The Client

Roadchef is one of the leading motorway services companies in the UK and operates a number of Days Inn motels at their outlets across the country.

The Brief

Through our partnership with Anglian Water Business we were introduced to Roadchef to explain our wider services and identified that one area for savings that the company had not looked at yet was energy and water efficiency.

We were invited to complete a survey and audit of rooms at Watford Gap Days Inn to report on potential savings in energy, water and carbon.

The Field Services team conducted a full site survey, checking each room to measure water flow rates of all taps and showers, heating and lighting.

This data was fed into a full survey report listing all the savings opportunities in order of most attractive payback. This identified that the biggest savings would be gained by intelligent controls on the 2kW heaters in each guest room.

The survey data also showed that big savings would be achieved by changing taps and showers to Ecosmart products that reduced both water consumption and the energy needed to heat the water. LED lighting was the least attractive due to the low on-times.

The Solution

Investment-ready proposals were created for the client detailing costs, savings and payback and we worked with the client to refine these before the proposal was submitted to the Roadchef financial director to secure investment. On approval an order was placed on the SaveMoneyCutCarbon Field Services team to supply and install solutions.

Heating: The survey identified that the 2 KW wall heaters were uncontrolled and guests these could be left on at all times even when the room was unoccupied or not let.

To cut out this waste, the team installed smart controls in each guest room. These will control the heating for six hours periods when the room is not occupied by the guest.

Annual savings of £12,000 through heat & water upgrades
Rapid payback in 1.3 yrs on smart heating controls

The SaveMoneyCutCarbon GEM control system is in use in over 300,000 hotels rooms in the USA. GEM is a wireless solution that can be retrofitted in a guest room in under 60 minutes, with no hard-wiring and so rooms do not have to be taken out of service.

The GEM system detects when the room has been left empty and sends a signal to shut off the heater. At the same time, it also measures the ambient temperature so the room never gets too cold.

Showers: We found that existing showers were running at over 20 litres per minute (lpm) and replaced these with Ecosmart shower heads, which mix air into the water so reducing the flow rate to 9 lpm, while ensuring a top quality shower experience for the guest.

The new shower heads were also visibly better looking, improving the design effect in the bathrooms.

The savings are based on a shower time of six minutes per 24-hour guest stay and will be higher when rooms are in double occupancy or when family rooms are booked.

Taps: A large number of the taps also had very high flow rates and these could not be fitted with a normal tap aerator to reduce flow and Roadchef chose to replace these with single lever Ecosmart taps running at 5 lpm.

The savings, based on two minutes’ flow time per 24-hour guest stay will quickly cover the costs of both taps and new wastes.

There was a need for replacement of some pipework during the works and this was carried out by the Field Services plumbing team.

“This was a particularly challenging project as the showers and taps hadn’t been upgraded since the building was opened years ago. We also found and fixed a number of inherent leaks that should improve savings even further."

Rowan Chappell, SaveMoneyCutCarbon Field Service lead technician

“The bathrooms look much nicer for guests and the cost of the new showers and taps is covered fully by the energy and water savings they deliver. Further cost savings come from reduced maintenance and replacement needs, with the 5-year hansgrohe guarantee of quality manufacture.”

Rowan Chappell, SaveMoneyCutCarbon Field Service lead technician

“My four-man team completed the project on time in the four days allocated with little or no disturbance to the running of the motel.”

Rowan Chappell, SaveMoneyCutCarbon Field Service lead technician

Summary

  • Annual savings in heating and water costs of more than £12,000.
  • Rapid payback – the GEM system will repay investment in 1.38 years.
  • Total annual Water Savings 784.90 m3 per year
  • Total Projected Energy Savings from new showers 34,797.06 kW hour

Annual Savings

  • 12,000

    £ saved

  • 784.9 m3

    litres

  • 1.3

    years payback

How much could our services save you?

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