Quensus, a smart water management technology company, has been awarded funding through the first round of the Water Efficiency Lab (WEL1) to deliver The WIN Initiative, a project designed to root out concealed water waste across commercial buildings.
The initiative, formally titled Enabling Non-Household Water Reduction through an Action-Driven Water-Insurance Nexus, will pair live water consumption figures with occupancy intelligence and Water Management Plans, converting raw readings into prioritised fix lists for facilities teams. Quensus is delivering the project alongside partners Direk, Aviva, Wates, Everflow, the University of Surrey, Weir The Agency and Waterwise.
An 18-month trial will see the technology installed across 30 commercial buildings, deploying upwards of 1,000 water and occupancy sensors. By overlaying consumption patterns with how a building is actually occupied and operated, the trial aims to distinguish genuine waste from expected usage, flagging persistent low-level consumption, irregular patterns, inefficient routines and leaks that might otherwise escape attention. The intention is to move facilities managers away from interpreting raw figures and towards clear, actionable steps that cut consumption before small issues escalate.
Beyond the trial itself, the project will investigate a new insurance-backed efficiency standard for commercial premises. By bringing together insurers, facilities managers, water companies and technology providers around verified monitoring data, the initiative hopes to reduce the risk posed by escape of water events and undetected leaks, which can carry heavy financial, operational and environmental costs in large, complex estates.
Quensus builds contextual IoT sensing technology that helps organisations progress beyond basic water monitoring towards measurable operational change, giving businesses visibility of how water is consumed across their estates.
The Water Efficiency Lab is run by Ofwat and Challenge Works, with backing from Arup and Isle Utilities, and is financed through Ofwat’s Water Efficiency Fund. Seven projects were selected in the first round, which concentrated on giving households and businesses the insight and tools to lower their usage. A total of £25m will be distributed through annual competitions between 2025 and 2030, each targeting a different barrier to water efficiency.
Quensus CEO Dr Daniel Simmons said, “This funding transforms how businesses target hidden water waste. By fusing water data with occupancy context, we give facilities teams the exact insights needed to take immediate action. This validation accelerates our mission to establish a nationwide standard for sustainable, data-driven water management.”
Ofwat managing director of RAPID Paul Hickey said, “These seven projects are designed to make water-efficient use the easy default in homes and businesses across England and Wales, through smarter appliances, better data and tools that put useful information directly into customers’ hands. This £5 million prize is the first tranche of £25 million that will be awarded through the Water Efficiency Lab over five competitions, supporting innovators whose work will help deliver more resilient water services for customers and the environment.”
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