Smart Building tech rollouts continue at Belfast Trust

iTouch Smart Tech solutions are currently being installed across many Belfast Trust sites. We are installing our mesh network and smart metering solutions to help the Trust analyse its energy usage – including electrical, gas, water, heat, solar/thermal and photovoltaic systems installed on rooftops. Our real-time data analysis aims to make Belfast Trust’s buildings more energy efficient, making real progress towareds the government’s Net Zero goals.

In total, Belfast Trust has more than 2,100 energy metres across dozens of buildings. The Trust comprises five major hospitals – Belfast City, the Royal Group of hospitals, Mater Hospital, Muckamore Abbey and Musgrave Park. In addition, the Trust manages North and West Community, which has 40 sites, and Southeast Belfast, which has 37 sites.

Karen McCutcheon is the Trust’s Estates Technical Officer who has been at the forefront of this rollout. Karen said,

“The real-time data analytics makes us more aware of our consumption. It gives us the capability to measure our actual usage against bills, to ensure accuracy. Also, we can identify trends in usage and identify faults – like a water leak – much earlier than before we had the technology.”

“For example, I sent three repair profiles to operations teams just this morning. These profiles come from a system alert, where we’ve seen a higher than normal amount of usage. We can quickly send out a repair team, and then we can watch on our dashboards, in real time, as the usage comes back down.”

Karen continued,

“Another impact is the ability to do waste efficiency costings.” “Ultimately I believe this is helping to make hospitals more efficient,”

she concluded.

“It’s too early to share figures on energy savings or efficiency, but we hope to have that information soon.”