EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES
The costs can quickly add up. Addressing out-of-date plumbing, electrical wiring and heating systems, or replacing access ways, grounds and exteriors; it can be difficult to prioritise. Decisions have to be made regularly, and sometimes quickly, about whether to build or install something new, or refurbish existing assets. Delays in taking action can haemorrhage funds from teaching and learning budgets; have a detrimental impact on staff and students; and harm the planet through wasted resources.
Maintenance provision for efficient buildings So with the different challenges faced by schools across the country, how are we to reduce running costs and save energy whilst continuing to provide a safe, compliant and productive learning environment?
One answer is to improve the process of maintenance delivery, and to marry service provision with energy management. And thanks to technological advances, it is now possible to do exactly that.
Monitoring technology to forecast maintenance Technology can now provide facilities managers and FM service providers with 24/7 visibility of building performance that enables systems to be monitored remotely over time and automatically alert staff of faults, meaning issues can be resolved quickly, before they become serious.
“Decisions have to be made regularly about whether to
install something new, or refurbish existing assets.”
Watchman Monitoring, for instance, provides Cambridge Maintenance Services (CMS) with an innovative, cloud- based solution that uses sensor technology to feed live asset usage data to the Watchman online portal, where it can be interrogated remotely. The system records the performance of vital equipment, such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, and sends out alerts when an asset stops operating within set parameters.
Watchman technology has the potential to have a huge, positive impact on the way schools are maintained. It helps to protect against downtime and costly, serious equipment failure and potentially reduces unnecessary engineer call outs. In turn, this means an improved maintenance service, money saved, and more sustainable.
The technology also records the ongoing operation of systems, helping to prove tasks are being completed, and supporting schools when audited or when questions are asked about the ongoing and historical learning conditions.
Offsite energy monitoring In our homes, many of us are familiar with connected smart devices that help us to understand our energy usage so we can manage it remotely - whether monitoring lighting, heating or other appliances.
50 | TOMORROW’S FM
We should expect similar devices to be incorporated into schools; technology that gives us the same level of visibility in a format we can quickly understand - both for cost-saving and to drive sustainability.
“Reduced costs, improved
building efficiency and protection against operational downtime are all there for the taking.”
With Watchman Monitoring, CMS is able to enforce its clients’ building management system (BMS) strategies by ensuring set parameters are followed and energy- consuming appliances are operating to agreed timescales. If you consider the potential for systems to be left on accidentally during weekends or holidays, unbeknownst to staff away from the school, you can imagine how frustrating it is to only become aware of the subsequent energy wastage once you receive the utilities bill. In other instances, staff may not even know wastage was occurring in the first place. With smart, remote monitoring, there is no need for energy and money to be wasted in this way.
Smarter insights We have seen our clients benefit from the installation of Watchman in many ways, from alerting staff about required maintenance work, to identifying ways to increase energy efficiencies. For example, by installing Watchman technology to assess one of our client’s sites in London, we were able to immediately identify that the heating, ventilation and air conditioning plant were operating 24/7, despite the plant being configured to shut down outside of operational hours. Thanks to the technology, CMS identified the cause of the problem (the buildings’ ventilation plant), which meant the correct engineer could be dispatched to resolve the issue. As a result, our client saw an immediate 14% reduction in energy spend per month.
The benefits we have seen are reason enough to offer Watchman Monitoring with all CMS maintenance contracts, at no extra cost, and I hope that school Facilities Managers and site staff will see the incredible value offered by this smart technology.
Reduced costs, improved building efficiency and protection against operational downtime are all there for the taking. We believe this is the next big step in providing affordable and effective facilities maintenance, and, importantly, improving energy efficiency through better energy management. Smarter school facilities are not only good news for facilities managers, but for staff, students and the planet too.
www.cambridgemaintenance.co.uk twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
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