Aqua Link: The Sustainable Choice

Sustainable Buildings

London is home to some of the world’s most sustainable buildings.

Take, for example, the PricewaterhouseCoopers office building, constructed above Charring Cross Station. This building, which has a BREEAM rating of 96.3% (“Outstanding”), features an energy system that converts recycled vegetable waste into fuel, and a staircase installed within the atria to promote physical activity rather than the use of lifts. More than 95% of the materials used in construction were responsibly sourced.

Consider, too, Citicape House, the five-star hotel and co-working venue best known for its huge living wall. Sequestering up to 8,000 kg of carbon dioxide per year, Citicape House’s 3,716 m² living wall is the largest in Europe.

And then there’s the 19-year-old Gherkin, the iconic London skyscraper that’s become a legend in its own time. Double-skinned glass exterior, spiralling light wells, and natural ventilation are all part of an energy-efficient design that cuts energy consumption to about half that of a typical building of its size. This 41-storey architectural masterpiece has the distinction of being London’s first environmentally sustainable skyscraper. 

These buildings – and many others in London and throughout the UK – are built and fitted out with a view to reducing air and water pollution, land use, and operational costs. They’re created with a view to increasing efficiency, productivity, and wellbeing. Buildings like these are leading the way down an arduous route towards net zero emissions in the global building stock.

The Race to Zero campaign, a global initiative launched in 2020 by the United Nations Framework for Climate Change (UNFCC), aims to achieve net zero by the year 2050.

Sustainable Hydration

Imagine a drinking-water system that provides fresh, filtered water – chilled, still and sparkling – to every department on every floor of a skyscraper. Because each hydration station is fed by one central unit, which filters the water at source, all pipes are totally clear of limescale, meaning that the whole system is energy efficient and reliable. Imagine a space-saving, energy-efficient network of water dispensers that’s capable of hydrating a whole workforce.

There’s no need to imagine it. This is Aqua Link, the world’s most advanced single-source hydration system for multiple dispense locations.

The heart of Aqua Link may be out of sight in a plantroom, but it’s always in touch with the client and the Aqua Libra Co maintenance team. Connected to its own Internet network, the control unit provides dynamic reporting on all aspects of the system, including volume of water used, incoming mains-water pressure, water temperature, flow rate, leak detection, and CO₂ replacement management.

A dual pump system means that if the operational pump malfunctions, the second one will kick in. If this happens, the Aqua Libra Co team will be alerted by the control unit, and remedial work can be undertaken without downtime.

Every hour, each outlet is capable of dispensing 45 litres of drinking water. That’s a lot of water! So just imagine all that water being sourced from plastic bottles, and all those plastic bottles being trundled away for recycling in a vehicle that swallows 9 litres of fuel every eight miles …

The Aqua Link system consumes significantly less energy than it would take to run the equivalent number of discrete units, and as additional outlets join the network, the proportionate running cost decreases. An ideal system for a growing company.

Aqua Link is a mains-fed system. Cold drinking water is filtered and chilled in the control unit, and for sparkling water, there’s a large-capacity carbonator. This means that no dedicated cupboard space is required at dispense points; all that’s needed is a tap or a bottler on a worksurface.

BREEAM Accreditation

BREEAM is the Building Research Establishment environmental assessment method.

BREEAM accreditation helps owners and managers of buildings demonstrate social responsibility and sustainable business leadership. BREEAM recognition can give a business credibility in the eyes of consumers and investors, but it can also help a business gauge its own sustainability performance and plan a clear route to higher levels of sustainability.

The scope of the BREEAM system includes all commercial buildings in all stages of development. This means not only planning and construction, but also fitting out and refurbishment.

For large corporations, conference centres, and hotels, Aqua Link is the world’s most sustainable single-source drinking-water system for multiple dispense outlets.

Facilities managers all over the UK and beyond have selected Aqua Link for energy-efficient hydration throughout a building. (Read Aqua Libra Co’s Rhubarb Hospitality case study.)

Contact Us

At Aqua Libra Co, we know a lot about hydration and water dispense. If you’d like to know more about Aqua Link or any of our other products, visit  https://aqualibra.com/.

Alternatively, give us a call on 0800 080 6696 or email hello@aqualibra.com.