Waterscan is proud to announce that we have been named as one of the winners of Ofwat’s first Water Efficiency Lab competition, securing funding to deliver Workplace Water Wins – An Insights-Led Approach to More Water Efficient Business Behaviours.
Led by Waterscan, Workplace Water Wins brings together experts from the water sector, behavioural science and academia alongside seven major UK businesses to develop and test innovative approaches to improving water efficiency in the workplace.
The project will explore how employee engagement can help reduce water consumption through two staff-focused interventions: increasing visibility of water use at the point of consumption and delivering business-relevant, sector-informed staff training. By testing these approaches across multiple sites and sectors, the project will generate valuable evidence on how behavioural change can support long-term water efficiency improvements.
The partnership includes Claremont, WRc, the University of Surrey, Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water and Yorkshire Water, alongside participating businesses Greene King, Stonegate Group, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, John Lewis Partnership, Whitbread and David Lloyd Clubs.
Through collaboration across the pub, supermarket and hospitality sectors, Workplace Water Wins aims to create practical, scalable solutions that help businesses better understand and reduce their water consumption.
What is the Water Efficiency Lab?
Run by Ofwat and Challenge Works and supported by Arup and Isle Utilities, the Water Efficiency Lab aims to fund the most promising solutions for cutting water demand among both households and businesses. A total of £25 million will be available through annual Water Efficiency Lab competitions between 2025 and 2030.
Each competition explores a different theme, targeting funding towards key challenges and the most critical barriers to water efficiency.
The first competition focused on innovations that give people and businesses the insights they need to better understand their water usage and the tools to take action to reduce it – helping cut bills, preserve water resources and protect the environment.
What’s next?
Over the coming months, Waterscan and project partners will begin rolling out Workplace Water Wins across trial sites spanning the pub, supermarket and hospitality sectors.
The project will use a robust trial design to evaluate the impact of behavioural interventions on water consumption, helping to identify the most effective ways to engage employees and drive lasting water-saving behaviours. The findings will provide valuable evidence for businesses, water companies and policymakers, supporting wider adoption of successful approaches across the sector.
As the project progresses, we look forward to sharing updates, insights and learnings from this collaborative initiative.
Find out more
The full list of winners from the first Water Efficiency Lab competition is available on the Water Innovation Fund website. Also, keep up to date with how the project progresses on our LinkedIn.
For more information on the Water Efficiency Lab and the wider Water Innovation Fund challenges, visit: Water Innovation Fund – Water Innovation Fund
