Belmont Forum

At Belmont Forum, we've teamed up with tenants to save water. Our water consumption was going to be impacted by a major refurbishment and the creation of a new fresh food dining precinct, leading to the number of tenants increasing across the shopping centre and our water use. 

 
Water use on the rise

Measuring the amount of water used by retail tenants is essential in managing a commercial building sustainably.  To minimise the impacts of increased water use, we needed to understand how much water our retail tenants were consuming and whether any water efficiency measures could be achieved.   

By providing tenants with greater visibility of their water use and working with them on the best water-saving solutions, we saved almost 10%  of our water use in 2021/22.

“We review the sub-meter readings for the centre every month, which in conjunction with Belmont Forum's service provider, allows us to highlight and review any abnormal usage. This allows us to identify any possible leakages and also understand trends from particular retailers.” Jamie Wilmot, Head of Operations, Belmont Forum Shopping Centre

Belmont Forum Shopping Centre is a large shopping complex with a high number of business tenants.

How we did it

We took a proactive approach to encourage efficient water use by our tenants. This involved monitoring the consumption of retailers to identify tenants using the most water.  Those tenants could then compare their use with similar businesses to identify water-saving opportunities. 

Installing meters for tenants

We‘ve installed individual meters on most of our retail tenancies to monitor use.  Meter readings are carried out monthly and analysed to identify any abnormal increase in water usage due to a leak. We met with tenants face to face as much as possible to review their water consumption together, discuss trends and find ways to help them reduce their water use. 

As a standard measure, all new tenants are required to have a meter installed to record their individual water use.

Belmont Forum's tenant water use consumption monitoring software.

Tenant inspections

Our plumbing and maintenance contractors carry out regular inspections. This includes inspecting toilets, fixtures and equipment within a tenancy space to ensure it’s in good working order. Cooling towers and evaporative cooling systems are also regularly checked for leaks and overflows.

To assist our tenants, we provide water saving recommendations as needed. Some examples include:

• Modifying urinal fixtures to reduce flow rates or upgrading to waterless models
• Replacing inefficient toilets with 4 star rated WELS  models
• Updating older taps with WELS rated tapware
• Encouraging staff to report any leaks or faulty equipment that may wastewater 
• Using waterless or air-cooled woks
• Avoid using hoses for cleaning as much as possible >
• Water-efficient dishwashers or glasswashers 

What we’re doing now

By giving our tenants greater visibility of their consumption and supporting them in their water management, tenants can put water efficiency measures in place and monitor their water savings.

We continue to install meters for all new tenants and those undergoing a refit. We’re also looking at extending this to retailers’ storage areas to capture water usage for specialised equipment such as ice makers.

In the long term, we plan to install data logging devices on all meters, enabling water use data to be monitored remotely and accessible via our building management system. This will make leak detection much easier and faster to resolve.