Glasgow City Council

Glasgow City Council is the largest local authority in Scotland, employing just under 19,000 people to deliver essential services and facilities to the city and its residents. The Council’s annual budget must effectively provide for a range of public buildings, including schools, roads, libraries and parks – all of which require water and waste water services to ensure they continue to operate at peak performance.

The challenge

Business Stream has been working with Glasgow City Council since 2020. In order to keep track of its water use, the Council uses smart monitoring devices across its estate. The devices, known as automatic meter readers (AMRs) are used to identify near real time patterns in water usage and identify any irregularities, including higher than normal consumption levels. 

When we began working with the Council we reviewed the AMR data for a handful of sites where water consumption was higher than expected. This included two of the Council’s primary schools - Notre Dame Primary School and Riverside Primary School – where, it transpired, there had been on-going issues for a number of years. 

An analysis of the AMR data, coupled with our Senior Account Manager’s knowledge of the site and a detailed discussion with the Council’s Carbon Management team, determined that a combination of factors was causing the spike in water consumption – and that a number of different solutions would be required to fix the problem.   

The solution

A hybrid approach was agreed, which including leak detection work, a water efficiency audit and a cold water tank inspection – all of which were carried out quickly by our team. As expected, it was confirmed that a combination of internal plumbing issues was the source of the problem, causing an increase in both water wastage and unnecessary costs. 

After identifying the specific issues, our specialist contractor undertook all the remedial work, including the sourcing and fitting of specialised parts. Through our effective management of the project, we helped to fix the issues quicker, reducing both water consumption and billing costs for Glasgow City Council. 

As a result of the work carried out, we have delivered a combined yearly saving for the two schools of over £54,000. Both sites have also benefited from an annual water saving of 34,177m3 - the equivalent of 13 Olympic sized filled swimming pools.

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