Isover, the insulation provider part of Saint-Gobain Construction Products, continues to make progress in its journey towards water sustainability thanks to a new water-saving initiative at its Runcorn facility.

The initiative, which include the installation of state-of-the-art water meters and monitoring technologies, is being deployed throughout the facility to identify water loss at each stage of the production process. These advancements will enable precise water consumption tracking, expected to pave the way to a substantial reduction in annual water usage.

Once fully commissioned the site will have live visibility of water consumption to help slash its annual usage by an estimated 30 million litres.

The developments recieved a grant from the Saint-Gobain Water Fund, a global initiative that aims to encourage businesses within the group to reduce environmental impact. Isover’s strategy to leverage the water fund comprises four key initiatives, each designed to enhance water management effectively; one being improving process tracking by installing new meters to provide a comprehensive overview of water usage. Additionally, Isover aims to service and recalibrate flowmeters to determine recycled water rates accurately.

The insulation manufacturer’s next steps involve integrating the main incoming water meters and three new sub-meters with existing online energy monitoring software, enabling remote monitoring and data recording for real-time insights. Furthermore, Isover plans to calculate a site water balance to validate the collected data and confirm future reduction opportunities.

Matt Hill, Sustainability Champion for Isover Runcorn, who spearheaded the initiative, commented: "Reducing water consumption in our production processes is central to our sustainability journey at Isover. Through investments such as these we're not only reducing our environmental impact but also demonstrating our unwavering commitment to building a more sustainable future.

“By 2023, we had reduced our total water withdrawal by 22% compared to 2017, and thanks to these continuing improvements, we have already further reduced this by more than 20% in 2024 compared to 2023.

“Through this initiative, we’ll be reducing water consumption at our Runcorn site by 30%, saving a staggering 30 million litres of water throughout the production process, year after year. By investing in innovative solutions and best practices such as these, we’re continuing on our journey towards net zero by 2050, looking to achieve our targets sooner and demonstrating our commitment to sustainability and resource utilisation."