Information systems are increasingly deployed by healthcare organizations to support decision makers and users of hospitals. As a result, digital twins have recently emerged as an information system with promising application prospects. However, the limited deployment of them leads to the research gap that is addressed by the present research, which aims to answer "how can a digital twin for space use support decision makers and users of hospital real estate" and identify specifications for its development by healthcare organizations.
The research approach is conducted by deploying a design science research framework. In this framework, a literature review is carried out first by analyzing academic publications in the topics of hospital real estate management, space use in hospital real estate, digital twins for space use and digital twins for hospital real estate. Then a case study is conducted in a healthcare organization, by analyzing the organizational characteristics, the real estate portfolio, the deployed information systems for space use and the building documentation databases. This is being done through a set of interviews with employees of the organization, together with a documentation analysis. Two lists of design and utilization principles are then extracted from the literature review and the case study analysis.
The two sets of principles are utilized for the development of a conceptual design of a display of a digital twin for space use in hospitals. This display is based on a time frame window, a building orientation window, a user profile window, a building visualization window and a performance palettes window. The display is then assessed through evaluation interviews and the comprehensiveness of its design is validated. The interviewees further suggest utilization scenarios that they can perform with a similar tool.
It is eventually concluded that a digital twin can be used by different stakeholder perspectives, by providing historical, real time or simulation information at a room, floor, building or campus scale resolution to support operational, tactical and strategic utilization processes. The outcomes of this research can eventually be used by healthcare decision makers in order to develop similar tools.

Recently, campus strategies have become popular in managing portfolios of real estate. The growth of business and employment on campuses has continued unabated in recent years, leading to the conclusion that campuses are a popular location and an engine for new and innovative activity. Because of the thirteen added values that a campus can offer to an organization, the Landelijke Eenheid wants to implement a campus to support the organization and consequently also support future operational processes. However, for the Landelijke Eenheid it is still unclear and abstract what a police campus looks like because they have never developed a police campus so there is not a campus assessment framework on how to make a police campus yet. What we know about the police campus at the moment is not enough. Therefore, this research will investigate what a campus can offer to the organization of the Landelijke Eenheid for the location of Driebergen. By making use of the four perspectives of den Heijer, a new campus assessment framework is made to help the Landelijke Eenheid with an overview of their ambition and vision document and the four real estate documents that are used within this research. The empirical part will focus on the new campus assessment framework and how the occurring contradictions can be solved. The input for the research will be conducted through both qualitative and inductive research. Semi-structured interviews are held and a case study about a campus with similar contradictions (Brightlands Chemelot campus) is executed. The theoretical review will focus on the campus, its management and the operationalization of a campus. The Activity Theory by Engeström is used to examine the activity of creating a police campus and serves as the conceptual framework. The goal in this research is to formulate an outcome of how a campus can support the organization of the Landelijke Eenheid.

Environmental sustainability has become an urgent matter on the Dutch political agenda, which will affect the built environment in the near future. Consequently, organizations have to adapt their real estate to new regulations for building performance and their own sustainability goals. The Preference-based Accommodation Strategy (PAS) is a decision-making strategy that aids organizations in finding a Corporate Real Estate Portfolio (CREP) that aligns with the organization’s values. This research aimed to stimulate organizations to improve the environmental sustainability of their CREP by changing the decision-making process. Therefore a sustainability reference model (SuRMo) was developed for PAS and tested on the CREP of Colliers, an international real estate consultancy firm with multiple offices in the Netherlands. In the pilot study, PAS and the SuRMo were used to evaluate three alternatives for a new office space in Utrecht. In an iterative process using the operation research methodology four tests were conducted which compared the outcome of the different decision-making processes. The four tests analysed 1) the current decision-making process, 2) the decision-making process and outcome using PAS, 3) the decision-making process and outcome using PAS with the SuRMo 2.0 and 4) the sustainability performance of Test 1-3 compared to Dutch sustainability goals for 2050. In the three tests the decision outcome resulted in the same office building that performed best in terms of environmental sustainability and matches the governmental goals for 2050. However, between Test 1 and Test 2 the total number of criteria increased from 7 to 37 and from two implicit environmental sustainability criteria to five explicit criteria. The outcome of this research shows that PAS increased the number of environmental sustainability criteria and changed the decision-making process of Colliers from implicit to explicit. The stakeholders expressed the need for the SuRMo because they lack knowledge about environmental sustainability in CREP but concluded that it requires further development for user-friendliness and suitability with PAS. The three actionable conclusions for practise are that PAS should be used in decision-making about CRE with a further developed SuRMo, Green Building Rating Systems should be used for sustainability in CRE decision-making instead of greenhouse gas emissions and project developers and investors can use the explicit outcome of PAS to adapt the supply to the demand on the real estate market.

The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic is profound and enduring to the entire world. A ‘recovery’ to go back in time is unlikely to happen due to the lack of uncertainty in the future. The darkest time will eventually pass, whereas post-pandemic, the era in which the pandemic is perceived to have subsided, can still accelerate existing trends and bring up new uncertainties, such as hybrid working, activity-based working and smart building, to the office real estate sector. Corporate Real Estate (CRE), as real property, is owned and/or leased by organisations for their business activities. While office real estate is facing profound structural changes, the CRE department of organisations needs to evaluate their office status quo and reimagine their office of the future.

Scenario planning can act as a valuable tool to help decision-makers evaluate strategies, and office space demand forecast is one of the important indexes that CRE takes into account. Forecasting office space demand by using scenario planning techniques is recommended when the predictability of the external strategic environment is low and the reliability of the organisation’s internal data required for forecasting is high as is the case in this post-pandemic era. This research aims to propose a scenario planning methodology that can be applied to develop scenarios with quantitative office space demands at a corporate level. Such methodology and detailed scenarios are valuable for CRE decision-makers to evaluate their strategy regarding post-pandemic office real estate.

This study is developed by operations research. A proper methodology is proposed through the literature study. A pilot study is then taken to apply this methodology to a real-world example. The chosen pilot is the global headquarter of Philips: Philips Center in Amsterdam. In the pilot study, semi-structured interviews and data analytics of an existing survey are conducted, scenarios are developed by following the steps of the proposed methodology. An expert panel was held to help evaluate the replicability and validities of the findings.

Embedded mixed methods research is used for this thesis. Qualitative and quantitative data are both analysed through literature study, semi-structured interviews, and an expert panel. A large chunk of quantitative data analysis including using the programming language approach is conducted during survey data analysis.

The findings of this research provide CRE with a methodology to develop scenarios with quantitative office space demand. By applying this methodology, the output of post-pandemic office real estate scenarios with corresponding quantitative office space demand can be used by CRE decision-makers to evaluate their business strategies.

Globally, one in four adults do not meet the recommended amount of physical activity. Because people spend a significant amount of time in the work environment and especially office employees spend a lot of time in sedentary behaviour and have low physical activity levels, this study focuses on the reduction of sedentary behaviour and increase of physical activity in both the office building and the home work environment by replacing sedentary behaviour with incidental physical activity in terms of walking and stair climbing.

This study specifically focuses on the relation between the arrangement of spaces within the office building and employees’ incidental physical activity, since there is limited existing knowledge on this relation. In addition, this study focuses on other spatial, social and personal factors that may influence incidental physical activity within offices where spaces are arranged differently and in the home work environment. Therefore, the main research question is as follows: “How can the arrangement of spaces within the office building and the home work environment stimulate office employees’ incidental physical activity in terms of walking and stair climbing?”

The study resulted in an enhanced method to answer this research question. In this study, this method is tested, refined and retested to advise for further use of the method. Next to that, some results about the relation between the work environment and office employees’ incidental physical activity are discussed.

Homeworking can have benefits both for employees and employers, such as a productivity increase and a better work-life balance. Still, homeworking arrangements were less implemented than expected throughout the years. Now, due to Covid-19, every office worker is highly recommended to work from home as much as possible. Therefore, everybody works at home with either a suitable or an unsuitable home work environment. During this ‘mass experiment’ new insights can be gathered on the experience of homeworking and the influence the home work environment has on productivity. Employees are sometimes forced to carry out certain work activities at home that were considered unsuitable beforehand. So, prejudices about homeworking can be confirmed or invalidated and specific aspects of the home work environment that influence productivity can be determined.

For this study quantitative data of the research project, ‘We Werken Thuis’ (We Work at Home; WWH) are used. First, a literature review is conducted to have a clear overview of what already has been researched on the topic of homeworking and the work environment related to productivity. From the literature study, a theoretical model is developed. This theoretical model includes the home work environment, divided into the physical home work environment and the social environment, the satisfaction with the home work environment, and individual control variables being of influence on the perceived productivity. It was predicted that all these elements affect productivity, both directly and indirectly.

The findings from the literature review are tested by statistical analyses (N = 36,102). Bivariate and regression analyses were performed, followed by integral path analysis. These analyses showed that the physical home work environment, satisfaction with the home work environment, and individual control variables directly affect productivity. Also, the physical home work environment indirectly affects productivity via satisfaction with the home work environment. The same was found for the individual control variables. Furthermore, the individual control variables influence the physical home work environment itself as well, which indirectly affects the perceived productivity via the satisfaction with the home work environment.

The outcomes of this research can be used by practitioners to revise their current corporate real estate strategy or by real estate consultants to advise companies about their office use in the future. It fills the gap in research on the influence specific aspects of the home work environment have on productivity during homeworking.

Problem definition: There is a gap in the literature on co-location: no literature is found on the use of co-location between third parties and governmental organizations (external co-location). Co-location is already being implemented within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). However, co-location has remained as a vague concept within MFA ever since its introduction. There is no strategy backing the concept; only some guidelines have been developed for more clarity from an operational perspective. Besides, the policy takes an opposing stance: a no, unless.. policy. Due to this concept's vagueness, co-location adds limited value to MFA. On the other hand, the number of co-locations indicates there is a clear need for the concept. Research objective: The objective of this thesis is to help the primary process of MFA achieve their goals and add more value with a better implementation of co-location by using the step-by-step plan developed in this research. The step-by-step plan with best actions/practices can be used to select the most suitable co-location alternative (with the decision tree and SWOT analysis) and improve the implementation of co-location as a CRE intervention (with the success formula); Consequently, more value is added to the organization. The main research question central in this thesis is: How can co-location be used as a tool within the CRE strategy and as part of the CRE portfolio that adds more value to the organization, specifically in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? Research method: With the use of a hybrid research method, in which elements of operational, theoretical, and empirical research are incorporated, the answer to the main research question was obtained. The first part of the research method used was establishing the theoretical background on co-location and adding value. This knowledge establishment formed the basis of the following parts of the thesis. For the second part, an analysis of the current situation within the Ministry of Foreign affairs completed: strategic analysis of the general situation (stakeholder demands, corporate strategy, CRE strategy, Etc.) and an assessment of the current co-location cases (incorporates the empirical elements of the research). This assessment was completed using surveys (to assess the performance and perception) and interviews to develop an anecdotal success formula. The final part of this thesis incorporates the operational elements of the hybrid research method. The obtained information from the previous parts was combined for the development of a step-by-step plan to improve the current situation of co-location within MFA. Findings and conclusion: The developed step-by-step plan consists of the following products: a decision tree and SWOT analysis that both can be used to select the best co-location alternatives of a particular co-location embassy/consulate, based on the demands and objectives of MFA and the embassy/consulate. After selecting an alternative, the step-by-step plan's success formula can then be used as a tool to manage the implementation process. The last part of the step-by-step plan is needed to assess and, if needed, readjust the co-location after the implementation: the check and act phase. For assessing the co-location cases, a recommendation list of possible KPI's per demand (including the objectives) and the related adding value parameters are provided.

In recent years, the density on the Dutch university campus has increased substantially due to a continued growth of student populations. Campus managers face the challenge of accommodating the university’s students and employees mainly in the existing buildings, which are used ineffectively and inefficiently. In order to improve the space use on campus, campus managers need better information about space use. Therefore, this PhD dissertation proposes the use of Smart campus tools: a service or product with which information on space use is collected real-time to improve utilization of the current campus on the one hand, and to improve decision‑making about the future campus on the other hand. The main research question is: How can smart campus tools optimally contribute to the match between demand for and supply of space, both on the current campus and on the future campus? To answer the research question, this PhD dissertation explores the use of Smart campus tools in Dutch and international contexts, at universities and other organisations. Then, it researches how information from Smart campus tools can be properly connected to campus decision‑making processes. The results from this research are used to inform existing theories and draw lessons for practice. @en

In a time where themes such as sustainability highly influence the built environment, it becomes ever more important that construction projects achieve strategic success. For securing a project’s long-term strategic success, the importance of the front-end phase is increasingly recognised. In the front-end, fundamental decisions are made under high uncertainty. One of these decisions is the choice of the project concept. The chosen project concept is the initial idea that responds to the problem/need of the client/owner (organisation). It sets the basis for strategic success, and should be aligned with the organisation’s strategies and users’ needs (strategy alignment). Although the development of project concepts in the front-end has long been recognised to be important, little is known about how project concepts are created and chosen in practice. As the project owner is responsible for the project within the client/owner organisation, this graduation research aimed to explore the project concept creation and decision-making process to identify critical aspects for project owners to focus on in creating and deciding on project concepts in practice for projects related to accommodating organisations. A theoretical framework was developed by performing a systematic literature search on studies about the project owner in relation to the project front-end and strategy alignment. This theoretical framework was used to analyse project concept creation and decision-making processes in two case study projects around accommodating organisations. Data was gathered through performing multiple interviews and reviewing documents. Finally, the findings of the two cases were compared in a cross-case analysis. Here it was found that project concepts are created on different levels/in phases, that take place consecutively or in parallel, covering most of the front-end phase of a project. It is a continues and iterative strategy alignment process where stakeholder management is key. By comparing and discussing the case study findings, three critical aspects for project owners to focus on in creating and deciding on project concepts in practice were formed. These aspects all revolve around creating and maintaining urgency and support for the project (concepts). Here it is first of all considered critical for project owners to understand the hierarchy, culture and history of the client organisation. Secondly, achieving strategy alignment requires project owners to be translational and communicative. Thirdly, who to involve, how and when, are important questions to ask concerning active stakeholder management/involvement and can and should be planned and evaluated in creating and deciding on the different project concept levels.

Problem statement: Stress in the work environment is a growing problem, pushed forward by changing societal standards associated with meritocracy and the omnipresence of technology and communication devices. Individuals and organizations are simultaneously becoming more aware and active in this domain of healthy workplaces. To make an actual improvement within the work environment to reduce stress, a stronger knowledge base is required than is currently present. In this research, the relation between the workplace and stress is further investigated. The main research question is: “How can insights in the relation between workplace and activity on employee stress be used to develop a real estate decision-making model?” Research method: By conduction an operational-empirical research, the research questions are investigated. The operations research develops a model that can be used by real estate managers in the process of forming accommodation strategies. The empirical research is needed to form the required input for the operational model. This input is the quantified correlations between stress and the work environment. To obtain the input, a method is developed based on structured observations, using a smart wearable device to get a bio-metric for stress through sensor data.
Goals and objectives: The goal of the research is to help employees reduce their stress within the work environment. To scope the goal, the research will focus on the knowledge base on the correlation between stress and the workplace. The objectives of the research are to provide a tool in the form of an operational model for Real Estate Managers to help reduce stress, by getting a better understanding of the relation between workplace and stress.
Key findings and conclusion: The developed method of using a smart ring in combination with a structured observation design resulted in a feasible method for doing stress measurments in the work environment. The outcomes of the stress measurements can be operationalized into a real estate decision-making model, but the usability of the model output is still to be reaserched. Current findings mainly support existing findings from literature, with a main focus on the importance of privacy and control as a factor in the forming of stress. Due to the non-random nature of employee workplace choices, it is not possible to expect findings on all possible workplace characteristics. Future research with an increased sample size or based on intervention testing with the developed method could improve the creation of insights in the relation of stress in the work environment.

Purpose
In order to strengthen the original goal of Activity-based working (ABW) - supporting the employees in fulfilling their tasks at their best - the employees need to be able to align their physical work environment to their dynamic needs. The report posed the question if employee happiness in ABW can be increased with interventions in the level of acoustic privacy and the amount of personalisation, to help the employees’ to achieve their desired level. Methodology
A living lab was set up and evaluated with a mixed-methods approach, including a literature study, observations, pre and post surveys, and a focus group interview, in order to identify the employees’ level of happiness before and after the interventions.
Results
The acoustic desk partitions were found to be most impactful for the employees’ perceived level of happiness, while the Soundscaping system was not found as important. While a few employees showed a need to personalise their workplace and mark their territory, most employees did not have a need for a traditionally personalised workplace, which resulted in a low usage rate of the personalisation interventions.
Conclusions
The employees’ perceived level of happiness with the level of acoustic privacy could be increased in this ABW environment with the desk partitions, which showed the highest potential help the employees’ to achieve their desired level of acoustic privacy. The study revealed that the employees’ need for personalising the workplace seems to shift from the physical to a more digital and virtual personalisation of the work environment.
Highlights
• Desk partitions were more impactful than the Soundscaping system
• Soundscaping system still relevant (linked to improved focus)
• Desk partitions: correlation triangle with happiness, control, and achieved acoustic privacy
• Low need for personalising in the traditional way – no added value
• Low usage rate of both personalisation interventions

Deciding on where to locate the company’s assets is one of the main issues of the corporate real estate management field. It should support aligning the organization’s real estate strategy to its organizational objectives. Understanding which information is needed by the decision-makers is crucial to make a proper judgement. However, the awareness of criteria range and their relative importance is lacking in the majority of cases. Although literature recognises a number of structures based on which the criteria should be determined, this knowledge is disperse. It is not fully exploited to enrich the process, due to the scarcity of proper expert tools. As the high level of expertise and the vast amount of knowledge is required, the companies have to rely solely on available human resources.

This thesis provides the development of an expert tool, gathering state-of-art knowledge of location criteria. It strives to improve the (re)location decision making in large companies. It is done by using a hybrid research method, combining the operational research with an empirical one. The determinants for use of certain location criteria and the criteria itself are identified in the literature and linked to each other in a computer program. Through gathering the input from stakeholders, the tool suggests a prioritised list of criteria that should be used in the process.

The expert tool is tested in a pilot study at a company in order to evaluate the effectiveness and attractiveness of the model. It is done with a series of tests and interviews in connection with a pilot case. In addition, the acceptance and trust in the system are challenged.

Overall the tool is evaluated positively. It improves the location decision-making process by increasing the stakeholders understanding of the problem, transparency level, as well as empowering the decision-makers to express their needs that could have been omitted when using a traditional approach. This leads to better assessment of location alternatives. Although the tool itself requires a number of improvements before being able to be used in practice, the idea behind it was highly valued by the users.

Monumental theatre buildings such as the royal theatre Carré, facilitate different forms of performance arts and are obliged to maintain the monumental values of the building. Monumental theatres face many challenges. such as growing multifunctionality demands, physical limitations. The research question of this research is "What tool can be designed, resulting in an advice, that futureproofs monumental theatre buildings in the Netherlands, such as the Royal Theatre Carré?’’. The question is answered with a literature study and a case study consisting of interviews and a document analysis. Valuable monumental tools that specify a real estate strategy tool for monumental buildings are the characterization grid and the historical value table. The value which includes the current trends in the Dutch theatre landscape, the most valuable real estate strategy tool for monumental theatres is the DAS-frame. The most important advice for Carré are some management adjustments, a floating theatre, a renovated modernized roof, some sustainability measures and most importantly a second auditorium. The final tool that futureproofs monumental theatre buildings is a combination of the monumental value tool and the theatre trend matrix implemented in the DAS-frame. The result of the tool; the final step by step plan is than the actual strategic advice. Often monumental theatres are already futureproof in a way because the monumental characteristics of the building contribute to a certain experience that visitors desire and that performers desire to perform in.

Purpose – One of the long-standing issues in the field of real estate management is the alignment of demand and supply. When building retrofit is initiated to comply with changing demands, the decision-maker has to deal with several, often competing, criteria. Smart systems have the potential to contribute to the process of optimally attuning the building with the changing demands, in other words, adding value to the building. To date, plenty of research exist on predicting the added value based on quantitative variables but fail to incorporate quantitative variables. The purpose of this paper is to provide a decision model that is capable of predicting the added value of smart systems in a building. It offers real estate managers a Preference Function Modelling (PFM) process, structure and model to approach a multi-criteria problem.

Design/methodology/approach – The PFM approach, an evaluation operational research methodology, is designed to help decision makers to choose the most preferred alternative from a set of already existing alternatives. A decision model is made in Excel that enables the construction of measurement scales to which linear algebra and calculus are applicable. A second research technique being used is the Lagrange curve. The model is tested on a single building in the portfolio of Schiphol Real Estate. Findings – The PFM model enables the decision-maker to establish a list of overall preferences scores of all relevant alternatives. The alternative with the highest overall preference score is predicted to add the most value to the building. The pilot study reveals that the procedure resulted in a result but a certain level of uncertainty exists. The cause of the uncertainty seems to be a lack of knowledge about the alternatives. Research limitations/implications – The Lagrange curve is a suitable technique for changing values of a variable. However, the curve tends to overshoot. Practical implications – The practical applicability depends on the selection of alternatives and knowledge available. If the alternatives are not known a priori, the PFM approach cannot be used and Preference Based Design (PBD) is more appropriate. If the knowledge available is low and difficult to improve the input is subject to uncertainty. The output may not project the actual situation. Originality/value – The research is based on the PAS approach from Arkesteijn et al. (2017). The PAS approach is a PBD methodology and is adapted to a PFM methodology in order to fit the intended purpose of the research. The PFM methodology takes both scaling and the Lagrange curve into account and along with an iterative procedure the decision-making process is well supported. The model provides a custom-made outcome, which is of high value for the decision-maker in the SHG case.

The question of where to locate your business is at the core of the field of corporate real estate management. This thesis provides a framework for answering this question in an uncertain world. Building on the Preference-based Accommodation Strategy design approach developed by Arkesteijn et al., risk management and mitigation is incorporated in this approach which results in the Location Decision-Making Framework.

The framework consists out of a procedure, activities and a mathematical model, which is piloted at a company as to test the effectiveness and attractiveness of the model. Overall the model is evaluated positively and helps stakeholders in making a substantiated decision on where to locate their real estate.