The 9-Phase Roadmap

THE MARIS METHODOLOGY:

THE 9-PHASE ROADMAP

To successfully deploy a high-performance hybrid strategy, you must replace guesswork with empirical evidence. We guide your project through our strict 9-Phase Roadmap to ensure every architectural decision is anchored in hard data and commercial reality.

The Strategy

• Phase 1 & 2 (Strategic Discovery & Site Evaluation): We deploy anonymised PIR sensors to track precise daily usage. With global average building utilisation at just 53%, we identify your exact operational friction points before a single line is drawn.
• Phase 3 (Workplace Strategy): We define the spatial solutions required to cure those specific friction points.

The Planning

• Phase 4 (Detailed Design): We translate data into architecture using Activity-Based Working (ABW), zoning the physical office into distinct neighbourhoods tailored for focus, collaboration and culture.
• Phase 5 & 6 (Costing & Pre-Construction): We engineer a line-by-line cost plan to guarantee absolute cost certainty before demolition begins.

The Delivery

• Phase 7 & 8 (Construction & Soft Landings): We manage the site with strict discipline and provide comprehensive staff training on your new systems upon handover.
• Phase 9 (Post-Occupancy Review): We return months later to measure spatial data against your original KPIs, ensuring your asset remains perfectly tuned to your hybrid teams.

THE CFO’S CORNER:

THE TRUE COST OF A STERILE OFFICE

Are you saving pennies on your real estate budget, only to bleed millions in talent attrition?

For the Finance Director, the business case for a strategic hybrid fit-out is anchored entirely in commercial value and risk mitigation.

The Myth: Forcing a strict return-to-office mandate without upgrading the physical environment is a cost-effective way to drive productivity.

The Reality: Companies enforcing strict attendance mandates in uninspiring spaces experience an employee turnover rate that is 13% higher than those maintaining flexible policies.

The Mathematics of Attrition:

Let’s run the numbers. According to Oxford Economics, replacing a single elite employee costs an average of £30,000 when factoring in recruitment fees, onboarding time and lost output.

• If a firm with 100 staff experiences a 15% attrition rate simply because of a resented office mandate, the financial bleed is a catastrophic £450,000 annually.
• If a strategic, high-quality fit-out improves retention by just 30%, the business saves £135,000 every single year – rapidly paying for the capital expenditure of the build.

The Strategic Reallocation:

UK businesses with part-remote workforces are currently saving up to 36% on utilities, rent and corporate catering. By reinvesting those exact operational savings into a high-quality fit-out that naturally attracts staff, the CFO protects the bottom line through drastically reduced recruitment fees and optimised overheads.

MARIS TOOLS:

THE “BEFORE YOU SPEND” DIAGNOSTIC

Authorising a multi-million-pound capital expenditure without hard empirical data is the fastest route to a negative ROI. To build a mathematically sound business case, we force the C-Suite to answer three uncomfortable questions before a single architectural line is drawn. Do not guess your real estate requirements; use these diagnostics to measure them:

• Are you in the right building?
  The Tool: The Stay vs. Go Scorecard
  The Function: A highly quantitative diagnostic that evaluates your current location’s spatial capacity, ESG potential and digital infrastructure. We use this to definitively prove whether a targeted refurbishment yields a higher commercial return than a full corporate relocation.
• What is physically slowing your people down?
  The Tool: The Friction Audit
  The Function: A direct-to-staff survey that maps out departmental bottlenecks, acoustic leakage and technology failures. This pinpoints the exact operational friction draining your team’s daily output.
• Is the asset mechanically viable?
  The Tool: The Red Flag Building Checklist
  The Function: An uncompromising engineering assessment examining the mechanical and electrical capacity of your target building. If it cannot deliver the British Council for Offices’ recommended fresh air rate of 12 – 14 litres per second per person, you walk away.