Capital Group: evolving legacy space through pilot programs
Capital Group’s pilot-first workplace strategy shows how testing before investing can transform long-established offices into spaces that work for people
As organisations continue to navigate the return to office, the pressure to get workplace decisions right has been increasing rapidly. For Capital Group, with campuses in Irvine, California, and San Antonio, Texas, the challenge that they were met with was how to evolve workplaces that have been in place for nearly two decades without committing to the wrong solution. Rather than relying on industry benchmarks or third-party assumptions, the firm chose to build its strategy from the ground up, starting with how people work.
The workplace strategy combined quantitative and qualitative research across both campuses including 12 months of badge and occupancy data, seating and meeting room analysis, interviews with 24 senior business leaders, and 48 focus groups with more than 400 employees gave the team a rich picture of real behaviour.
Testing before transforming
Instead of moving straight from research to design standards, Capital Group ran live furniture pilots from February to July 2025. Around 10% of employees at each campus rotated through the pilot spaces in two-week cycles, across 14 departments in total.
Spaces ranged from enclosed focus areas to informal collaboration zones, giving employees plenty of choice and time to test the different furnishings. Daily micro-surveys and real-time feedback allowed the team to refine the experience as it happened. As Kathy Dempsey, who led the pilot in Irvine, put it, ‘the process allowed the team to test theories in a controlled environment rather than committing to a design based on assumptions.’
One of the clearest findings was the value of proximity. When teams were co-located in the pilot space, spontaneous interaction increased and the number of formally scheduled meetings fell.
A framework built to flex
The research and pilot outputs were translated into a ‘Kit of Parts’ framework covering individual, collaborative, support and amenity space types. Rather than a fixed blueprint, it functions as a decision tool that helps teams evaluate different configurations while keeping consistency across the portfolio. Change management was built into the process from the start, with a cross-functional steering committee, a network of change champions, and regular leadership updates ensuring employees were involved throughout the extensive process.
Capital Group’s approach offers a clear model for organisations rethinking their workplaces from starting with people to testing assumptions.
Download the full case study here.
