What is Adjacency Planning?
Adjacency planning is the process of arranging teams, workgroups and shared spaces so that people who need to work together are located near one another and environments support how work actually happens. It balances collaboration, focus and operational flows to make space more effective after a change or redesign.
Adjacency planning maps who interacts with whom, how often, and for what activities, then uses that information to decide which teams, neighbourhoods and facilities should sit close together. It converts qualitative and quantitative inputs — such as interviews, meeting patterns, badge or calendar data, and survey responses about collaboration needs — into practical layout decisions: which teams share open benches, which need quiet rooms, where touchdown spaces or collaboration hubs should be placed, and how circulation routes and support services are organised. The goal is to design floorplans and neighbourhoods that reduce friction, support workflows and reflect hybrid working habits.
Usage example
During the office redesign, the workplace team used adjacency planning to put product managers next to UX designers and customer support near operations. They combined pulse survey results about collaboration frequency with meeting-calendar data to create an adjacency matrix, then validated the proposed layout with team leads before finalising move groups.
Practical application
Adjacency planning matters because poor proximities create wasted time, friction in decision-making and distractions that reduce productivity. Thoughtful adjacency reduces unnecessary movement, speeds up collaboration, protects heads-down time, optimises the use of meeting rooms and support services, and improves the overall employee experience — especially during relocations or post-occupancy changes. For hybrid teams, good adjacency planning also clarifies where in-person collaboration is most effective and where flexible, shared spaces make sense. Using survey-driven inputs and ongoing measurement helps organisations test assumptions, refine neighbourhoods and demonstrate the impact of changes.
FAQ
How is adjacency planning different from general floor planning?
Floor planning focuses on dimensions, code compliance and the physical layout. Adjacency planning is research-led: it prioritises relationships between teams and work activities, using data on collaboration, focus needs and movement patterns to determine which groups should be colocated or separated within a floorplan.
What data sources should I use for adjacency planning?
Use a mix of inputs: team interviews or workshops, employee surveys about who people work with and how, meeting-calendar or badge data to show interaction frequency, and observational or post-occupancy survey feedback. Combining qualitative insights with quantitative signals gives a reliable picture of working patterns.
How do you handle adjacency planning for hybrid teams who aren’t in the office every day?
Focus on where in-person collaboration delivers most value and design flexible neighbourhoods around those activities. Use survey and calendar data to identify peak in-office days or teams that require regular face-to-face time, then provide a mix of reservable collaboration spaces, touchdown areas and dedicated desks for teams that need consistent presence.
How will we know adjacency planning worked after a move?
Define success metrics up front — for example, reduced time spent walking between key collaborators, improved satisfaction with collaboration and noise levels in pulse surveys, higher meeting effectiveness ratings, or better utilisation of intended collaboration spaces. Run post-occupancy surveys and compare against baseline data to measure impact and iterate as needed.