INTERVIEW
That is exactly why we built Open Space. We wanted to create a single platform where, for
example, a service looking for space in one area would not just see NHS Property Services properties, but could also see Community Health Partnerships properties and local Trust properties, all in one place, and choose the space they want to use. We therefore ended up running a pilot with Community Health Partnerships across 18 sites in two ICB locations for six months. When you look at the outcomes, the first thing I would say is that it was brilliant to see someone else using the system and getting the same benefits that we get out of it. That is why we built this and why we invested in it as a company – to deliver something that provides a real, tangible benefit to the system and can then be adopted and used more widely. The fact that the metrics were so strong was fantastic, because it led to Community Health Partnerships signing a five-year contract with us to adopt Open Space. If I had to choose one particularly encouraging metric, it would be the fact that around 22% of bookings during the pilot were from new users. For me, that was really important because one of the main reasons we are doing this is to help deliver a more optimised estate. The more optimised the estate is, the more services are using it, and the more services that are using it, the more services are being delivered to patients.
That is why that figure stood out to me, because it showed that more services were being delivered locally.
Was there anything that was adjusted or removed from the pilot that was redundant? Not really, because Open Space itself was refined during an earlier two-year pilot between 2017 and 2019. We wanted to make our mistakes on our own estate before offering it externally. However, we did improve how we worked with
the community health partnership, particularly around communications, training materials and collaboration as a joint project team. There were some improvements that we bought in with our communications with customers, and some of the literature that we provide for them in the training just to make things a bit more explicit.
In terms of training, can you tell me how long the training takes to do, and how do you deliver the training? Online – in person? How does it work? Yes, we provide a whole range of online training sessions, recorded sessions, training manuals and have a helpdesk. We also have experts in my team who are always on hand if anyone needs support or wants something explained. There is a full set of resources to help people understand how to use the system.
Users can book different spaces for a variety of reasons, from patient consultations to education sessions and medical meetings.
February 2026 Health Estate Journal 49
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