Optimizing Lab Space with Data-Driven Insights from VergeSense

The life sciences industry has always faced unique workplace challenges. It’s one of the few industries that often requires managing a blend of office, lab, and manufacturing spaces. Since the pandemic and the rise of hybrid work, these challenges have only become more complex.

Life sciences companies occupy a significant amount of real estate, with the U.S. market occupying nearly 194 million square feet alone. Despite this vast footprint, utilization remains low, with an average capacity usage of just 9.3%. 

Today, industry leaders are focused on increasing space utilization and cutting down on wasted costs and resources, striving to maximize returns on their investments. However, optimizing lab space isn’t always straightforward due to the industry’s unique demands.

To optimize lab space effectively, it's crucial to understand two key factors: how many team members are using the space and how often, and how frequently the equipment at each workstation is in use. This understanding is the foundation for making informed decisions about the lab's total footprint, layout, energy consumption, and cleaning schedules.

Occupancy Intelligence offers the critical insights workplace leaders need to better understand how office and lab spaces are utilized, empowering them to make data-driven decisions. With VergeSense’s Occupancy Intelligence Platform, leaders can address these challenges head-on, using powerful insights to optimize space and enhance employee experiences.

How to Optimize Lab Space with VergeSense

The Occupancy Intelligence Platform offers the insights workplace leaders need to better understand how lab spaces are being used, enabling them to make data-driven decisions. By unifying and analyzing data on a single platform, the decision-making process becomes faster, more informed, and more efficient. 

Analytic insights like usage maps and heat maps provide a clear overview of when and how people are using different lab spaces, so leaders can determine whether labs are underutilized or overused, and make adjustments as needed.

Usage Maps: A Clear View of Space Utilization

Understanding how lab spaces are used is critical because these spaces come with high costs—whether it’s for construction, maintenance, or cleaning. Usage maps allow leaders to assess space utilization in terms of capacity usage and total time usage (active and passive), identifying which labs are most popular and which are underutilized.

These insights help determine whether more or fewer lab spaces are needed, or if the existing layout needs rethinking. By visualizing employee usage patterns within a floorplan, leaders can make strategic adjustments that align space utilization with real demand.

Heat Maps: Optimizing Equipment Use

Given the high cost of lab equipment, it’s essential for leaders to know how often each piece is used. This information helps guide decisions on future equipment investments and identifies which pieces may need maintenance or repair due to frequent use.

While usage maps provide a macro view of overall space use, heat maps drill down into the specifics of workstation and equipment usage. Heat maps offer an intuitive, color-coded way to quickly spot the busiest areas in the lab, helping leaders make more informed decisions about equipment spending and space allocation.

Dive Efficiency with Occupancy Intelligence

Optimizing lab space requires more than guesswork—it demands clear, actionable insights. With The Occupancy Intelligence Platform, life sciences companies can unlock a deeper understanding of how their labs and equipment are being used. By leveraging this data, leaders can increase space utilization, reduce costs, and make smarter decisions that drive both operational efficiency and employee satisfaction.

As lab spaces evolve, occupancy intelligence provides the guidance necessary to adapt to new challenges and ensure that every square foot and every piece of equipment is optimized for maximum impact.

Want to learn more about how VergeSense can support life sciences companies? Download our comprehensive ebook, “Transforming Life Sciences Workplaces with Occupancy Intelligence report” to explore five critical use cases and discover how leading financial institutions are leveraging data to drive success.