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Jon Rensink talks to Adrian Barber about HobSensus

Jon Rensink talks to Adrian Barber about HobSensus

Jon Rensink, Safety Consultant at Daniel Connal Partnership’s health and safety arm of DCP Safety & Training, talks to Adrian Barber of Prefect Controls about the issue of hobs being left switched on when kitchens are unoccupied.   John Rensink: What was the...

How to beat the Summer heat

How to beat the Summer heat

Summer arrives, the weather warms, flowers bloom, all is good with the world! But, for students in our universities, it’s exam season mid-May to mid-June. Four weeks of cramming. Then, Relax! Nothing more can be done. Pack the car, and head off for a well-deserved...

UWE save almost 900,000kWh on student heating

UWE save almost 900,000kWh on student heating

The University of the West of England (UWE) is benefitting from investing in a heating control system that is saving energy in student accommodation. Work began during the pandemic. Contractors took advantage of empty blocks, installing Prefect’s Irus system...

Reading the room

Reading the room

Adrian Barber from Prefect Controls explains the benefit of Building Energy Management Systems (BeMS), used for energy saving in student accommodation either autonomously or alongside a BMS. Technological solutions are the only way to administer the control and...

Current thinking

Current thinking

In the 12 months up to January 2023 gas prices rose by 129.4% while electricity was just over half this at 66.7%. Significant percentages. However, apply monetary values, and a different picture emerges - per kWh (at time of writing) gas is costing domestic customers...

Gildersome Spurs – Winners!

Gildersome Spurs – Winners!

It was a cold Thursday night at Ingfield, the home of Ossett United FC in West Yorkshire. I was there to support the Gildersome Spurs Juniors U15 football team as they had reached the final of the Heavy Woollen District FA Blackburn Cup. No mean feat for the Division...

Setting controls for 2030 and beyond

Setting controls for 2030 and beyond

As UK universities strive to meet the net-zero and decarbonisation targets of 2030 and beyond - there is a collective responsibility to make things happen. From the large infrastructure decisions that are made to our individual choices - perhaps we can re-purpose the...

To whom it may concern…

To whom it may concern…

Researching “student expectations” and their accommodation experiences, I found myself down a rabbit hole. I came across a post regarding a student who had just arrived at university. After a week, their anxiety had grown because depression was preventing engagement...

Good news for fire statistics.

Good news for fire statistics.

Since 2011/12 the number of domestic fires in Great Britain has fallen by 23.5%. That is good news, surely. But fire crews were still called out to almost 35,500 incidents in 2021/22. When the data is drilled into and we remove deliberate actions and downright...