Innovative thinking by Home Retail Group to save in excess
£1,000,000 per annum
Home Retail Group’s Concession Manager, Daren Templeman, wanted to reduce overall water and sewerage usage in a sustainable way. Having conducted in depth preliminary research, it was noted that the urinals were the single largest user of water across the Homebase Estate.
Daren had searched the marketplace to find a urinal product that would allow the Group to radically reduce its urinal water consumption and energy usage, without having a detrimental effect on hygiene and washroom cleanliness.
Starting with Homebase, his strategy and remit was to reduce the maintenance problems: the urinal waste pipes became completely blocked at least once every 3 months, consequently causing blockages, urinal flooding and excessive reactive costs.
The Brief
The Problem
Urinals that experience very heavy usage tend to suffer from the same problems experienced at Homebase: flooding, bad odours, regular blockages and high water and energy consumption. Homebase had previously tried a whole host of products; Water Misers, PIR’s, Chemical Dosing Systems, Cubes and Enzyme Systems.
All these products were tried in an attempt to reduce water consumption from the urinals, but none had worked satisfactorily.
The results showed any reduction in water flushing would quickly lead to an increase in bad odours, blockages and associated flooding.
The Solution
Having researched the market, Daren contacted James McLean, Managing Director of WhiffAway Ltd, to trial the WhiffAway Water-Warrior System. WhiffAway’s Water-Warrior system is a British product and unique.
It is a completely waterless system that is proven, dual patented, market leading and offers an effective and environmentally sound means of dealing with problems of odours, blockages and urinal flooding, without the need for unsafe chemicals or constant flushing.
Furthermore, the system retro-fits to existing urinals, rather than requiring the costly and unnecessary replacement of a complete urinal bowl. Convinced by WhiffAway’s pioneering technology, Daren arranged a trial of the Water-Warrior System across three sites with problematic urinals.
This was successful and trials were extended out to two further regions to reinforce the functional integrity, commercial viability and environmental claims of the system.
The Result
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Eradicating urinal water usage
The water was completely eradicated without any detrimental effect to the washrooms urinal hygiene and cleanliness. The two regions metered water savings were exceptional at £38,040.00 on 104 urinals and accounted for over 40% of the buildings’ total consumption.
1
Hygiene
Inherent bad odours were
significantly reduced.
2
Blockages
There were no blockages
reported.
The Conclusion
Home Retail Group, which consists of Homebase and Argos outlets, proactively takes its corporate social responsibility and environmental best practice as a market leading Retailer very seriously.
The future integration of the Water-Warrior System across Argos outlets is certain to deliver an annual monetary saving of in excess of £1,000,000. Furthermore, springboards Homebase into a position of arguably being one of the most water efficient Retailers in the UK.
The rollout installation of the WhiffAway Water-Warrior System across Homebase Stores and Distribution Centres will result in a significant reduction in urinal maintenance, an elimination of urinal odours and:
Annum saving
£616,770.00
Water saved
246’680.00 m
Reduced CO
2
48102.60 Kg
3
What they had to say;
“We’re delighted with the overall savings achieved by implementing the WhiffAway System. It’s our duty and a core objective as a market leading Retailer to set an example. An example by being proactive in reducing unnecessary operating costs, minimising our environmental impact and providing a more pleasant retail experience for our customers”.
Daren Templeman, Concessions Manager at Home Retail Group
