Know how much teaching space you need, and when.

Space Counts models your university’s timetable, enrolment and space data activity by activity, hour by hour. You see how your campus is really used today, and exactly which rooms you will need as enrolments, programs and teaching change.

Discuss a project See our projects

Week by week

Illustrative weekly teaching space demand Bars show room hours booked in each week of a teaching year, rising in semester weeks and falling in breaks. An outline shows higher forecast demand. A red line marks the practical booking limit; forecast demand approaches it in peak weeks.

By room size

Illustrative demand by room size Bars show weekly room hours needed for seven room size bands, from up to 30 seats to 360 seats. Demand is uneven across sizes. Forecast demand exceeds the practical limit for 31 to 60 seat and 91 to 120 seat rooms, while other sizes have spare capacity.
Demand today Forecast demand What the rooms can realistically take Illustrative example, not client data
10 yearsplanning university space
20+ universitiesacross Australia and Asia as clients
Beyond universitiesTAFE, private providers and research institutes

The questions we answer

Facilities and estates teams bring us in when a decision about space is expensive, complex, or contested. We give you the evidence to make space planning decisions with confidence.

Will the new building have the right rooms?

We test the schedule of accommodation for a new building or refurbishment against the activities that will actually use it, so the type, size and number of rooms match demand across the forecast years.

Do we have more space than we need?

We show which spaces are underused, how far the campus can consolidate, and which rooms or buildings can be released, repurposed or closed without squeezing teaching.

What will the new pedagogy need?

Replacing lectures with active and experiential learning changes room types and sizes, and can increase total floor area. We quantify required space before you build, so you have the right space to accommodate the pedagogy change.

Will we have enough space while works are underway?

We check every year of a construction, decant or relocation program, so teaching continues without space shortfalls or excess temporary works.

Can specialist spaces be shared?

Labs, clinical simulation suites and studios are costly to build and run. We test whether multi-purpose, shared typologies can meet the demand of several disciplines.

How do we bring campuses or institutions together?

For mergers and campus moves we model combined cohorts, new curricula, teach-outs and program relocations, showing where the critical constraints will emerge.

When will we need more space?

We determine utilisation limits appropriate to your space categories and operating practices. These act as triggers for planning, so new space is delivered before a shortage becomes critical and compromises learning and teaching.

How do we make the case for investment?

Our analysis and financial modelling support capital business cases and funding submissions, with requirements traced back to how the university actually operates.

How do we get faculties on board?

Because the model is built from each faculty’s own timetable, academics can see how current practice drives space need, and what changing it would make possible.

Numbers that hold up

Most space forecasts apply rules of thumb, linking space growth linearly with enrolment growth. Ours simulate the decisions behind every timetabled activity: group size, room type, duration and delivery pattern. Changes to these parameters are quantified, applied activity-by-activity, and reflected in the forecast space requirements.

Built from what actually happens

Requirements come from your real timetable, enrolments and rooms, not generic assumptions about how universities operate.

Targets you can actually hit

Utilisation targets are drawn from your own past operations and adjusted for agreed changes, rather than sector-wide figures that may not fit your campus.

Every assumption on the table

Future operating settings are agreed with academic and professional staff and written down, so everyone knows what has to change for the result to hold.

Quick to update

When enrolment forecasts, plans or designs change, we re-run the model rather than start again. Plans and requirements can develop together.

Decisions that survive staff changes

Every planning decision is traceable and reviewable in the model, so people can see why it was made after staff change, avoiding unnecessary redesign.

Data you can trust

University data is often incomplete or inconsistent across systems. We know where it goes wrong, and we resolve it with your staff before it distorts the answer.

How an engagement runs

  1. 1

    Baseline model

    We gather your timetable, enrolment and space data and relevant policies, and model how space is used today. This reveals practices that quietly consume space, such as overestimated enrolments, restrictive room categories or rooms held by one department.

  2. 2

    Workshops

    With the baseline as common ground, we work with academic and professional staff to agree future operating parameters such as programs, pedagogies, enrolments, locations, room categories, timetabling practices and operating hours.

  3. 3

    Supply v demand forecast

    We combine the baseline with your enrolment forecast and the agreed operating parameters, then compare room hours available with room hours needed to accommodate all activities. The analysis is undertaken for every room category to generate a schedule of spaces (type, size and quantity) across the forecast period.

  4. 4

    Keep it current

    As design options change, plans firm up or new data arrives, we update the model and the advice. As space planning is an ongoing project, some client models have accumulated years of data. They are able to quantify how their space planning and management practices have improved teaching space use.

The earlier we are involved, the better. A space schedule is far cheaper to change during design than once construction starts, and good operating practices are easiest to establish as new space is occupied.

What you receive

Baseline review
How your teaching space is used now, and which operating practices are shaping utilisation.
Scenario analysis
Business-as-usual and optimised operating scenarios that set the upper and lower bounds of your space requirements, as a basis for planning decisions with your executive and academy.
Space schedules
The number, type and capacity of rooms required at each interval of the forecast, ready for architects to design around.
Staging analysis
Year-by-year checks that teaching can be accommodated as spaces come into and out of service.
Business case support
Demand evidence, space release estimates and financial modelling for capital investment decisions.
Ongoing space reporting
Interactive reporting on space, timetable and cost data to support everyday space management and policy setting.

Who we work with

We are engaged directly by universities, or as part of a design team through the architect or project manager.

  • Estates and facilities leadersMaster plans, capital programs and campus consolidation.
  • Space and timetabling managersUtilisation, allocation policy and the operating practices that drive space need.
  • Education and faculty leadershipTurning curriculum and pedagogy plans into the spaces they require.
  • Architects and project managersValidated room schedules for briefs, design options and staging.

Selected projects

From single buildings to whole-of-institution change, here is some of the work we have delivered.

The University of Melbourne

Estate Master Plan, Parkville

We have advised on teaching space requirements through every stage of the University’s estate master planning, from individual faculties and disciplines to whole-of-campus shared space, and planning for demolitions, refurbishments and new buildings. Each faculty is modelled separately, then combined in a shared teaching space pool, so specific needs are met without losing sight of how faculties affect each other.

A program this long sees staff changes in both estate and academic teams. Because every decision about what is taught, how, when and where is traceable in the model, the reasons behind past planning decisions can be reviewed and revised. Sound decisions stand, and genuine changes are reflected quickly, allowing planning to stay on track.

The models have also been adapted beyond formal teaching space, to estimate changes for academic staff teaching loads, and informal learning space use under different operating assumptions. Facilities planning could move forward while faculties continue to resolve the detail of their future operations.

University of Newcastle

Engineering Precinct Adaptive Reuse

The School of Engineering has redesigned its program around active learning, to bring students back to campus with a particular focus on first-year experience. Its existing buildings were designed for didactic teaching. The University developed a scheme to reconfigure them for the new model of teaching.

We were engaged to resolve two challenges: quantifying space requirements for programs that would use the precinct, factoring changes to pedagogies and new curriculum to be rolled out; and making sure there was enough teaching space in every year of the works, as buildings close, are reconfigured and reopen. The model let us quantify requirements and set out the operating assumptions behind them, allowing these to be confirmed with academic staff.

The work was staged to match the University’s business case and design program. We then extended the model to the whole Callaghan campus, to work out when other proposed space changes could proceed without leaving the precinct short during construction.

Murdoch University

Teaching space model and utilisation

Murdoch’s space team wanted a consistent, data-based way to plan and manage teaching space, so allocation is decided on evidence rather than by the loudest department.

We built a teaching space model covering several years and used it to measure the effect of the practices that shape utilisation: room users and ownership, room categories, activity delivery patterns, enrolment estimates and operating days and times. With those effects quantified, the space team can work with users to improve utilisation.

The analysis also sets utilisation limits tailored to each space category. These act as triggers for planning new space, giving time for delivery before it becomes a critical constraint. Forecast modelling identifies emerging shortages or oversupply.

Adelaide University

Merger teaching space analysis

The merger of the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia brought together two timetables, curricula and campus networks under a fixed go-live date.

We modelled combined cohorts, new programs rolling in while others taught out, relocations between campuses and precincts, pedagogy change and trimester teaching. The analysis helped the transition team focus limited time and resources on the most critical space constraints for the 2026 launch.

James Cook University

Townsville Campus Renewal and Bebegu Yumba Master Plan

The Townsville campus had more space than it needed, and the cost of maintenance and operating was limiting other investment. The University planned a 10-year program of demolition, refurbishment and new building.

We quantified space requirements for every stage of the program and worked with colleges to show they could operate in a smaller footprint with better, fit-for-purpose space. We also prepared the financial modelling and business case that secured funding through the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility. Periodic model updates have let the University respond to shifts such as COVID-19 as the program progresses.

In 2025 we worked within the design team updating the Master Plan and 10-year Capital Plan for the Bebegu Yumba campus. JCU is transforming its curriculum: online delivery for content and lectures, on-campus time focused on active learning, and a move to trimesters that spreads activity across more weeks of the year. We modelled how these changes, together with enrolment growth, building consolidation, computer strategy and more shared rooms, alter the type and quantity of teaching space needed. Fewer lectures reduce demand for lecture theatres, but active learning needs more floor area per student. The proposed changes favour flexible spaces that many disciplines can share.

Recent work also includes

  • The University of Adelaide: aligning a shift to active learning with a realistic, financially viable redevelopment program
  • RMIT University: business-as-usual and optimised scenarios for the City North precinct
  • University of New England: teaching space requirements for the Armidale campus plan
  • Curtin University: specialist learning spaces for the Building 408 refurbishment, and a teaching space model maintained since 2016
  • IMU Malaysia: teaching space analysis to inform growth in medical and health programs and the design of a new campus
  • Charles Darwin University: space use review to inform the Casuarina campus revitalisation
  • University of the Sunshine Coast: space modelling to inform new facilities on the Moreton Bay campus

Clients

Go8, technical and regional universities, plus TAFE, private providers and research institutes.

  • Adelaide University
  • Charles Darwin University
  • Charles Sturt University
  • Curtin University
  • Federation University
  • The Florey Institute
  • IMU Malaysia
  • James Cook University
  • JMC Academy
  • Murdoch University
  • RMIT University
  • TAFE NSW
  • The University of Adelaide
  • The University of Melbourne
  • University of New England
  • University of Newcastle
  • University of Southern Queensland
  • University of the Sunshine Coast
  • University of Tasmania
  • University of Wollongong

We’ve run university space ourselves

Space Counts was founded by Matthew O’Halloran, formerly Manager of Space and Timetabling at James Cook University. Our team includes space and timetable managers, data analysts and software engineers. We understand how learning, teaching and research are actually delivered, because we have worked in universities as space managers and planners, and studied in them on campus and online.

Matthew has led space planning for more than 20 universities across Australasia, including campus master plans, consolidation plans, capital business cases, utilisation studies and space management policy. With qualifications in law and engineering, he brings experience from delivering major infrastructure and running operational facilities outside the sector.

  • Managing Director, Space CountsSince 2016
  • Manager, Space and Timetabling, James Cook University
  • General Manager Major Projects, and General Manager Operations, Port of Townsville
  • Master of Laws, The University of MelbourneBachelor of Engineering (Mechanical, Honours) and Bachelor of Arts, Monash University

Planning a building, a consolidation or a move?

Tell us what you’re working on. We can usually say quickly what data we’d need and what the analysis could show.

Emailmatthew@spacecounts.com
Phone+61 419 523 332
LinkedInSpace Counts Pty Ltd