Since 2017, Lendlease Retirement Living portfolio has saved over 17 Olympic-sized pools worth of water, and reduced residents’ outgoings by over $180,000. Part of its success is due to WaterGroup’s smart water metering solution.
Lendlease Retirement Living is one of Australia’s largest owners, managers and developers of independent living communities, providing homes for over 17,000 Australian retirees.
As a leading provider of property solutions, Lendlease understands that buildings play a critical role in conserving the precious resource of water.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, buildings are responsible for twelve per cent of the world’s freshwater use.
Lendlease Retirement Living has always valued water as a precious resource, and has had water intensity reduction commitments as part of its portfolio management and strategy.
You can’t manage what you don’t measure and therefore, a key contributor to water savings and achievement of environmental targets was the deployment of a smart metering solution.
WaterGroup was able to install their smart meters quickly across Lendlease’s portfolio, enabling village managers and operation teams to access, gain insights and take meaningful action to reduce water, identify leaks early and generally improve operation performance.
A strategic partnership formed with WaterGroup
With a like-minded approach to water conservation and achieving both water and cost savings, Lendlease started a smart water metering program with Australia’s largest corporate water savings company, WaterGroup.
As of April 2020, 41 out of 72 of Lendlease’s villages now have a smart water metering solution, consisting of a smart water logger and a desktop portal to view the water data collected.
To ensure Lendlease retirement village managers were set up to succeed, WaterGroup provided a six month Active Water Analysis, Risk and Efficiency (AWARE) management service.
The AWARE service included an experienced team who proactively monitored and analysed data, helping village managers make the most of their smart metering systems.
In WaterGroup’s 2019 AWARE report to Lendlease, $124,000 in water savings were outlined.
Since 2017, the entire portfolio has saved 3.26 per cent in water use, equivalent to 17 Olympic-sized pools, and reducing residents’ outgoings by over $180,000 in water bills across the portfolio.
Data automation delivers real value: water logger and Dee Why Gardens
Dee Why Gardens Village, which installed a water logger in 2019, is one of many smart metering success stories across the Lendlease retirement village portfolio.
In March 2020 WaterGroup’s smart logger alerted the village management team of two significant leaks that were occurring in pipes deep in the ground that would have otherwise been very challenging to identify.
Thanks to the water logger alert and the village management team’s swift response, the location of the leak was found and repaired. This leak was estimated to have cost the village over $2,500 a month.
The insight and quick response avoided serious cost and potential safety and damage issues had this underground leak gone on for a prolonged period.
Tim James, Village Manager of Dee Why, received the leak alerts. Mr James asked staff to look out for damp residues around the grounds and buildings, however nothing was obvious.
“I noticed the leak alerts continuing and water use increasing, without being able to observe the issue; I knew we needed to call in the experts for an assessment,” Mr James said.
Lendlease engaged WaterGroup’s leak detection team, and within four hours, WaterGroup had tracked the exact location of the leak using its high-tech acoustic leak detection equipment.
WaterGroup discovered a cracked pipe under seemingly dry concrete slabs on one of the village outdoor paths.
Mr James shared this information with their local plumber, who was easily able to dig underground, find the leak and successfully repair the pipe.
What could have been a serious, costly and long-term issue was identified, found and rectified within five weeks.
Saving water is the right thing to do
Across its Retirement Living villages, Lendlease believes that saving water is both the right thing to do, as well as the smart thing to do in terms of reducing cost and supporting a lower cost of living for its most valued stakeholder – its residents.
Lendlease continues to pursue water savings through investigating rainwater harvesting and reuse, retrofitting water efficient fittings and fixtures, water sensitive design, real-time water monitoring, and the latest technologies available for leak detection.
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