WATER AUDIT NOTTS GC HOLLINWELL August 2016 Prepared by: James Boon RIBA Chartered Architect E james@boon.org.uk M 0777 5557160 T @derbyarchitect
INTRODUCTION In seeking GEO certification http://www.golfenvironment.org/ Notts GC Hollinwell are required to carry out a water audit of their facilities. This audit deals with the clubhouse and associated facilities, as water use on the golf course itself is dealt with elsewhere. As a member of the committee at Notts GC Hollinwell, and a chartered architect with over 15 years experience specifying various plumbing items in projects, especially of an environmentally sustainable nature, James Boon volunteered to carry out the audit with assistance from Doug Black who is looking after the GEO certification for the club. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY There are 94 plumbing fittings or appliances in the clubhouse that are plumbed in to use water but only 5 have water saving measures or technology, in the form of the duel flush WCs in the ladies changing rooms. There are a number of domestic scale products or fittings that could be utilised to reduce water consumption almost immediately and at very little cost if the caretaker is able to install these. The easiest of these would be bags added into toilet cisterns to reduce water useage by 1 litre per flush with no impact on the efficiency of the flush. The fittings and appliances are all of varied ages and many will need repair or replacement in the future. Any replacement plumbing fixtures or fittings should be replaced with low water use technology fittings such as low water use shower heads and low or duel flush toilets. A longer term strategy for refurbishment of the clubhouse should consider rationalising toilet and shower facilities and embrace low water useage technology and rainwater and greywater harvesting, as these sustainable technologies are becoming more common and therefore cheaper to install and easier to maintain.
AUDIT The audit was carried out on Wednesday 3 August by: James Boon RIBA Doug Black Architect & Notts GC Committee Member Notts GC Committee Member Various members of staff also accompanied sections of the audit or responded to queries including: Martyn Bonner Tracy Scott Notts GC Secretary Manager Catering Manager Notts GC Caretaker RESULTS Based upon the audit, Notts GC Hollinwell currently has the following within its clubhouse facilities and general associated infrastructure: 35 sinks or wash hand basins. 20 WCs 1 14 Showers 13 other appliances or taps plumbed into mains water connections. Of these 94 items, only 5 have water saving measures or technology, in the form of the duel flush WCs in the ladies changing rooms. See the following table for a breakdown of the audit.
1.0 Ladies Clubhouse 1.1 Upper Changing Room 4 WHB 3 WC Duel Flush 3 Showers 1.2 Lower Changing Room 2 WC Duel Flush 2.0 Main Clubhouse, Back of House 2.1 Kitchen Domestic Washing Machine 3 Prep Sinks Dishwasher Hot Water Machine for Hot Drinks Potato Peeler Machine All appliances circa 5 to 6 years old, dating from beginning of previous catering managers tenure. 2.2 Bar 1 Prep Sink Small Dishwasher Pop machine 2.3 Beer Cellar Cleaners Sink Tap for washing / flushing pipes. 2.4 Staff Toilets Male 1 WC 2.5 Staff Toilets Female 2 WC 2.6 First Floor Prep Kitchen 1 Prep Sink Dishwasher 2.7 Loft 5 cold water tanks. No Taps 2.8 Outside 2 external taps, with cold weather shut off 2 hotwater buffer tanks from biomass
3.0 Main Clubhouse, Members Areas 3.1 Front Members Changing Rooms 2 WCs 2 Showers Plus and a Footwasher 3.2 Rear Members Changing Rooms 2 WCs 4 Showers 3.3 Visitors Changing Rooms 2 WCs 4 Showers 3.4 Disabled Facilities 1 WC Cleaners Sink 4.0 Professionals Shop 4.1 Professionals Workshop 1 general purpose sink 4.2 Toilets 1 WC 1 general purpose sink 5.0 Greenkeepers Facilities 5.1 Staff Facilities 1 WC 1 Shower 5.2 Greenkeepers Compound Vehicle washdown tap and hose Connected to large water tank
6.0 The Halt 6.1 Servery 1 Prep Sink 6.2 Toilets 2 Drinking Fountains 3 WCs FURTHER COMMENTS & OBSERVATIONS The clubs caretaker Scott reported that a Legionella Report was carried out recently and this found that due to the age of some of the water pipes and the nature over time that the plumbing system has changed and developed, there are 8 no dead ends in the system. In this report it recommends that appliances are ran for 10 minutes every week to prevent the build up of legionella. As highlighted by the Legionella Report, the plumbing system throughout the clubhouse has developed organically over time. This means that as well as the dead ends found in the report, there are also a good number of facilities, fittings and appliances of different ages, and often in places there appear to be more than would otherwise be required, in separate locations. The ladies changing room is split into 2, and the mens changing facilities are essentially split into 3. In addition to this, there are 2 kitchens within the clubhouse and 3 individual bars for serving customers. Any future refurbishment works should consider rationalisation of these facilities.
RECOMMENDATIONS The club are not in a position to financially make wholesale changes or refurbishment to the clubhouse and associated infrastructure at this present time. However there are minimal and low cost changes that could be carried out that would have an immediate impact on water consumption within the clubhouse. Following this, any repair or replacement work should consider replacing fixtures and fittings with modern water saving fittings. This can be summarised as follows: 1.0 Immediate Low Cost Water Saving Measures These could all be carried out at minimal to no cost in the short term. For further details of these measures, see Severn Trent website https://www.stwater.co.uk/upload/pdf/watersaving-guide.pdf These are methods aimed at domestic properties but could easily be added to the changing rooms and associated facilities in the clubhouse. Shower Save or Flow Regulator Fits onto existing shower heads and reduces pressure and flow to minimise water consumption. Tap Inserts As with the shower flow regulator, these can be added to existing taps to reduce flow rates, saving up to 12 litres of water per minute. Save-a-Flush (also known as Hippo Bags) These are simply installed into the toilet cistern reducing the amount of water used per flush by up to 1 litre per flush. Toilet Leak Detection Tablets As part of a regular maintenance schedule, tablets could be added to both toilet and urinal cisterns to check for leaks. The tablets dissolve into a coloured dye and so any leak into the toilet bowl will be noticeable, but the dye will disappear after several flushes. 2.0 Long Term Replacement Strategy Any fitting or appliance that comes in need of repair or replacement should be replaced with a modern water saving fitting, be it a shower head or WC toilet with a duel or low flush or waterless urinals. 3.0 Clubhouse Masterplan Though it is not the place of this report to suggest specific layout changes to the clubhouse, a long term strategy or masterplan for change should consider the possibility of rationalising kitchen or changing facilities wherever possible, rather than merely replacing the existing facilities. For instance having all the mens changing room showers in one location rather than three would probably mean that instead of the current 10 showers, these could be reduced in number, thus minimising maintenance and replacement costs and reducing the risk of leaks etc
4.0 Future Considerations Any future work should consider the possibilities of the following: Rainwater Harvesting With the amount of roofs on the clubhouse, rainwater runoff could be collected for use. In its simplest form this could be used to replace the external taps for watering plants around the clubhouse or possibly even adding to the water used on the course itself. Greywater Harvesting This involves the collection of shower water etc which is then filtered, disinfected and recycled for the use of toilet flushing etc.
APPENDIX Plans of the clubhouse for information, as provided by Nigel Richardson at PWP Facilities Management. Note that plans are for information only and were not produced specifically for this report and so the accuracy of water fixtures and fittings is not to be considered accurate. Ground Floor Plan Not to Scale
First Floor Plan Not to Scale Water Audit Notts GC 160803 v2