ENERGY IN EDUCATION


Delivering comfort, compliance and carbon savings to student accommodation


One of the challenges of student housing is encouraging responsible energy use without compromising on comfort levels. Adrian Barber highlights how the latest intelligent controls technology can help to minimise energy waste and flag up potential maintenance issues.


Adrian Barber prefectcontrols.com


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Marketing manager at Prefect Controls


have become more familiar with the system, analysis shows a further 5% saving has been achieved. This is explained by guidance, automatically generated via the Optimiser tool, being acted on. As a result, adjustments have been


tudent halls and Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) present unique challenges for estates and


facilities teams. Unlike conventional housing, occupancy is irregular and unpredictable. Residents may be away for days or weeks, only to return and demand instant comfort. Heating and hot water must be responsive, but without having a detrimental effect on energy or maintenance budgets. At the same time, operators face


growing pressure to meet ESG commitments while delivering healthy, safe environments for residents. Traditional heating strategies, often based on fixed schedules or manual intervention, are no longer fit for purpose. This is where new generations of intelligent room control and monitoring systems are proving transformative.


The key challenges ● Irregular Occupancy – Student bedrooms can sit empty over weekends or vacation periods, yet heating continues to run. This not only wastes energy but undermines carbon reduction goals. When residents return to cold rooms, they often compensate by overheating the space. ● Humidity and Damp – With ensuite bathrooms, humidity can develop quickly. If left unchecked, condensation leads to damp and mould, creating both wellbeing and maintenance problems. ● Maintenance Bottlenecks – Without visibility into what’s happening in individual rooms, estates teams rely on reactive callouts or blanket inspections. Both approaches are inefficient, costly, and disruptive to residents.


Intelligent control Modern room control platforms combine occupancy sensing, environmental monitoring, and centralised management to fine-tune building services performance. Adaptive occupancy-led heating


EIBI | FEBRUARY 2026


made to occupancy – reducing the length of time that heat sources remain active when rooms are vacated, re- instating heating profiles that deviate from the standard, and lowering certain temperature settings. All these actions have reduced energy waste without compromising occupant comfort.


Heating controls can encourage students to make sustainable choices


ensures that energy is only used when a room is occupied. Heating reverts to a setback mode when rooms are empty but can be reactivated instantly by the resident. Open-window detection prevents waste during ventilation. Humidity monitoring enables


proactive management of condensation risk, automatically adjusting heating, and alerting facilities staff when issues persist. Direct-to-room communication


allows managers to send targeted messages, such as fire drill reminders, maintenance schedules, or operational updates. Behavioural nudges encourage


residents to make sustainable choices, such as moderating heating levels or shortening their shower duration. Subtle prompts, tailored to real-time usage, can shift behaviour over time, embedding a culture of sustainability.


Behind the scenes, intelligent


software tools analyse usage patterns, identify anomalies, and generate reports. Facilities teams gain a clear picture of where energy is being lost, where maintenance is required, and how rooms, or indeed buildings and even sites are performing compared with benchmarks, nationally.


Case Studies The installation of intelligent control and monitoring has seen heating loads cut by 50%. The two student accommodation


properties in question were constructed within the last five years, in Leeds and Southampton, and show savings of £70K and £122K respectively in year one. Savings are largely due to reduced waste in unoccupied rooms. In year two, when operational teams


Additional benefi ts But the benefits for student accommodation and the wider Build- to-Rent sector go beyond energy cost savings: ● Operational efficiency – Reducing manual duties, such as room visits or water temperature testing, frees operational teams to perform higher level tasks. ● Automated monitoring – Proactive monitoring of equipment and automatic failure alerts allow maintenance resources to be deployed more strategically. ● Sustainability outcomes – Significant reductions in carbon emissions can be evidenced with confidence, directly supporting and reducing the burden of ESG reporting. ● Student wellbeing – Comfort, air quality and communication improvements enhance the residential experience, reducing complaints while supporting retention. ● Equipment durability – Economical use increases life expectancy of heat sources.


Balancing act As the higher education property sector continues to balance rising energy costs with ambitious sustainability goals, intelligent control systems are moving from optional upgrades to essential infrastructure. By aligning living experience, ESG


The Irus Room Control Sensor from Prefect Controls provides clear visual reporting on building conditions


targets and management of utilities, these systems show how challenges in student accommodation can be turned into comfort, compliance and carbon savings, helping universities and operators of PBSA property deliver both operational resilience and sustainability leadership. ■


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