Nottingham Trent University

Strategic Water Management for Sustainability

Nottingham Trent University (NTU), the UK's 7th largest university (with over 36,000 students) and a global leader in sustainability (ranked 2nd by UI GreenMetric), has joined forces with Water Plus to advance smart water management.

The strategic partnership focuses on leveraging advanced data tracking and proactive service to accelerate NTU's ambitious, year-on-year water reduction targets and decarbonisation goals across its multi-site estate.

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“We are pleased to be returning to Water Plus due to its willingness and flexibility around invoicing and billing frequency.”

“Water Plus is committed to working with us to generate accurate invoices, which is imperative for both the university and its stakeholders. Our strong relationship with Water Plus and its knowledgeable and helpful customer service approach means it makes it easy to work with them as a partner – and enables us to gain more benefits, efficiencies and results for students, staff, the university and its communities.”

Matthew Birkin, Energy Management Engineer at NTU

The challenge

Nottingham Trent University is actively working across its campuses to put sustainability at the heart of everything it does. It needed a water retail partner that could not only meet complex multi-site billing needs but also help drive forward its sustainability initiative. NTU's challenge was twofold:

Meeting Ambitious Targets: They needed a partner with a proven track record to support their goal of achieving year-on-year water reduction, directly contributing to their progress toward Net Zero.
Ensuring Operational Efficiency: The university needed a reliable and time-saving water retail partner who could meet its billing needs, while providing excellent customer service.

The Solution

NTU chose to return to Water Plus, moving all 39 of its sites back under the retailer through the University of Essex Utility Supply and Energy Management Solutions framework, managed by Dukefield Energy. The solution implemented by Water Plus focused on data and excellent customer service and strengthening the water partnership:

Advanced Data Logging: Seven data loggers were installed on key NTU water meters. This equipment feeds information into an online analysis portal, that can be provided to Water Plus customers, giving the university daily usage data to quickly spot areas of water waste during the day and night and drive efficiency.
Customer-Centric Partnership: Water Plus committed to providing flexibility around invoicing and billing frequency and continuing its excellent customer service provision.
Finding more ways to save water: The university is looking forward to working in partnership with Water Plus to decrease water consumption - building on the significant water-saving already achieved in work together.

“We are delighted to be working closely again with Nottingham Trent University which has seen the results our team can deliver including excellent customer service and efficiencies that support its goals and aims.

“It is a leading UK university, known for academic excellence, hands-on learning and strong industry links, as well as pioneering approaches – and are once again taking a lead with smarter water management and additional data analysis and support from our experienced team. So, it’s a big welcome back to Nottingham Trent University.”

Dan Hutchins, a Key Account Manager at Water Plus

The Results

The collaboration between Nottingham Trent University and Water Plus immediately delivered tangible benefits, demonstrating the value of a proactive service approach combined with advanced data tracking. These strategic outcomes extend beyond financial savings, significantly boosting the university's drive toward sustainability and Net Zero goals, showing the value the Water Plus team can bring to partnerships:

Significant leak prevention

The proactive service from the Water Plus team successfully alerted NTU to a major increase in water use (3.7 cubic metres per hour) at one site in December 2021. Prompt action prevented over £1,550 per week in additional running costs.

Data-Driven Efficiency

The new data loggers allow the university to transition from reactive maintenance to proactive monitoring, ensuring continuous progress toward efficiency and decarbonisation.

Additional information:

NTU ranked 2nd in the world for sustainability by 2024 UI GreenMetric.

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Measure

Detailed water audits, benchmarking, smart metering and data loggers – we’ll help you better understand and improve your water use.

We can also help you identify where being smarter with water can cut carbon emissions.

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A step on from measure where we work with you advising on water saving equipment to improve efficiency and cut costs. And our leak detection and repair service will save you wasting water and money, especially if you have a hidden leak.

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