Post-Occupancy Evaluation Surveys
Is your new building delivering?
We capture and analyse the lived experience of the people who use, operate, and work in new facilities – and translate their feedback into clear, decision-useful reporting for the people responsible for the building.
The basics
What is a Post-Occupancy Evaluation survey?
A Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) survey is a structured way to gather and report on evidence about how a new facility is performing once it is in use, capturing the experience of the people who use, operate, and work in it.
It connects the project's intended outcomes and benefits from the business case with what has been delivered in practice.
Our work focuses on the survey component of the POE: designing and delivering independent stakeholder research, analysing the results, and producing reporting that is clear, credible, and genuinely useful for the audiences who need it.
Why it matters
Why conduct a POE survey?
Many property projects are approved based on a business case containing expected benefits that can be hard to prove later, such as improved customer or employee experience, collaboration behaviours, or wellbeing. A well-designed stakeholder survey is essential to measuring whether those benefits have been achieved.
Benefits realisation evidence
Good programme and project practice – including frameworks like Managing Successful Programmes® – emphasises the importance of assessing intended benefits, including the intangible ones.
Credible reporting for governance
Baseline and post-occupancy measurement helps you meet Board and governance expectations for credible reporting on project success – beyond delivery of scope, time, and cost.
Lessons for future projects
Findings identify areas for improvement and feed directly into future project briefs, design decisions, and change management approaches.
Key stakeholders
Who a POE survey report is for.
Our POE report is designed to be useful for teams across your organisation, and not just as a project closure exercise. Different audiences use the findings in different ways.
Governance and leadership
Independent evidence of whether the building is delivering the benefits that got the project approved – the question governance needs answered at project close, and beyond.
Project and programme teams
Completion of the benefits realisation picture – showing which intended outcomes were achieved, which are emerging, and what the lessons are for future projects.
Property and facilities
A clear picture of how the building is functioning in practice – what's working, what isn't, and where action is needed to improve the environment for the people using it.
People experience
Structured evidence of the lived experience – how people report that they are actually working, collaborating, and feeling in the new environment. More reliable and more detailed than anecdote or informal feedback.
The difference
What makes our approach distinctive.
These features set our work apart from a DIY approach.
Independent
We are not part of your architecture or project management firm, or any of your build contractors. Our independence means our findings carry credibility with governance that internal reporting often can't match.
Rooted in the design intent
We can map survey findings directly back to the key features of the design brief or functional requirements, showing which intended outcomes were realised in people's experience, and which weren't.
Survey expertise at the core
Survey design, analysis, and interpretation is a specialist skill. With over two decades of large-scale survey work, we know how to design the right questions, bring together multiple lines of evidence, and translate it into insight that's both accurate and actionable.
Beautifully clear reporting
The final report isn't a spreadsheet dump or a slide deck. It's a fully designed, interactive document - the kind you'd actually want to present to a board or share with your client.
Services
What the work can include.
Each engagement is tailored to the project and your needs. Services can be combined or scoped individually.
Benefits and measurement planning
Ideally, measurement is planned from the start. We can contribute to business case development or project definition to make sure intended benefits are framed in a way that can actually be evaluated later.
Early engagementBenefits mapping and review
Desktop review of existing documents – business case, project or design brief, benefits register – to identify what success should look like and how it can be measured through survey research.
Pre-surveyStakeholder surveys
Tailored surveys designed around the project's intended outcomes, and the needs and experience of your stakeholders. Baseline surveys (pre-move) can be included to enable gap analysis.
Core serviceAnalysis and reporting
Independent analysis linking results back to intended benefits, including evidence of realised benefits, areas for improvement, and recommendations. Quantitative (numbers) and qualitative (free text comments) data is brought together to tell a rich story of what is really going on and why.
Core serviceInterviews and workshops
Used to deepen insight, test emerging themes, or present and discuss draft findings with key stakeholders before finalisation.
OptionalSee our work
An example report.
Request access to see a realistic example POE survey report. It is for a fictitious new tertiary education facility, and includes example findings, benefit mapping, and recommendations. Other deliverables can be prepared on request including an exec/board-ready summary, or a presentation.
About
Leighton Abbot.
Leighton Abbot
Principal Consultant
I specialise in designing and delivering stakeholder surveys, interpreting results, and translating perception data into clear, decision-useful reporting for executives and governance.
Survey expertise
20 years' experience leading large-scale employee and stakeholder survey programmes from design through delivery, including as a Managing Consultant at IBM.
Workplace strategy
Experience leading pre-design discovery – employee surveys, building utilisation studies, and Strategic Briefs – for major property projects, including as a Senior Workplace Strategist at Jasmax.
MSP qualified
I am Managing Successful Programmes® (MSP) Foundation and Practitioner certified, with a deep understanding of how to frame, measure, and report on the realisation of project benefits.
Business case and investment
Co-created the Strategic Business Case for the Gracefield Innovation Quarter development, as Partner Lead at Callaghan Innovation.
Recent POE survey delivery
Most recently delivered the POE survey insights for a significant new healthcare facility.
Pricing
Scoped to fit your project.
Pricing is tailored to scope and deliverables
Every project is different, in scale, complexity, number of stakeholder groups, and what deliverables are expected. Pricing can be provided after a brief introductory conversation, once we understand your needs.
Services can be scoped from a focused survey and report component through to a full end-to-end evaluation engagement.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
A POE survey is a structured way to gather evidence about how a new building is performing once people are using it. It captures the experience of the people who use, operate, and work in the space. We focus on the survey component: designing and delivering independent stakeholder research, analysing the results, and reporting them clearly and credibly.
Property projects are usually approved on a business case full of expected "human" benefits, such as better collaboration, improved experience, or enhanced wellbeing. Those benefits are easy to promise but can be hard to prove later. A well-designed survey is how you measure whether they were actually achieved. It also gives your Board and governance credible reporting that goes beyond scope, time, and cost.
Four groups tend to get the most from it. Governance and leadership get independent evidence of whether the building delivered the benefits that got it approved. Project and programme teams get closure on the benefits realisation picture. Property and facilities get a clear view of how the building works in practice. And your people's lived experience is captured as structured evidence, rather than anecdote.
Independence is the main thing. We're not part of your architecture, project management, or construction team, so our findings carry a credibility that internal reporting often can't match. We also map results directly back to the design intent, bring over two decades of survey expertise, and deliver a properly designed, interactive report rather than a spreadsheet dump or a slide deck.
It can run from a focused survey and report through to a full end-to-end evaluation. Typical components are benefits and measurement planning, a review of your business case and design brief, tailored stakeholder surveys (with an optional pre-move baseline), independent analysis and reporting, and interviews or workshops to deepen the insight. We scope it to fit your project.
Pricing is tailored to scope and deliverables. Every project differs in scale, complexity, and the number of stakeholder groups involved. Once we understand what you need, usually after a brief introductory conversation, we can provide pricing. Services can be scoped from a single survey and report through to a full evaluation.
Get in touch
Let's talk about your project.
Whether you're still developing your business case, already moved into your new space, or anywhere in between, get in touch – we'd love to chat.