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
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
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
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
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!
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...
17.5% energy saving with Prefect’s new water tank control
Since 1868, when the first instantaneous water heater was patented, we have witnessed a long evolution in the heating of water. With each innovation, safety, efficiency and convenience have incrementally improved, but the fundamental principles have remained the same....
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…
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.
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...









