"PFM’s Real-time footfall application 'Advantage' has enabled the Centre Management team to understand the actual occupancy levels in the Centre at any point of the day. We have four entrance/ exit points and without PFM’s Real-time footfall application 'Advantage' this would have been a very complicated, labour intensive procedure to enable us to calculate the occupancy levels at any point of the day. With the social distancing measures that were required during the pandemic, which in turn led to reduced occupation levels, this system was perfect for us. We were able to set a maximum occupation level for the Centre and set alert levels to enable us to take the appropriate action in time to ensure Centre was not going over the maximum occupancy level.
The portal was available on desktop and mobile phone platforms which meant at any point/ any time we were able to see where we were on occupancy, being able to monitor on your mobile phone was a real benefit especially when not at the Centre. It was very accurate and was consistently around the 98/99% level of accuracy. The Client and the local authority were very impressed with the system, how quickly it was installed, up and running and the benefits it brought to the Centre. I would have no issues in recommending this system to other Centre’s and users".
Steve Burr, Area Centre manager
Company information
New Square is a quality shopping and leisure destination located in West Bromwich and is part of the Savills portfolio. With significant numbers of visitors, a day the shopping centre is a very busy location. New Square has an array of stores, a wide choice of restaurants, cafés, and a cinema, all in an open-air Shopping precinct.
Solution
With high visitor numbers and a growing emphasis in early 2020 on Occupancy and staff and visitor safety, PFM Footfall Intelligence was excited to work with New Square to supplement their existing PFM footfall solution, to deliver real-time occupancy data.
The Real-time Occupancy solution can display, with 99.5% accuracy, how many people are currently in the centre.
PFM’s Real-time footfall application “Advantage” driven by Xovis’ external Footfall Counters provides an incredibly accurate and dependable counting solution in this challenging external and dense footfall environment.
PFM’s proactive support services enabled by the remotely accessible Xovis technology provides and importantly maintains, the accuracy of the system, accuracy being so fundamentally important in an Occupancy System.
Result
As a result, Centre Management can now see accurate real-time occupancy data to allocate their staff appropriately. The staff can manage the flow of visitors to ensure safety in the New Square Shopping Centre.
This system has improved Client confidence in the footfall data, added extra value to the existing footfall solution, reduced costs derived from manual counting security tasks whilst freeing up staff to perform their key responsibilities.
Staff and Customers are safe in the knowledge that the Centre Management team have real-time insights and control over visitor numbers, at any time from any device, anywhere.