Designing hospitals that work smarter:
How footfall intelligence, BIM and connected systems are supporting healthcare estates teams

Healthcare estates are among the most complex environments to manage. Hospitals operate 24/7, support vulnerable populations and must meet rigorous regulatory requirements, often across ageing estates and under intense financial pressure.

For NHS estates and facilities teams, the challenge is no longer just keeping buildings operational. Increasingly, it’s about ensuring the estate actively supports safe, efficient, high-quality care. That shift is driving adoption of digital tools such as footfall analytics, IoT-enabled monitoring and Building Information Modelling (BIM), helping teams move from reactive maintenance to evidence-led decision-making.

At MRI Software, we work with NHS organisations across the UK to connect these capabilities on a single platform, improving visibility, reducing manual effort and enabling more confident decisions across space, assets, compliance and performance.

From assumptions to evidence: Understanding how hospitals are really used

One of the most persistent challenges in hospital estates management is understanding how space is actually used.

Footfall and occupancy intelligence enable estates teams to move beyond anecdotal insight. By analysing how people move through entrances, waiting areas and departments, and how long they dwell in each space, teams gain a clearer picture of operational pressure points.

This supports better queue and waiting-area management, identification of bottlenecks affecting patient flow, and more informed decisions around space allocation, staffing and service hours.

MRI’s footfall analytics solution uses AI-driven technology to deliver ongoing insight into occupancy, dwell and flow patterns, helping estates teams plan with greater confidence, particularly in high-demand outpatient and public-facing areas.

Connected estates: Improving safety, comfort and compliance

Footfall data becomes more valuable when combined with insight from connected building systems. Across NHS estates, IoT-enabled sensors are increasingly used to provide real-time visibility of environmental conditions, performance and risk.

Connected data supports monitoring of temperature and humidity to maintain comfortable environments, earlier detection of anomalies that could affect safety or compliance, and better alignment of cleaning, energy use and support services with real demand.

MRI’s IoT Hub connects sensor data directly into estates workflows, ensuring alerts are prioritised and routed to the right teams, helping professionals focus attention where it matters most.

Automation that reduces pressure on estates teams

Insight alone isn’t enough. Real impact comes when data is connected to systems that manage work, compliance and accountability.

MRI’s facilities management solution provides a connected CAFM platform for NHS estates and facilities teams, bringing hard and soft FM, compliance, reporting and automation together. Alerts and requests can trigger work orders automatically, reducing reliance on manual processes.

This supports faster response times, clearer audit trails and improved reporting (including ERIC and PAM), helping estates teams reduce administrative burden while maintaining compliance. At St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust, MRI has supported an integrated estates helpdesk and maintenance operation, enabling a small team to manage high volumes of requests efficiently with improved visibility and control.

BIM as the digital backbone of the healthcare estate

While IoT and footfall analytics show how buildings perform day to day, BIM provides the structural context behind that performance.

Through BIM Manager within MRI’s facilities management solution, estates teams can view 3D BIM models alongside asset, location and maintenance data. This creates a bridge between capital projects and operational delivery, particularly important in live clinical environments where disruption must be minimised.

BIM supports coordination of works, more accurate asset data for lifecycle planning and stronger collaboration between estates, facilities and project teams. It also lays the groundwork for digital twin approaches, where operational data and asset context combine to support long-term estate strategy.

Technology in the service of people and care

By connecting footfall intelligence, IoT monitoring, BIM and automation, NHS estates teams can reduce friction, improve insight and support safer, more resilient and sustainable hospitals for their patients.

Now is the time to move from disconnected systems and reactive processes to a truly intelligent estate. If you’re looking to improve visibility, streamline operations and unlock the full potential of your healthcare environment, MRI Software can help.

Get in touch today to see how a connected approach can deliver measurable impacts and help your estate work smarter for the people who rely on it most.