Get ahead of the curve: 5 Ways AI adoption is impacting occupiers

As organisations move from AI experimentation towards more embedded, operational use, what does this mean for occupier real estate strategy?

While genuine enterprise-wide adoption remains uneven, the direction of travel is clear. AI is increasingly being woven into broader business transformation, productivity agendas and, in some cases, restructuring programmes. In this context, real estate plays a central role in the success or failure of these strategies.

Below, we explore how next-generation technology is influencing early adopters' workplace strategies and accelerating wider changes already under way across occupier portfolios. The impact will vary by sector, operating model and the intensity of AI deployment, but five key trends are emerging.

1. Office infrastructure

For occupiers with compute-intensive operations or specialist technology requirements, AI deployment is intensifying demands on power, resilience and digital connectivity. Energy capacity, battery storage, fibre readiness and certified connectivity are moving from “nice to have” to increasingly important enablers of business strategy. For many office occupiers using cloud-hosted AI services, the scale of these requirements will be more limited.

Buildings must be capable of supporting increasingly power-hungry systems, with considerations including:

• Assessing whether onsite substations or enhanced power capacity are required for the occupier’s specific operational model
• Understanding how energy consumption fluctuates throughout the day
• Prioritising energy-efficient buildings to minimise consumption
• Ensuring network speed and resilience, including high-quality wireless access points and future-ready fibre infrastructure

2. Spaces that support learning and development

AI rarely delivers value without changes to workflows and behaviour, and systems are only as effective as the people using them. This places renewed importance on the office as a place for learning, upskilling and experimentation, supported by flexible training space and embedded technology.

Occupiers therefore need environments that support continuous learning, with flexible training spaces and embedded technology that can adapt to different formats and use cases.

This shift is already visible among early adopters:

Case study: Meta embeds AI-driven impact into performance expectations

Meta has embedded AI into employee workflows through its internal tool, Metamate, and has reportedly made AI-driven impact a core performance expectation from 2026. The emphasis is on outcomes achieved through AI rather than individual usage metrics alone.

This signals a shift from optional experimentation to expected capability - placing greater emphasis on workplaces that support continuous learning, training and hands-on experimentation with new tools.

3. Disciplined investment and measurable value

AI investment does not come with unlimited budgets. As a result, occupiers are becoming more disciplined in their real estate decisions, prioritising energy-efficient buildings, measurable returns and function over flash. This does not necessarily mean contraction: for some businesses, it will support value-led expansion into higher-quality, more effective space.

AI adoption brings energy efficiency and other real estate expenditure into sharper focus, increasing the pressure for investments to deliver clear and quantifiable returns. Key considerations include:

• Prioritising low-carbon plant solutions, passive features and air tightness to reduce the demand on heating, cooling and ventilating premises
• Using smart energy management systems to help monitor and optimise resource consumption

4. Operational agility

As business models, roles and processes continue to evolve, occupiers need space that can adapt quickly, driving demand for:

• Modular solutions with versatile fixtures and layouts
• Spaces that support experimentation and rapid reconfigurations
• Flexible leasing structures that offer the ability to extend or consolidate their footprints in the event of a strategic pivot

Case study: Santander builds growth plan on digital transformation project

Santander's transformation programme is centred on embedding AI and data across its global operations to drive automation, productivity and cost savings. Santander has set a target of generating more than €1bn in cumulative business value from AI between 2026 and 2028, through a combination of additional revenue and cost reductions.

This highlights how large organisations are aligning technology investment with operational simplification - placing greater emphasis on agile, efficient real estate portfolios that can support evolving business models.

As transformation programmes accelerate, real estate portfolios must be able to evolve alongside them.

5. Spaces that bring people together

Offices that bring people together matter more, not less, as routine work becomes increasingly automated. Rather than signalling a simple return to pre-hybrid attendance patterns, the evidence points to the office becoming more purposeful within predominantly hybrid and office-led workstyles.

However, the role offices play in organisations' operations has changed. With mobile technology enabling basic tasks to be performed anywhere, the office has become a destination for collaboration, innovation, learning and culture-building.

Well-designed workplaces that deliberately encourage interaction are now a key differentiator. This means providing:

• A range of spaces for both scheduled and informal collaboration
• Layouts that promote chance encounters across open neighbourhoods and high-footfall areas around the office
• Touchdown spaces and shared amenities that act as “third places” within the workplace

Key takeaways

We are living through a period of significant transition. The latest wave of technological advancement presents an opportunity not only to enhance organisational performance, but to fundamentally reshape business models.

For many, AI will act as an accelerator of broader transformation already under way - supporting productivity gains, operational simplification and, in some cases, large-scale restructuring.

But with opportunity comes risk. Whether ambitious strategies such as AI-led workforce reduction will deliver long-term value remains to be seen. While the long-term impact remains uncertain, enterprise-wide AI adoption is gathering pace. Its effect on real estate will differ materially by sector, operating model and the intensity of deployment, but property can play an important role in enabling success.

To remain competitive, occupiers should focus on the following priorities:

• Digital infrastructure - High-capacity, resilient and future-ready networks will be essential
• Learning environments - Workplaces must support continuous upskilling and experimentation
• Energy efficiency - Buildings must balance performance with cost control
• Function over flash - Real estate must deliver measurable business value
• Operational agility - Portfolios must be able to adapt quickly to change
• Collaboration - Offices must bring people together in meaningful ways

As intelligence-led tools accelerate changes in how businesses operate, the role of real estate is evolving in tandem. For occupiers, understanding where AI materially affects their people, operations and portfolio will be critical to unlocking the value of AI-driven transformation. Our Occupier Strategy & Solutions teams can help you identify agile, future-ready solutions that support your business transformation goals. Get in touch to discuss your requirements.

Originally published as part of (Y)OUR SPACE Talking Points – Time to Dive: The AI Adoption Trend Accelerates, by Matt Hayes, Senior Research Analyst. Find out more about (Y)OUR SPACE here.