School leak detection by type of setting

Eight education settings, each with a different estate profile, a different buyer, a different budget route and a different window in which work can happen.

Primary schools
Primary school leaks are usually found on the incoming main, the heating circuit or a washroom block, and are located without excavation using acoustic and tracer gas surveys.
Buyer:
The school business manager or headteacher, sometimes a local authority buildings team
Window:
Half terms and the summer break, or a school day with escorted access outside teaching areas
Secondary schools
Secondary school leaks usually sit on site distribution mains between blocks or on a heating circuit, and are isolated block by block before the position is fixed acoustically.
Buyer:
School business manager or director of estates, reporting to the head and the trust
Window:
Summer works programme for excavation, term time for the survey itself
Multi-academy trusts
Across a trust estate the cheapest leak to find is the one identified from consumption data before anyone reports it, by comparing every school's holiday baseline in one place.
Buyer:
Trust estates director or head of property, reporting to the CFO and the trust board
Window:
A rolling programme across the trust calendar rather than one summer window
Independent and boarding schools
Independent and boarding schools lose water through estate distribution mains, boarding house plumbing and pool plant, and are surveyed around occupancy that never fully stops.
Buyer:
Bursar or estates and facilities director, answering to the governing body
Window:
Narrow. Boarding houses are occupied at night and in most half terms, and the summer is often filled with lettings
FE colleges
College leaks concentrate in workshop and trade-block services and in campus distribution mains, and are isolated against a baseline that includes genuine evening and weekend use.
Buyer:
Director of estates or head of facilities, reporting to the college executive
Window:
Wider than a school. Colleges run evening classes and summer provision, but the estate is quieter in August than a school with a lettings programme
Universities
University losses sit mainly on campus distribution networks and district heating circuits, and are found by metering zone by zone rather than by surveying buildings one at a time.
Buyer:
Head of estates operations, energy manager or maintenance manager
Window:
Vacations for intrusive work; halls are often occupied by conferences in summer
Nurseries and early years
A nursery uses so little water that any continuous overnight flow is almost certainly a leak, which makes a single meter reading the fastest diagnostic in the sector.
Buyer:
Nursery manager, the host school's business manager, or the owner of an independent setting
Window:
Very narrow. Many settings run 51 weeks a year with only a short Christmas closure
Special schools and SEND
Special schools carry hydrotherapy pools, hygiene suites and higher hot water demand than mainstream schools, and disruption itself is a safeguarding risk rather than an inconvenience.
Buyer:
School business manager or the trust's estates team, working closely with the head and therapy staff
Window:
Holidays, and even then with care. Many special schools run holiday provision and respite