saving water, reducing maintenance costs and improving ambience

Washroom refurbishment at Hurstpierpoint College

Background

Hurstpierpoint College is an independent school with over 1,300 pupils, including around 500 boarders, spanning early years through to sixth form. With a large and diverse estate, the College takes a phased, consultative approach to refurbishment, prioritising buildings based on condition, operational need and user feedback.

The Martlet boarding house accommodates approximately 68 girls. Prior to the project, the washrooms were beginning to feel dated and were not being used as intended. Existing push-button taps and showers were proving unreliable and unpopular, particularly for pupils with long hair, while maintenance issues were becoming more frequent as fittings aged.

Project drivers and requirements

The refurbishment was prompted by the Martlet house reaching the top of the College’s refurbishment schedule. Early consultation was carried out with the housemistress, senior leadership and the pupils themselves to understand both practical requirements and expectations around look and feel.

Water efficiency forms an important part of Hurstpierpoint College’s sustainability strategy, which is aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Over the past two years, the College has progressively introduced water-saving technologies across the estate, including waterless urinals, efficient taps and low-flow showers, typically alongside planned refurbishments.

The Martlet project provided an opportunity to extend this approach into girls’ boarding accommodation, while ensuring that reduced water use did not compromise the user experience.

As part of the wider works, the College also upgraded domestic plumbing and installed a boosted water supply to ensure the refurbished facilities could cope with increased usage once the house was fully occupied.

Key requirements for the washrooms included:

  • A modern, more homely environment that pupils would actively choose to use
  • Reliable taps and showers with more flexible run times
  • Reduced maintenance burden compared to legacy push-button fittings
  • Improved water efficiency, aligned with the College’s wider sustainability goals

Ecoprod’s involvement

Ecoprod worked closely with the College’s estates team to specify water-saving taps and showers suitable for a high-use boarding environment. Prior to specification, the Director of Estates and the College’s lead plumber visited Ecoprod’s showroom to review products in person and understand maintenance requirements.

Key considerations included:

  • Ease of access to components for routine maintenance
  • Long battery life and straightforward replacement
  • The ability to control flow rates and run times without negatively affecting usability
  • Access to usage data to support future monitoring and reporting

In parallel with the Martlet works, similar Ecoprod products were also installed in St John’s, a co-educational sixth-form boarding house, including water-saving taps and showers and waterless urinals.

Outcomes and future benefits

Following the first term of use, feedback from pupils, staff and parents has been consistently positive. Parents visiting at the start of term commented on the quality of the refurbishment, while pupils highlighted the improved functionality and comfort of the washrooms.

In particular:

  • Showers with more flexible run times have significantly improved usability
  • The overall look and feel of the washrooms reflects the pupils’ input during the design stage
  • Maintenance staff have reported no issues to date and value the ease of access to components

Although the Martlet building is not individually metered, early indications suggest that meaningful water savings are being achieved alongside a noticeably better user experience.

Working with Ecoprod

The College cited the hands-on support provided by the Ecoprod team as a key factor in the project’s success. This included early product demonstrations, site visits ahead of installation to confirm suitability and post-installation follow-ups to review performance and data.

This collaborative approach gave the estates team confidence that the specified products would perform as intended and integrate effectively into the College’s wider refurbishment programme.

What’s next

Hurstpierpoint College continues to invest in its estate, with further boarding house refurbishments planned. Future projects will again incorporate water-saving technologies, including waterless urinals, efficient showers and sensor-controlled taps, as facilities are upgraded.

The Martlet project has now become a reference point for future works, supporting a consistent approach to sustainability, maintenance and user experience across the campus.

What the clients say

“From both a user and maintenance perspective, the new taps and showers have been a real improvement. The girls really appreciate the more flexible shower timings, particularly when washing long hair, and the overall look and feel of the space reflects the choices they were involved in making.

For our maintenance team, the ease of access to components is significantly better than crawling underneath sinks, which makes a big difference day to day. Working with Ecoprod was great. Being able to see the products in person, understand how they’re maintained and have site visits before and after installation gave us confidence that what we were specifying would work well for the College.”


James Faires, Director of Estates

Sign up for our newsletter

Sign up today for monthly water saving hints, tips and advice. You’ll be the first to know about any new products or services we can offer as well as any events we’re running or free water saving resources that are available. You can unsubscribe at any time and we’ll never pass your details on to anyone else.

* indicates required
Scroll to Top