fairly high water consumption patterns as the buildings and shower facilities and are due to be refitted in the next two
Buro Happold
include shower facilities and a canteen. The offices have years. They then measured the improvements these would
a total floor area of nearly 4,000m
2
and support around make using the BREEAM rating scheme that evaluates the
Water saving
300 occupants. overall sustainability of a building. This showed that the new
in action
Outside space is limited because the buildings border measures would quickly and relatively painlessly improve
PIR urinals fitted
the River Avon and local planners were “known to be very the buildings’ ratings by four BREEAM points.
throughout
stringent”, according to the Sirens. They also had to face The next aim would be to reduce water use by 60 per
Pulsed meters to allow
a “seagull problem”. In other words, local birds heavily cent by 2012, which could be done through the addition
better water usage
contaminated the roof with faeces, making rainwater of waterless urinals, and using an alternative water supply
monitoring
harvesting difficult. for toilet flushing. Eventually they would like to see a
Leak detection to prevent
The first step was to hold a ‘Water Workshop’ with the water neutral office, where water use is reduced to only
water wastage
building occupants to talk about patterns of use and how essential use, with the remainder offset by supporting local
Reusing cups to reduce
the engineers could look beyond “the usual boundaries of community initiatives.
collection and cleaning
technology”. A number of valuable insights were gained
by staff
from this exercise, including that some occupants had
Overall the engineers believe
Engagement of occupants
via posters in toilets
reservations about using certain fixtures. For example, low
flush toilets had been fitted in the Camden building, but
there needs to be less reliance
encouraging more
efficient water usage
sometimes users were avoiding those and using alternative on technology and more emphasis
Alcohol gel supplied in
(full flush) facilities in Bayer. This could have skewed the
on people to promote change
toilets to reduce water
water use patterns in Camden because apparent lower water
usage for hand washing
consumption was often really due to ‘avoidance of use’.
through altered behaviour and improve hygiene
Tagging equipment that
Behaviour
indicates how much
water is used
A number of users admitted to being profligate with water The Sirens also looked at how they could make better
A water meter fitted
as it was perceived as an abundant and cheap resource. use of the River Avon – a natural resource running right
in reception to raise
The workshop showed that, to be successful, the water past the Buro Happold office and a “golden opportunity for awareness of the issue
conservation strategy would have to be shared fairly innovation”. They proposed a micro-river water treatment
among the staff and its benefits well communicated. It plant – abstracting less than 10m3 per day, treating it to non-
also highlighted the need for incentives until good habits potable standard in a small membrane treatment facility on
became a normal part of day-to-day use. the ground floor, and using it for toilet flushing.
The Sirens also identified that marketing was important, in Overall, the engineers believe there needs to be less
terms of educating and influencing the target audience. They reliance “on technology and more emphasis on people to
concluded that messages should be positive and users should promote change” through altered behaviour. This makes
not be subjected to “guilt trips” to force behaviour change. it very important to communicate goals clearly and to
The company should also be fully engaged, for example by encourage building occupants to see that their actions
investing in leak detection equipment; so staff felt it was a fair make a measurable difference – water use needs to be made The Sirens (left to right),
and even-handed approach to water conservation. visible and accessible. In the long term, the Sirens hope
Laura Brook, Celia Way and
A brainstorming session was held and all the various to develop their work into a water conservation toolkit or
Laura Crawford, receive the
Society of Public Health Young
ideas, changes and initiatives suggested were collated. standard that Buro Happold can apply across all of its offices
Engineers’ Award for their
Employees were then asked to categorise the suggestions and use to inform clients. l
water-conservation project
as either ‘safe’, ‘challenging’ or ‘radical’. Safe changes were
www.burohappold.com from SOPHE’s Ian Fellingham
things like installing water efficient appliances along with
metering and sub-metering, using leak detection and
targeting user behaviour through an education campaign
including posters on doors.
Challenging changes included rainwater harvesting,
greywater and blackwater treatment and a green roof,
while the more radical measures would be the installation
of female urinals, composting toilets, plastic pot plants, a
ban on alcohol consumption – and even collecting the dew
from local trees and the sweat from local people.
But, of course, not all the measures could be adopted and
the three engineers focused on technical feasibility and long-
term environmental impact as the main criteria in a weighted
decision-making matrix. As a result, reusing china cups,
replacing older fittings with more water efficient versions
and education and reward schemes came out on top.
The Sirens then came up with a series of proposals that
could be technically achieved today, acceptable to most of the
building occupants and lead to an overall reduction in water
use of 15 per cent (see box). Refurbishment specifications for
the Bayer building, for example, were revised for the toilet
www.cibsejournal.com February 2009 CIBSE Journal 41
CIBSEfeb09pp40-41 water•.indd 41 5/2/09 14:20:17
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