The Client

CLS Holdings plc is a British commercial property investment business based in London and specialises in office space across the UK, Germany and France. It has a £2.1bn portfolio and is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The Brief

Smartvatten is a Finnish company that manufactures a smart water meter monitor. They had a pre-existing relationship with CLS Holdings, having installed their product in their properties in Germany.  CLS Holdings and Smartvatten initiated discussions to upgrade all the UK properties with similar monitors.

A primary driver for CLS Holdings was the need to have the product installed to achieve required points on building BREEAM assessments. This requirement was timebound and linked to auditor assessment dates.

CLS Holdings recruited SaveMoneyCutCarbon to survey and install Smartvatten monitoring at 7 of their properties.

SaveMoneyCutCarbon began discussions on the water meter project in mid-April (2024) and there was a deadline to complete all sites by the end of May.

The Solution

SaveMoneyCutCarbon mobilised rapidly to survey all sites, completing all surveys, proposals and project plans in under 2 weeks.

Smartvatten provides a plug and play solution for existing water meters, but the surveys identified that at some CLS locations additional water meters were advisable. In addition, some locations did not have existing power sockets that could be utilised. In these cases, both a plumber and an electrician were required to attend to install their respective products.

To ensure that the deadline was met, SaveMoneyCutCarbon created a parallel installation programme, with electricians scheduled to install power sockets as needed before plumbing work was carried out. This approach made it easier to achieve the work in the short space of time and work effectively within the constraints of the schedule.

SaveMoneyCutCarbon also provided flexible-hours services, as some of the sites required the installation to be carried out after working hours, as the water supply to the building would be temporarily isolated.

Challenges

Notable technical challenges were:

• Working with larger pipe sizes, e.g. 60 – 80mm

• Freezing large pipes where there was no suitable isolation mechanism

• Altering existing pipework to create space to fit a water meter into the pipeline

Results

The Smartvatten product monitors water flow and provides analytic data on water use and behaviour, which can help businesses understand how water is consumed in their building and provides the added benefit of leak detection technology.

The company met specification for the BREEAM In-Use assessment and certification scheme designed to help building managers reduce and improve the environmental performance of non-domestic buildings.

The data provided by the smart monitor can also support with decarbonisation reporting.

Quotes

Chris, Brooks, Head of Water Reduction at SaveMoneyCutCarbon:

“The SaveMoneyCutCarbon Water Reduction team have long advocated for innovative water and washroom products that utilise smart technology to provide data and insight. Smartvatten does exactly that and will be invaluable for businesses going forward as awareness of water use, water waste and the connection to carbon increases. CLS gave us a challenging brief, but we were delighted to accept and pleased that we delivered the benefit and outcome they required.”

Alex Forcella, Commercial Partnership Director, Smartvatten:

“We are looking forward to working with SaveMoneyCutCarbon in delivering our solutions across Britain. At Smartvatten, we believe that ‘Every drop counts’. We work to save hundreds of millions of litres of water every year and to achieve that goal, knowledge is key. That's why our products and services cover the entire water cycle. Every day, we work toward a future where clean water is valued and its responsible use is an ongoing, worldwide effort.”