3 Hardman Square
Manchester Office Building Are Mad for the Ureco
3 Hardman Square is a 200,000-square-foot office complex situated in Spinningfields, a contemporary financial and professional services district in Manchester’s bustling city centre.
By using floor-to-ceiling glazing, the building harnesses natural light to save energy whilst providing spectacular views of the surrounding Spinningfields estate. The BREEAM ‘Excellent’ award-winning building is 8 stories tall and is home to blue chip occupiers such as TLT solicitors and WorldPay.
The Challenge
Continuing to strive towards Royal London’s Net Zero 2030 target, 3 Hardman Square have looked for ways to reduce water consumption, save money and help the environment. Having already installed water-saving devices to the taps and installed dual flush systems to all toilets, we were limited to other viable initiatives.
The facilities team called upon the Wates Innovation network to suggest a proven and effective solution with a quick return on investment. Wates recommended HSG’s Ureco system, and after a virtual meeting, the Ureco team undertook a survey on-site. It was evident from the survey that we would not only see a significant reduction in water, but there would also be the following positive environmental impacts:
- Reduction in service charge costs
- Reduction of cleaning hours
- Removal of chemicals from the cleaning regime including acid treatments for blockages
- Ceasing costly callouts to jet wash the pipework also using more water
Our Approach
The 44 urinals over the 8 levels of toilet facilities operate on a 30-minute flush cycle, which equates to 48 daily flushes per cistern.
At this flush cycle, just one cistern would be using 720 litres of water a day; about the same as the recommended drinking water intake for a person in a whole year which would cost £2.02 and emit 0.76kg of CO2 daily. Reducing flushes from 48 to just 4 means just 60 litres of water is used a day per cistern, which would lower the cost £0.17 and emit 0.063kg of CO2 daily.
What is Ureco?
The Ureco is an Eco-friendly innovation that helps prevent costly urinal blockages and foul odours. The Ureco is a device that is installed in the trap of the urinal which is operated by a water management unit which also substantially reduces the amount of water used to run the facilities.
As urine passes through and around the Ureco bio cap, a small amount of bio is eroded into the solution. This activates the enzyme which breaks down the uric salts and limescale; this results in the formation of a completely harmless and eco-friendly bacterium which eliminates the need for strong chemicals and cleaning agents. The Ureco also emits an effective odour cancelling fragrance reducing the need for harmful aerosols and air fresheners.
The Result
The Ureco will achieve massive water savings of 16,950,600 litres, reducing 3 Hardman Square’s utility bill by £47,461.68 and CO2 emissions by 17.83 tonnes.
This would be the same emissions produced from driving an average petrol car for 44,133 miles. Furthermore, thanks to Ureco’s patented Odour Lock technology and pleasant inbuilt fragrance, the washroom experience will undoubtedly be improved for staff and visitors alike.
3 Hardman Square’s Facilities Manager, Samantha Challenger, has said:
“We trusted the Wates Innovation network to provide us with an effective water-saving solution.
“Wates introduced us to HSG, this credible recommendation combined with an impressive client portfolio gave us confidence that HSG would provide the service we were looking for.
“This confidence was well rewarded, as HSG’s install team were great on-site, being very tidy and flexible to our busy working hours, plus we recently received our first water-saving report and cannot quite believe the difference.”
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