By Kathryn Yap - 15th October, 2026

From Disconnected Data to Responsive Buildings

What happens when workplace technology starts responding to people, rather than simply measuring them?

On September 17, WORKTECH26 Toronto brought workplace, real estate, technology, design, and business leaders together at TD Terrace to explore what the next chapter of work looks like in practice. Across the program, the conversation returned to a few shared questions: how workplaces can prove their value, how organizations can make better use of increasingly complex data, and how technology can support more responsive, human-centered environments.

From connected to conversational

The growing unpredictability of workplace use raises a basic question: what should buildings actually do with all the information they now collect? In the session “From Data to Personalisation: Preparing for the AI Enabled Built Environment”, Melissa Marsh, Founder and Executive Director of PLASTARC, argued that the next generation of smart buildings will depend not just on adding technology, but on connecting building intelligence to human experience.

“Smart buildings are social buildings.” — Melissa Marsh

That shift starts with translating technical information into something people can understand and act on, while also defining what a successful workplace experience should look like. A temperature reading becomes thermal comfort. Air-quality data becomes a question of whether a room feels fresh or stuffy. Rather than asking occupants to interpret dashboards themselves, Marsh described a future in which buildings become more conversational and anticipatory, using clearer human outcomes to recognize patterns and respond to how people actually experience space.

Personalization was central to that idea. Workplace personas are often built around job function, but Marsh proposed combining roles with sensory profiles and individual preferences. A multisensory approach considers how sound, smell, light, thermal comfort, and feelings of exposure or refuge can all influence whether a space works for someone, even when two people are doing the same task.

“We simply do not experience buildings all the same way.” — Melissa Marsh

Making that level of personalization possible starts with less visible work behind the scenes. Cleaner and more consistent data, shared definitions across workplace, IT, HR, and operations, and a clearer understanding of the digital journey people move through each day all matter. Rather than trying to replace every system at once, Marsh suggested connecting them incrementally and using AI to help interpret patterns across behavioral and environmental information.

More data, better decisions

That distinction between collecting data and knowing what to do with it surfaced throughout the wider program. The “From Smart Buildings to Trusted Intelligence” panel, featuring Natashia Dunham of Sobeys and Rajesh Ray of RBC, looked at how occupancy, environmental, and workplace systems can be brought together across real estate, IT, HR, and facilities. The larger point was not simply to gather more information, but to make it trustworthy enough to support decisions about space, service quality, and portfolio performance.

Other sessions approached the same challenge from the employee side. Discussions about what makes a workplace “worth the commute” asked what people should gain from being together that they cannot get elsewhere, while the afternoon conversation on intentional time together, with Erin Corcoran of Gensler, Ashalee Mohamed of Xero, and David Geisler of EF Education First, focused on the rhythms and practices that support collaboration, belonging, and shared purpose.

That question of value also appeared in conversations about the role of the office itself. Rather than functioning only as a place where work happens, several sessions positioned it as a setting for learning, mentoring, collaboration, and community. The closing program extended that thinking into the AI era, considering how leadership systems, digital coordination, and workplace strategy may need to evolve alongside changes in technology and work.

What intelligence is for

Across the day, “smart” became less a description of how much technology a workplace contains and more a question of what that technology makes possible. Better data can reveal how space is being used, where conditions are falling short, and what people may need next. The larger challenge is turning that information into environments that are easier to understand, more responsive to different ways of working, and better able to adapt as those needs continue to change. For PLASTARC, that means continuing to connect data about space with the ways people actually experience and use it.