning, and operation
- Demand forecasting, catchment, and competitor analysis using insights derived from big data (e.g., franchise bid support for train operating companies)
- Working with research partners to inform design on future passenger demand design standards
- Rolling stock studies, including passenger boarding and alighting analysis for High-Speed Rail and Metro, passenger flow simulations at the Platform Train Interface (PTI), measuring flow rates, service/passenger densities, and impact on station dwell time
- Design advice, including specification for interior train design to enhance customer experience and station operations
- 3D Pedflow visualizations of modeling outputs, as videos, interactive format, or full Virtual Reality (VR) via headsets that provide an excellent means of communicating the need and benefits of the concept design and performance to internal and external stakeholders
- Evacuation studies to test and mitigate risk for various emergency scenarios
Cultural
- Defining visitor experience and comfort standards that are fit for purpose for different user groups and reflect your aspirations, legal and regulatory requirements, and industry standards
- Collating and collecting an evidence base of actual visitor behaviors and circulation patterns from existing and new data to inform operational decisions and management plans
- Detailed design advice and capacity assessments to determine space requirements, including circulation, dwelling, and queuing spaces to balance people's movements
- Assessing and advising on design requirements for sanitary facilities so that provision is optimized and waiting times reduced
- Visibility and connectivity analysis to understand and improve legibility of space and wayfinding requirements
- Pedestrian flow analysis and simulation modeling to assess the performance of designs or operational plans to improve safety, comfort, and efficiency
- Operational planning and process optimization advice to increase visitor service rates, capacities, and resilience
- Evacuation modeling to assess and enhance performance in emergencies
Healthcare
- Patient, visitor, and staff flow assessments
- Simulation modelling
- Evacuation strategies
Education
- Understanding the concept of operations for diverse users through data collection, analysis, and insight
- Ensuring that the building meets relevant design standards in line with your visions for the different user groups, legal and regulatory requirements, and industry standards for comfort and safety
- Desktop analysis to assess the design/operation of a building, using a range of tools, including qualitative and quantitative assessment, to identify any opportunities to improve the performance of ingress, egress, internal, and vertical circulation
- Analysis of areas subject to specific flows or types of activity, for example catering facilities, pinch-points, learning facilities, and information (wayfinding support and visibility analysis)
- 2D video modeling and analysis of crucial circulation areas during peak periods, to understand journey times and density profiles better
- 3D Pathfinder visualization of people movement by different users at peak cross-over times to inform better decision-making
Buildings and spaces
- Understanding how people currently or will use buildings and spaces, their behaviors, and their needs through data review, collection, and analysis
- Quantitative and qualitative assessment of constraints and capacities of critical points in the design of new and existing buildings and spaces, identifying opportunities for optimizing space, pedestrian flow, and people movement
- Detailed design advice and capacity assessments to determine space requirements, including access, egress, circulation, dwelling, and queuing to ensure desired levels of comfort are met and recommending efficiencies to optimize space
- Assessing demand scenarios for regular operation, major events, emergencies, and evacuation using desktop analysis and simulation modeling to inform design and management plans
- Reviewing capacities for horizontal and vertical circulation provision, including lift systems, staircases, and escalators
- Dynamic evacuation models to assess the safe, timely evacuation of buildings and spaces, including density flows, location, size, and duration of queues, using our in-house pedestrian modeling software, SENSE™
- Design advice and evacuation strategies to ensure signage, information, and messaging to achieve clearance in the safest and quickest manner
- Micro-simulation modeling of individual users through designed space in peak scenarios, using LEGION or Pathfinder (3D), to better inform design, planning, and risk mitigation measures
- 2D visibility and connectivity analyses to assess sightlines and improve legibility, wayfinding, and positioning of key 'interactions', for example reception/welcome, lifts, and security gates
Social distancing solutions
- Consultancy to assess the integrated design, process, and behavior in an environment and recommend solutions or develop them with you
- Analytical tools to assess proposed design or process options using our experience and expertise
- Analysis of your existing data or help to collect movement data using a variety of technologies (CCTV and intelligent cameras, BLE, RFID, UWB, and Wi-Fi)
- Provision of anonymized and aggregated movements around the UK and other territories
- Simulation of people flow to quantify and demonstrate the impact of changes
We help you make data informed decisions and scenario plan using advanced technology and data analytics. Interpreting results and making recommendations to deliver tangible benefits through a deep understanding of crowd dynamics.
Ultimately this facilitates the integration of operations into a design that helps achieve your business objectives while generating better value for your project or asset. Let GHD Advisory help you deliver improved community spaces and experiences.