The people movement consultancy
Ashton Flow provides expert people movement insight to help design, operate and manage safer, better-performing buildings and spaces.
About us
Ashton Flow is a specialist people movement consultancy supporting clients worldwide.
Founded in 2025 as part of the Ashton Group, we provide expert insight into how people use and move through buildings and spaces ensuring they are designed, operated, and managed safely and efficiently, with the end user experience at their core.
As a sister company to Ashton Fire, we form part of a group dedicated to creating safer, better designed buildings and places. We collaborate with architects, designers, operators, and multidisciplinary teams to create environments where people can move comfortably, safely, and intuitively.
Data collection & analysis
We gather and analyse evidence-based data to understand how people and crowds behave—turning insight into clear, actionable decisions.
01
Design & operations
We optimise layouts and circulation to support intuitive design and resilient operations from concept through delivery.
02
Commercial performance
We assess real-world performance to improve capacity, reduce delays and maximise revenue and customer experience.
03
Experiential design
We shape visitor journeys, define optimal capacities and support operational strategies that enhance experience.
04
Vertical circulation
We assess lifts, escalators and stairs to ensure capacity, accessibility and efficient movement for all users.
05
Emergency evacuation & safety
We test occupancy and egress to confirm safe evacuation under both everyday and peak conditions.
06
Value
Evidence-led people movement with measurable outcomes
Risk & assurance
Support funding, approvals & consent
Identify risks and evidence mitigations
Improve safety, security and service outcomes
Commercial performance
Unlock capacity and revenue potential
Reduce capital and operational costs
Maximise efficient use of space
Delivery & reputation
Get it right first time
Sectors
A scalable approach applicable across all environments
Our people
Simon Owen
Simon Owen is a Director at Ashton Flow and one of the UK’s most experienced and respected people movement specialists.
His career spans some of the world’s most complex and high profile environments, including the Olympic and Paralympic Games, FIFA World Cup, Commonwealth Games, Wimbledon, Wembley Stadium and the Eiffel Tower Masterplan.
Simon combines strategic oversight, operational expertise and global event experience to support the planning, design and operation of safe, efficient and high performing environments. He plays a key role in shaping and leading Ashton Flow’s people movement and major event capability.
Samuel Moutet
Samuel is an Associate Director at Ashton Flow and the founding member of the team.
He brings 20 years of experience in people movement consultancy, working across major cultural institutions, international sporting events, world expo pavilions and complex transport hubs.
Samuel combines behavioural insight, operational understanding and design strategy to help create environments that are intuitive in everyday use and resilient in exceptional conditions. He plays a key role in shaping and leading Ashton Flow as the practice continues to grow.
Gaila Comesaña
Gaila is a senior people movement consultant specialising in sports venues and major events. She supports clients in designing and operating safe, efficient and experience-led environments, combining crowd dynamics expertise with practical operational insight.
Her work spans permanent venue design and temporary event overlay planning, including ingress and egress strategy, concourse optimisation, Last Mile operations and evacuation modelling. She combines static and dynamic simulation tools with clear operational advice to deliver robust, evidence-based insights that inform confident decision-making at both design and live-event stages.
Steve Hunt
Steve is a senior people movement consultant and researcher with experience across sports venues, major events, aviation, transport hubs and complex urban environments.
He specialises in the application of behavioural research, pedestrian data collection, and dynamic modelling to inform evidence-based design and operational decision-making; delivering safety- and experience-focused outcomes for clients.
His experience ranges from high-profile sports venues, such as Wembley Stadium and the Etihad Campus, to global events including the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and international research programmes investigating behavioural risk and resilience.
Daisy Jackson
Daisy is a graduate people movement consultant at Ashton Flow and holds a degree in Psychology from Durham University.
She has experience in cultural, civic, sports and public realm projects and is interested in understanding the human behaviour behind crowd movement and crowding. She applies static, dynamic and network modelling to explore these behaviours and provides insight into how people move through different spaces supporting the development of safe, efficient and well-managed environments.
Matthew Mobbs
Matthew is a Graduate People Movement Consultant and Physics graduate from Northumbria University.
He has experience analysing crowd movement, attendance and operational data across major stadium projects. Using on-site observations, video analysis, Excel and network-based crowd modelling, he helps understand movement patterns, capacity and operational risks. His work has included developing and testing solutions for ingress, egress, evacuation and high-congestion areas, with findings used to support operational improvements.
Alongside his project work, Matthew has experience in workflow optimisation, VBA automation and data visualisation, using these skills to improve how data is analysed, presented and used to support decision-making.
Get in touch
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