Smart buildings: helping further and higher education institutions achieve top marks

30/01/25 Wavenet
Smart Buildings Education Blog

Today’s learning environments have evolved far beyond chalkboards and paper workbooks. Modern students and educators expect integrated IoT devices, personalised systems, and consistently reliable Wi-Fi. But before these expectations can be met, the buildings themselves need attention. Energy-efficient, safe and well-run buildings foster the environment required for outstanding education provision.

Smart buildings are a cost-effective way for further and higher education institutions to meet these needs and prepare for the future, including achieving sustainability targets.

Reduce operating costs

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of higher education providers in the UK are predicted to be in deficit by 2025-26. Faced with this statistic, the idea of investing in new technology may seem counter-intuitive, but it will help you cut costs in the long run. 

By using sensors to identify exactly where and when energy is needed, smart buildings help ensure you never pay for energy that you don’t use. With the insights generated by unified system integration features, you can also save on unnecessary operational costs by identifying tasks that can be automated or combined. This will free up time for your staff to work on higher priority and more complex tasks. 

A further benefit of these insights is that you’ll be able to make more strategic business decisions, for example changing opening times to better align staff working patterns with student timetables. Each refinement will reduce operating costs and improve your energy savings. 

Improve your sustainability credentials

By cutting energy waste, you contribute to the overall sustainability of your building. This progress aligns with the commitments made by 168 UK institutions to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, with some as soon as 2030. 

Generation Z are making financial decisions based on sustainability considerations, and three-quarters of millennials consider themselves eco-conscious. So, as well as helping ensure you achieve your sustainability goals, and reduce costs, reducing the environmental impact of your institutions will also attract students with a greener outlook.

Increase the performance of your buildings

Investing in smart building solutions will significantly improve the performance of your buildings. With continuous monitoring, any defects to your systems or structures would be immediately highlighted, making it easy for you to remedy them before they worsen. 

The RAAC concrete crisis affecting over 100 schools last year highlights the risks of unresolved building defects, demonstrating how proactive monitoring and maintenance can prevent costly closures. Smart building solutions could prevent this worst-case scenario from happening.

A high-performing building is a safe environment for your students and staff to flourish. As a result, interest in attending and working at your institutions will increase, helping strengthen your bottom line and longevity. 

Invest in your future

Students look at higher and further education as an investment in their future. Increasingly, that includes the future of the planet with over half of students factoring sustainability credentials into their choice of education institution. 

Smart building solutions enable you to meet these modern expectations, reduce operational costs, and enhance overall performance, ultimately positioning your institution for long-term success. 

 

To find out more about our Smart Buildings solutions call us on 0344 863 3000 or email us at enquiries@wavenet.co.uk 

Cisco, Public Sector, Education, Smart Buildings, Intelligent Connectivity

Latest blogs

See all posts
Placeholder thumbnail
Cloud, Data & Apps – meeting you in your digital journey

For years, businesses saw the cloud as the key to digital transformation, but it often created complexity instead of clarity. The problem isn’t technology itself, it’s how it’s used. Our Cloud, Data & Apps strategy shifts the focus from platforms to outcomes, delivering measurable business value through a blend of technology, expertise, and guidance. We’ve worked with our customers to map the stages of their digital evolution and adopt an outcome-led approach that ensures we have the right conversations with our customers and deliver the right services and support, at the right time. It means we can be specific and deliberate about our advice and our execution. Here’s how it works… 1. STARTING OUT “We’re thinking about change” OUR SOLUTION ▼ How we help customers starting out: We can identify the value for you We bring in subject matter experts, allowing you to focus on your core business We will find the tech way to solve the problem and be your expert advisors ADVISORY SERVICE Assessment solutions: Technology assessment Vision, modernisation & migration readiness assessment Data discovery & strategy assessment 2. PLANNING “We know what we're going to do, we just need to do it” OUR SOLUTION ▼ How we help customers with a plan: We will work with you to help write the business case We bring experience of doing this for thousands of customers, you dont need to do it alone, instead, you will be partnering with an expert ADVISORY SERVICE Workshop solutions: Modern infrastructure design Data profiling Data platform Design AI/ML use-case identification & design 3. MOBILISING “Let's go...” OUR SOLUTION ▼ How we help customers to mobilise: If you can't do it on your own, we will support you or do it for you (any tech stack etc.) We can deliver meaningful change with our highly customisable, commercially flexible delivery method - OnDemand PROFESSIONAL SERVICES, MANAGED SERVICES AND ONDEMAND OnDemand Change Squad Landing zone & cloud fundamentals Infractructure Build Pipeline automation Data platform deployments AI/ML deployment & pipelining 4. OPERATING “Its in, does it work as we said it would?” OUR SOLUTION ▼ How we help customers to operate: Focus on your business, let us run it for you, or partner with you to run it together We can provide end-to-end management, either through a structured Managed Service or with the flexibility of our tailored OnDemand offering PROFESSIONAL SERVICES, MANAGED SERVICES AND ONDEMAND OnDemand Run Squad Operational support SRE powered operational resilience Support to extend across full technology portfolio 5. OPTIMISING “Can we make it better?” OUR SOLUTION ▼ How we help customers optimise: Your agility is our reputation, let's optimise with your best interests at heart Optimisation opportunities can be activated quickly and easily, delivering rapid time-to-value through OnDemand PROFESSIONAL SERVICES, MANAGED SERVICES AND ONDEMAND OnDemand Quantum for Azure remediation (FinOps) Aligned to the Cyber Assessment Framework Infrastructure as Code optimisation

Read more

Stay service-savvy

Get all the latest news and insights straight to your inbox.