Water is a vitally important yet underappreciated facet of sustainability. The resource touches on all aspects of sustainability, from the environmental topics of climate change, biodiversity loss and food scarcity, to social issues like deprivation, gender equality and health and wellbeing. To hit multiple ESG objectives, it’s important that asset managers have a comprehensive strategy to address water. While there should always be attempts to eliminate consumption first, for many assets some consumption is inevitable; it follows that a significant area of focus should be water efficiency.

Developing a water efficiency strategy for a portfolio of properties can be split into three primary stages: understanding the current landscape; developing a set of actions and monitoring progress. Understanding the current landscape means reporting on consumption data, the current consumption patterns and which (if any) efficiency measures are already in place. Developing a set of actions means coming up with a robust plan to monitor consumption going forward, and implement efficiency measures where appropriate. Finally, monitoring progress means building structures to monitor progress at regular intervals, both in terms of actual consumption and efficiency measures implemented.

Below are three key ingredients for building such a strategy at the portfolio scale. 

Building in flexibility 

When dealing with a range of sites, it’s important to build flexibility into actions. Sites will have differing budgets, water features and efficiency objectives. To keep site teams motivated to make progress, there should therefore be a range of possible efficiency actions, enabling sites to focus on those that are most viable for their specific context. One way to do this is to indicate whether a given action is low-cost and ‘flexible’ to implement across the building lifecycle, whether it’s desirable to implement the action at the ‘early stage’, or whether the action is more resource intensive and could be done during ‘refurbishment’. 

Flexibility should also be considered when comparing site progress. Using the number of actions implemented, and even consumption improvements, may not be appropriate. The qualitative format of site-specific case studies allows the site-specific nuance to be included, enabling interested stakeholders to understand the narrative and, consequently, the significance of any water efficiencies made.

Prioritisation 

Another factor to consider when dealing with multiple sites is that some will have a greater capacity for impact than others. It’s therefore important to identify these high-impact sites and dedicate most oversight to these. An effective way to define your high-impact sites is to produce a materiality matrix, with annual consumption on one axis and operational control on the other. This will help to  identify not only those sites that consume a lot but also those that contain the most landlord-controlled water features. Sites that score highly on both metrics are prime candidates to have their own water efficiency audits, for example. 

Utilising professional bodies and certification schemes

There are several industry bodies and certification schemes that have published useful guidance on water efficiency, including GRESB, BREEAM In-Use, Better Buildings Partnership and ISO 14001. Generating a catalogue of actions that align with resources produced by these institutions not only adds credibility, but also enables site teams to align their actions appropriately if they are going for certification. For example, if the site is working towards a BREEAM In-Use certification, they can easily identify which actions would both generate efficiencies and support their certification. 

Monitoring water consumption is essential as this is the key factor in helping to report on Scope 3 emissions and as a sector water consumption is a key priority and responsibility to help drive efficiencies. 

Further information

Contact Will Chantry

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