Author: April Naoman

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Bossington Hall

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BOSSINGTON HALL

CASE STUDY

PORLOCK

Elevated high above the beautiful Vale of Porlock, Bossington Hall is an unusual property, where a beautiful and well-appointed stately home has been converted into very high-class self-catered accommodation with 15 guest rooms and 14 bathrooms. “The building pulls together modern comfort with 1920s elegance.”

Taking only exclusive-use bookings, the Hall has large public rooms as well as very generous bedrooms, making it a great venue for both family gatherings and corporate events alike. Owner Guy Dewdney purchased the Hall in 2016. He installed the Genius Hub in Spring 2017 to reduce the risk of guests leaving the heating on high all week, resulting in not only excessive costs but also the likelihood of unexpectedly running out of oil.

How did you hear about Genius Hub?
Bossington Hall actively researched their issue of lack of control and discussed it online with other owners of large homes. They found that their property was too large for the majority of domestic systems on the market, and yet they did not use enough fuel to warrant the expense of a large Building Energy Management System (BEMS).

They found that Genius Hub was recommended on forums including Money Savings Expert.

Why Genius Hub?
Genius Hub is unique – making it a market leader in what it can achieve. The system is designed to provide a solution even in the most complex buildings.

Working with the client at the design stage generates a comprehensive understanding of the building and the real requirements of the client. Genius Hub provides something that no other system offers: its USP is that all the historical data is recorded. Guy told us that, “With Genius Hub, you can see what it is actually doing”, adding, “The larger systems don’t seem to do the data recording at all!”

What were the main considerations before the purchase?
There were a number of factors considered.

Price was clearly one of them, but comparing the overall cost of other smaller systems, there was no great difference. Simplicity and speed of the installation process were important (it was installed in two days). Ease of use of the app was critical. Guy told us, “It is really good. All the stuff I need without the fluff.”

Bossington Hall wanted to make sure that communication and support would be clear and concise. They found from the outset that Genius Hub have highly trained support staff who understand the system. Guy also said, “A UK first response team was a real plus”.

What were your first impressions of the Genius Hub?

Genius Hub has been around for a long time and has established a good solid reputation. The knowledgeable staff, with a good understanding of the Genius Hub system, underpins this reputation. Guy told us that there are other companies which are either new to the market or do not offer the same level of expertise. He specified the system knowing that Genius Hub works well in buildings like his.

Guy said that he felt that, “The world of BEMS is very closed and you need to understand computer programming to be able to use it. The Genius Hub in comparison gives you more control and it is really easy to use.”

How much has Genius Hub cut their bills?
Having the historical data recorded means that Bossington Hall can evaluate the effectiveness of the Genius Hub at any given time.

At this stage, they report comfortable savings of 20% off their annual bill. However, Guy said, “More importantly, it’s not only the savings, but how guests comment about how warm the Hall is now, which was never the case before”. He believes he could be saving more, but this was as much about giving extra comfort to guests, as saving energy.

Have they benefited in any other way?
Bossington Hall enjoy receiving positive comments from guests about how nice it is to have individual controls in their rooms.

Guy told us he was concerned that guests would play with the controls and he initially watched the system “like a hawk” to see if the temperatures needed adjusting.

He can now see if the system is boosted by a guest but has discovered that, in the main, it is left alone. This suggests that he is getting the room temperatures near enough right from the start.

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The magnificent country house is totally surrounded by National Trust land, and is elevated above the beautiful Vale of Porlock.
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Scottish Borders Council

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M&V REPORT PDF

SCOTTISH BORDERS COUNCIL

CASE STUDY

SCOTLAND

Scottish Borders Council is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. The Council is responsible for the provision of all local government services to approximately 115,000 people, living in around 1,800 square miles of South East Scotland. The Council headquarters are located in Newtown St Boswells and comprise open-plan office spaces, small cellular offices, council chambers

Jack Caldwell, Energy and Buildings Officer, is engaged to source and implement energy efficiency measures within budget throughout the Scottish Borders estate, with a view to reducing their carbon footprint.

Why did they choose Genius Hub?
Heating controls were needed to address the infrequent and unpredictable use of the rooms. There had been a number of complaints about the cellular offices being over and under-heated, and in addition, some offices were only being used for part of the day. The conference rooms had no heating controls at all.

Jack explained that the system would have to be integrated with existing infrastructure and it was important that it should be managed and maintained on-site and in-house. Additionally, the cost of the system had to be justified by the savings that would be achieved.

 

What was the main concern?
Genius Hub was seen as a new technology. Although the Council was aware of the system working within similar buildings, it had not previously used it in any of their estate.

What did they like about the system?
The Genius Hub system has occupancy detection which provides a new level of control based on the occupancy of the rooms.

Jack tells us that he did have discussions with other companies, but he felt that their solutions were cumbersome and very expensive. Other building control companies for example, offered a one- off bespoke system but that made it really expensive and needed engineers to be on-site to program it.

He adds, “The whole Genius Hub setup was done off-site and then the installation was really fast and easy.”

 

What were your first impressions of the Genius Hub?
Genius Hub is a comprehensive retrofit solution for creating energy efficiencies, reducing energy costs and reducing carbon footprint. The system is designed to work with existing systems seamlessly. Jack told us he was impressed that Genius Hub did not hide the fact that this was a new sector for them. Jack went on to say, “Wet radiators, electric heating, MVHR (Mechanical Ventilation and Heat Recovery) – in fact I don’t think there is much they (Genius Hub) can’t do!”

Jack recognised that not only were Genius Hub market leaders, but they were providing a unique solution.

The M&V (Monitoring and Verification) that Genius Hub offered meant that any tweaks needed were identified and constantly updated. This report found an average saving of 21% over the course of one year, since the installation of the Genius Hub system in April 2018. An additional 12% + 9% saving (totalling 42%) could be potentially achieved by controlling the boilers and pumps together, where as currently the Genius Hub is only controlling the main circulation pumps and the individual rooms.

How was the installation?
Jack explains to us, “New technologies can make people nervous, especially when there may be changes to how systems are managed. At no point during the installation process were our maintenance team nervous, as it was all very clearly explained and the interaction with our boilers and existing systems was very straightforward.”

The whole Genius Hub installation process was underpinned with clear, concise communication.

Jack continues, “The worst thing to happen during the install is when everyone goes… what do we do? Genius Hub went straight to the solution – which is just what we want. The installation teams themselves were excellent. Tidying up after themselves and at all times remaining quiet and respectful of the people around them.”

“Not everything went to plan, but this was not a bad thing. It showed us how Genius Hub dealt with problems and we were impressed and gained further confidence that we can give Genius Hub any building and they will be able to deal with it.”

What were your staffs impressions of the Genius Hub?
Genius Hub is user-friendly and keeps things simple. Staff find using and interacting with Genius Hub good and it is easy to use.

Jack concludes by saying, “To be honest – the fact that we’ve had very little feedback is a good thing.”

He continues, “People can be quick to pick up negatives, and for me as the energy manager always looking for ways to save energy across our estate, no comment is a good thing… so, the fact that it is saving us on our heating costs and no one has noticed is a really good thing in my view.”

In conclusion, installation of Genius Hub has been a successful pilot project, which has led to it being rolled out.

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Cleobury Mortimer Golf Club

CM Golf Club Photo Caravan
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CM Golf Club Lodge

CLEOBURY MORTIMER GOLF CLUB

CASE STUDY

WEST MIDLANDS

Cleobury Mortimer Golf Club is found on the Shropshire and Worcestershire border. It has 27 holes split into three 9’s named the Deer Park, Badgers Sett and Foxes Run and is surrounded by scenic rural views. Founded in 1993 by Robert and Graham Pain and designed with Ray Baldwin, Cleobury Mortimer Golf Club is the perfect venue to host many events including the Worcestershire Open Pro AM and some of the biggest charity golf days in the West Midlands. The course continues to improve year on year, their website states it “provides just about everything to satisfy the modern day golfer, their families and their friends.”

The Clubhouse bears all the facilities that a traditional club has to offer including a bar, dining area and conservatory. Set in 200 acres of countryside with views of the Wyre Forest, the Wyre Suite Function Room can cater for Weddings, Exhibitions, Conferences and more. Additionally there are four 4 star self catering lodges available to rent that offer living and dining space with a comfortable, contemporary finish throughout.

The lodges sit next to the course and have views of the loch and course creating the perfect relaxing spot after a day of golf or visiting one of the many local attractions.

How did you hear about Genius Hub?
Genius Hub presented their zoned heating system at the Business Energy Efficiency Programme Conference in March this year.

Why smart heating controls?
The harsh winter that just past has cost considerably more than could have been expected for the golf club. A quarter of the usual annual spend was spent in one month. This cost left the company vulnerable. It led to them having the tank and boiler pressure tested as concerns arose that there may actually be a gas leak which was not the case.

One of the owners, Graham told us: “We thought that we’d get the rest of the year from the last fill of LPG and then it ended up only lasting a month!” They needed to keep guests happy but had no control in doing this.

Cleobury Mortimer Golf Club already have Biomass and other energy efficiency measures like solar thermal for the showers and increased insulation. They wanted to further improve their Green Credentials and decided that tackling the increased cost of the LPG was an opportunity to combine both.

Furthermore, the lodges are situated away from the main building and were either too hot or too cold. Staff would walk to the lodges to adjust the heating manually which itself is not efficient so adding state of the art zoned heating control ticked all of the boxes.

Was there anything to be concerned about?
Genius Hub offered the flexible control that Cleobury Mortimer Golf Club wanted and it was simple to use. Each of the 4 lodges is identical but they needed to control them individually and collectively. They thought that getting one system to cover all would be impossible.

“Businesses need to have control over their overheads” we were told by Graham, “this was difficult and the company feels that it is defenceless against the rising price of LPG.” Bing in a rural area they were limited to certain suppliers and were particularly vulnerable to getting deliveries of LPG in adverse weather conditions. 

Graham explains that “Freezing temperatures meant the delivery may not even arrive when we need it.” They needed to reduce the number of deliveries required to reduce this issue and become less susceptible to price hikes.

Why Genius Hub?
Graham told us, “he felt that Genius Hub was a technological system that offered all the flexibility we needed.” Genius Hub offered a room-by-room heating control with fixed wireless repeaters to ensure the connection is rock-solid and it is controlled by a simple app. Graham adds “Genius Hub were a local company with local installers and salesmen, which was important to us.”

What were your first impressions of the Genius Hub?
Installation of the Genius Hub system was completed within one or two days. It can be done as part of a normal room turn around causing no disruption to guests. Time and care is taken to carry out a free survey and to understand the needs and requirements of the business. The system is designed to provide a specifically tailored solution

Graham tells us, ”Installation was very smooth and well explained by the salesman.” he continues “We were only interested in someone who was willing to come by and see the buildings and survey them. Some other companies tried to quote over the phone and that simply wouldn’t work for are individual requirements.”

CM Golf Club Interior Bed

Can Genius Hub cut their bills?
Genius Hub can offer at least 30% energy savings, but it all depends how it’s used. Genius Hub can provide independent verification of these savings if required.

Have the lodges benefited in any other way?
The lodges have underfloor heating. As a result of guests not understanding it, they increase the temperature to max resulting in the lodge becoming overheated after a few hours, creating spikes in the temperature.

Windows would then be opened to cool the lodge back down. Graham said, “Now they can boost the system from the Genius Hub thermostat in the lodge and after 3 hours it will automatically go back to the settings that we set at reception.” 

Graham concludes, “this is so much better than what we had before, where all of that money that we’d spent on heating was far too often going straight out of the window!”

CM Golf Club Photo Caravan
CM Golf Club Interior

Book your free Genius Hub survey here!

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A friendly approach to golf, Cleobury Mortimer Golf Club provides just about everything to satisfy the modern day golfer.
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Donington Park Farmhouse

Donington Park Farmhouse Hotel Front
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Donington Park Farmhouse Hotel Front

DONINGTON PARK FARMHOUSE HOTEL

CASE STUDY

EAST MIDLANDS

Donington Park Farmhouse is found on the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border between Castle Donington and Melbourne and is afforded stunning views of Breedon Hill and surrounding areas. The property has changed a great deal over its long history, spanning back more than 400 years. The original farmhouse has had numerous additions including an army building, built during the Second World War, that now hosts its stunning wedding breakfasts.

The first wedding was held at Donington Park in 1984, and the hotel pride themselves on being the favourite venue for weddings in the region. The staff are warm and friendly and all occasions are catered for. On offer to guests dining at the hotel, is a fine variety of own grown and locally sourced ingredients, including Venison from its own Deer farm and beef from its own farm. The hotel is very environmentally aware and in 2013 won a “Green Footprint” award being the Greenest Business in the district for its initiatives including Natural Reed-Bed Waste Management, Solar PV Panels, Biomass Heating System and conscientious recycling.

How did you hear about Genius Hub?
Genius Hub called as part of a local marketing campaign.

Why smart heating controls?
Having a Biomass Heating system already reduces the cost of heating and has had a positive effect on the environment. Installing a zoned heating control system improves both factors by reducing the amount of heat wasted and therefore reducing the volume of fuel needed to produce the heat. Guests are catered for with the ‘personal touch’ element that is particularly beneficial for wedding guests who generally check in earlier and use the rooms differently to the business guests.

Management of individual room temperature has been down to housekeeping manually turning down radiators, that is a hassle and time consuming on such a big site.

Was there anything to be concerned about?
Current owner, Jack Shields, tells us that their heating engineer Tom was concerned in the beginning that the site was “far too complicated to retrofit” the zoned heating controls because of the variety of wall mounted electric heaters, wet and electric underfloor heating and wet radiators. The payback period was also important. 

 Why Genius Hub?
The information and proposal received following the free survey together with case studies alleviated any initial concerns about the reliability of the Genius Hub system and the go ahead was given by the board. 

Adding a state of the art system is necessary to achieve further energy efficiency and improve guest experience. Genius Hub offered the room-by-room heating control that is controlled by a simple app.

What were their first impressions of Genius Hub?
The scope of the project led to what Jack referred to as a “tricky” installation because of having to freeze all of the radiators in the main hotel – no less than 42 in the main building, but, it got better each day and we are “very happy now we have the system in” says Jack.

He adds that Genius Hub are a “pleasure to work with” and have been “very communicative throughout the whole process”.

The system is monitored and controlled online, but Jack tells us he prefers using the app on his phone, as “it’s so easy to use”. 

He goes on to explain he was in London one afternoon and realised there was a small number of rooms in use at the hotel that evening, and he could “turn the rest of the rooms down from there” adding “it was great!”

Donnington Park Farmhouse Hotel

Can Genius Hub cut their bills?
Previously, rooms were heated all day, even though they were empty or left with heating off and guests then entering cold rooms.

Genius Hub also identifies and automatically shuts off the radiator when the window is open, this means that Genius Hub can offer at least 30% energy savings, but it all depends how it’s used – savings are higher when rooms are left empty for several hours.

Has the hotel benefitted in any other way?
Donington Park Farmhouse is at the forefront of energy efficiency and is a well-known wedding venue in and around the region, guest perception is very important. The ability to prepare a guests room specifically for them provides an enhanced level of customer service. Jack tells us that he is “very happy” with the system and working with Genius Hub. He is looking forward to receiving the guest reactions in the years to come.

Donington Park Farmhouse Hotel BED

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A small & beautiful Castle Donington hotel converted from an old farm, the perfect venue for meeting rooms and rustic weddings.
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Genius Hub + IFTTT

IFTTT
IFTTT Banner

Genius Hub already gives you advanced control of your heating, but our new IFTTT functionality lets you go even further. For example, you can use our Genius Hub IFTTT applets to:

  • Use your Genius sensors to receive an alert whenever motion is detected
  • Turn on your heating when you get near your home, based on your phone’s location

No need to only use the applets we’ve provided, though! You can easily create your own applets to link your 

Genius Hub system with the thousands of other devices that are compatible with IFTTT. Here’s how:

  1. Sign up and log into ifttt.com and link your Genius Hub, if you’ve not done so already.
  2. Click on your username in the top right and select “New Applet”. You should be greeted with “if this then that” in big letters.
  3. Click “this”, search for your device/app (e.g. ‘Genius Hub’) and pick a trigger that will start your applet.
  4. Then click “that” and follow the steps to pick an action for your applet to carry out.
  5. Choose a name for your applet, and whether or not to receive mobile notifications when the trigger fires.
  6. Click “Finish” to make your applet live.

Note some fields may take a few seconds to load as they fetch data from your Hub. If you need any more information on how to set up IFTTT, have a look on the IFTTT web site or our support page.

Do more with Genius Hub...

Take control of your Hot Water, Underfloor Heating, Radiator Valves and even Lighting all from one central hub.
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Feel free to let us know on Facebook or Twitter which clever applets you’ve created!

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Moxhull Hall

MH Front
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MH Front

MOXHULL HALL HOTEL CASE STUDY

WEST MIDLANDS

Moxhull Hall is a stunning Victorian property built by Howard Ryland, Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire and Lord of the Manor of Moxhull and Wishaw, after the old hall burned down. It was a private home until it was converted into a hotel in 1969. More recently, the current owner, Andreas Kalavanas, who took it over in 2004 and carried out a major refurbishment of the property that is complimented by eight acres of beautifully landscaped gardens. They proudly claim that a trip to Moxhull Hall is not complete without “taking a trip outside”.

Moxhull Hall is the perfect venue for events, conferences, overnight stays and more specifically weddings. The hotel prides itself on what it has to offer – Accommodation that is grand and modern; achieving contemporary interior design and gardens with charming features, providing a feast for the senses and fantastic photo opportunities to capture the special day both by day and night. The Moxhull team are welcoming and experienced and are focused on offering a friendly, personal service ensuring that needs are catered for, and guests leave feeling well looked after.

How did you hear about Genius Hub?
Hotel and Catering magazine ran an article about the Genius Hub system, which was very well written.

Why smart heating controls?
Improving and maintaining individual guest experience is of paramount importance. The problem was with the heating in the Courtyard and Cottages which are separated from the main hotel by about 200 metres. The rooms were either too hot or too cold.

Why Genius Hub?
Moxhull Hall wanted heating controls that could cater for the specific needs of guests. They didn’t want staff to continue with constantly adjusting the heating or housekeepers switching it off and then forgetting to switch it back on. Having done research and been aware of other systems the decision was taken to have the free survey from Genius Hub. 

The subsequent proposal and language of the article seen previously was consistent, and showed that it “clearly looked like it would do the job well” said Andreas.

Was there anything to be concerned about?
There were no concerns. When talking about the technical knowledge of the engineer, Andreas said it was obvious that Genius Hub “knew what they were talking about.” 

The consistency in what was advertised, proposed and installed leads to a view that Genius Hub were clearly “experts in the field of smart heating.”

 

What were their first impressions of Genius Hub?
Installation of the Genius Hub is quick, easy and causes no disruption as it was done as part of a normal room changeover. It creates its own wireless network. Fixed wireless repeaters ensure the connection is rock-solid. Trained installers fitted the system in two days and even went to the trouble of installing a new consumer unit in one of the buildings, “solving a different issue we had with the electrics.” Says Andreas.

 

Housekeepers no longer control the heating. This had been a big problem, as they would forget to turn it back on when they had finished cleaning a room. Even though the reception team can see the temperature of every room and it can be monitored remotely, Andreas tells us “I like how the system has run itself and I’ve not even had to log onto it.” 

Complaints about heating were normal prior to installation, guests would complain about the rooms being cold. Since the installation there have been none.

MH Bedroom Valve

Can Genius Hub cut their bills?
Moxhull Hall have a Biomass heating system and as such, cost saving was not the priority for them, however Andreas tells us that they would “definitely recommend” the Genius Hub system as costs are a “massive burden on any business.” Genius Hub can offer at least 30% energy savings, but it all depends how it is used – savings are higher when rooms are left empty for several hours.

Previously, rooms would have been heated all day, even though they were empty, or left with the heating off and guests were then entering cold rooms. The system also identifies and automatically shuts off the radiator when the window is open, thus not wasting heat out of an open window.

Has the hotel benefitted in any other way?
Moxhull Hall is already a high-end wedding venue, guest perception is very important. Wedding guests are in and out of the rooms all day and they check in earlier than business guests do. The Genius Hub system means they can manage the individual zones turning the heating on and improving the guest experience in specific rooms, and of course also helps to reduce costs. 

Guest’s perception is important at Moxhull Hall. Andreas tells us “guests really appreciate it when you spend money on something that you don’t really need to” he continues, “They really appreciate the small touches, so we have tried to add things to make them as comfortable as we can.”

MH Reception

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This lovely Victorian mansion, is the perfect venue for hosting weddings, events, conferences or overnight stays.
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Custom House Hotel

CustomHouse
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Custom House Hotel

CUSTOM HOUSE HOTEL

CASE STUDY

SCOTLAND

Custom House Hotel is in a great location overlooking the River Clyde in West Scotland. Suffering from many years of neglect, the hotel was formally known as The Bay Hotel and was purchased by the current co-owner John 18 months ago. After a successful regeneration project, costing in excess of £300,000, the new management team have brought it back to its former glory. The newly named Custom House Hotel has been renovated beyond recognition and now offers a great place to eat or sleep in Greenock.

Why smart heating controls?
Adding a state of the art system is a necessity to achieve energy efficiencies, improve the running costs and to achieve that ‘personal touch’ experience for the visitors and guests at the hotel.

 Why Genius Hub?

The Custom House Hotel wanted heating controls that could cut heating costs while keeping their clients warm – and didn’t want staff to constantly adjust it. Any system would need to control individual radiators in order to make any savings. 

Commercial BEM systems’ or ‘Commercial BEMS (Building Energy Management Systems) with this functionality are available from a variety of manufacturers, but these are prohibitively expensive to purchase and install, and need trained staff to adjust their settings.

Genius Hub offers automatic room-by-room heating control at an affordable price, all-controllable through a simple app.

What were their first impressions of Genius Hub?
Installation of the Genius Hub is quick, easy and causes no disruption, because it creates it’s own wireless network. Fixed wireless repeaters ensure the connection is rock-solid.

Trained installers fit the system in one or two days. The hotel’s site manager John tells us: “We love to explain the system to our customers and how they can get just the right temperature in their room as well as knowing that we’re doing all that we can to reduce our carbon footprint.”

Can Genius Hub cut their bills?
Genius Hub can offer at least 30% energy savings, but it all depends how it’s used – savings are higher when rooms are left empty for several hours. So if the hotel is quieter, your energy bills will also be reduced.

Previously, rooms would have been heated all day, even though they were empty. The system also identifies and automatically shuts off the radiator when the window is open, thus not wasting heat.

Has the hotel benefitted in any other way?
John tells us: “This could have be done on its own however we did it as part of spending extensive amounts of money on improving the hotel.” He explains “things like double glazing and a new roof show investment into the property just like adding the state of the art technology that the Genius Hub system incorporates”

“In 5 years time the owners may want to sell the hotel and adding value is important which I feel we’ve done with the latest technology that Genius Hub have installed”. He stated that by “investing in Genius Hub that they have future proofed the Hotel”.

Have there been any problems with the Genius Hub?

Every business needs to keep a tight control of the financials and John tells us that it’s not easy to get three investors to make a decision on investment but “Genius Hub made it pretty easy.”

John tells us that: “we thought that we’d have to borrow the money” but discovered other options were available with the excellent variation of payment platforms offered by Genius Hub.

They all agreed that the Genius Hub was something that they would recommend.

Customer House Hotel Outside

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Belvedere Care Home

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BELVEDERE CARE HOME

CASE STUDY

BANSTEAD, SURREY

The Belvedere Care Home run by the Royal Alfred Seafarers’ Society is a beautiful and very well looked after 80 bed care home providing housing, residential and nursing care to former seafarers, their widows and dependants, and has been for more than 150 years. Their residential and nursing care home, Belvedere House, together with their sheltered flats, are situated within the idyllic grounds of the Weston Acres Estate, near Banstead, Surrey.

Care homes need accurate control of the heating in each room because of the vulnerable residents who live there. With the higher temperatures required in the rooms to keep residents happy, heating costs are a serious consideration for the management of any care home.

The Royal Alfred Seafarers Society had already gone to significant lengths to reduce their carbon output by installing a biomass boiler and solar panels, but this was not enough for them, they also wanted to reduce the amount of heating required on site, so they could reduce how many wood pellets was purchased, as well as improve the comfort of residents.

In Autumn 2018 they decided to install the Genius Hub into all of the rooms in the property and this has had a big impact on the costs of heating, and it stops the care home wasting valuable energy heating rooms that are not occupied during the day. Using the occupancy detection in the residents’ rooms, the Genius Hub lowers the temperature in the more mobile residents’ rooms who choose to spend the days in the communal areas or those who leave the site for the day, thereby not leaving all of the rooms at 24ºC twenty four hours per day as was the case before.

The site also knew they had a problem with the biomass system which one of the Genius Hub engineers managed to solve during the installation of the Genius Hub. As part of the room control which was offered to them, giving them individual and personalised control of each of the residents’ rooms using the smart Genius Radiator Valves, Genius Hub also included a mini side project to monitor their three gas boilers and biomass boiler, to try and establish why the biomass was never working at more than 25% capacity. The lack of biomass heat was a big problem as they were planning on using the RHI (a government scheme used to financially support renewable technologies) to repay for the installation of the biomass.

Genius Hub engineers installed additional temperature probes onto all of the flow and return pipes from the gas boilers as well as the biomass boiler, and they found very quickly that the gas boilers were firing far too often, and the reason for this was the shunt pumps for the gas boilers were running 24/7 regardless of if the gas boilers were required. This was causing the gas boilers to fire unnecessarily and therefore reducing the load seen by the biomass boiler.

The Genius Hub engineer then helped the management install a new BEMS system to control the Biomass Boiler and three Gas Boilers and link this all up to the Genius Hub controls in the rooms. Now the biomass takes priority and the three gas boilers will only run if the biomass cannot provide enough heat for the heat load. Genius Hub will do its part in keeping the heat load as low as it possibly can, by only bringing on the rooms that actually need heating.

image1
WRV-Rad

Genius Hub interviewed Richard Condie (Estates Manager) and Karen Goddard (Business Manager) 12 months after the installation of the Genius Hub to hear how they thought things had gone.

How did you hear about Genius Hub?
Richard: I was looking at smart systems to try and reduce the spend the home had on biomass and gas, and I was mainly looking online. We were looking for more control over the heating as we felt that we were wasting a lot of heat in rooms that were not occupied and rooms were often getting too hot. 

Another company contacted us about their smart valves, but when looking at the alternatives I prefered the Genius Hub valves as they were smaller and more robust looking.

Why smart heating controls?
Karen: We were Interested in green initiatives as the environment is important to us. We got the biomass boiler and also some solar panels, so we are already investing in renewable resources. We see that we are at forefront of new technology and reducing the amount of energy that the home used was important to us.

Why did you choose Genius Hub?
Richard: Because of the flexibility that it was going to offer. Before we could only control the temperature in the resident’s room with the manual thermostatic radiator valve, which is often next to the window, so I’d often go into a room and the radiator would be on and the window wide open, even in winter! Being able to provide the right levels of comfort all of the time for the residents and also the staff was of key importance to us.

What was your main consideration before the purchase?
Richard: Value for money was really important as we have to pass the value onto our residents. To try and do this with a BEMS (Building Energy Management System) would have been prohibitively expensive and the disruption to the day to day running of the care home would have been too much. 

The quality of the product was clear to see with the Genius Hub Valves, and the flexibility it gave us – because the system is totally wireless – meant that there were no drilling of holes or running of cables. We couldn’t move residents out of their rooms during the installation so it had to be done with as little mess and disruption as possible.

Was there anything to be concerned about?
Karen: Not really – before we said yes we had met with the salesman many times. We’d done our research thoroughly and we got feedback from another care home customer who had the system which was really positive. My only reservations were only from our side when the residents had nothing else to talk about other than the new heating system, this is fine now. When you are spending a lot of money we had to be certain about the choice and we’re pleased we chose the Genius Hub system.

What were your first impressions of the Genius Hub?
Karen: A really positive experience with a couple of little hiccups. There were only a few minor things that needed sorting, and these were picked up quickly, and the ongoing support has been good, remotely from the engineers over the phone and also when they come to service the system.

How was the installation?
Richard: This was organised well and carried out well. The installation engineers sat down with us before the installation started and discussed each part in detail so there were no surprises. Unforeseen issues with our existing low temperature radiators were overcome without any additional cost, and it was nice to work with a company who came to us with the solutions to the problems they encountered with our heating rather than making us have to come up with a solution.

What do you like about the system?
Karen: Setting temperatures that are correct for the individuals is key for me as the business manager, I need to make sure that everything is just as it should be. I also like the fact that the system knows where we don’t need to heat rooms, so we know that it is saving us money and reducing the impact on the environment where we can. We also like how easy it is for Richard to manage. It’s a big site and now Richard can check the temperature in the rooms at a click of a button, increasing or decreasing the temperature in the resident’s rooms if they request it.

What were your staffs’ impressions of the Genius Hub?
Karen: The nurses were not that happy about the change to start with, but once it was in they we’re fine with it, now there is always some resistance to change in any large organisation, they knew why we were doing it and this helped them accept the change. They now see the advantages from having cooler corridors which they like as well as being able to work in a cooler environment in the rooms where the residents are more active.

How do you use the system?
Richard: I use it 50:50 on a tablet or my computer. It is excellent that I can now make a change and then at home check in and see if it had an effect, saving me time from coming to site to adjust the heating and giving me peace of mind that everything is OK at the care home when I am not on site.

Have you benefited in any other way?
Richard: I am very pleased with all of the information we now get from the system. Like being able to look back over the real temperatures on a chart from the past weeks means I can be sure that residents are always at the right temperature should anyone ask. I also like being able to see when the rooms are being used – this is really useful for the nursing side of things.

What were your final thoughts?
Richard: Overall we are really pleased with the system and it was an excellent investment for the home. We would recommend it to others and we were pleased to have it recommended to us. I can’t imagine a situation without it now it is an excellent tool to help us run the home and save energy.

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St Winefrides Rest Home

St Winifrieds Care Home
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St Winifrieds Care Home

ST WINEFRIDES REST HOME

CASE STUDY

LITTLEHAMPTON

Raj Seedeehul, to find out how they’re using Genius Hub to cut their heating costs and provide a higher standard of care for their clients.

Why smart heating controls?
Care homes offer a particular challenge when trying to control heating effectively. Elderly and vulnerable clients need to be kept warm at all times. Although each client has their own temperature preferences, they frequently forget to adjust manual controls, instead, staff have to take responsibility for ensuring appropriate temperatures – a needless distraction from providing the highest standard of care for their clients. 

Standard heating timers also wouldn’t work effectively either, even if they operated on a room-by-room basis. Patterns of how each client moves around the home are different for each individual and aren’t entirely predictable. 

That’s why most care homes have a simple solution: leave the heating on in all the rooms, all the time. Unfortunately, that leads to enormous heating bills. Before installing Genius Hub, St Winefrides was spending over £4000 a year on heating.

 Why Genius Hub?
St Winefrides wanted heating controls that could control individual radiators in order to make savings. Commercial BEMS systems with this functionality are available from a variety of manufacturers, but these are prohibitively expensive to purchase and install and need trained staff to adjust their settings. Genius Hub offers automatic room-by-room heating control at an affordable price, all controllable through a simple app.

 What were their first impressions of Genius Hub?
Installation of the Genius Hub is quick, easy and causes no disruption because it creates its own wireless network

Fixed wireless repeaters ensure the connection is rock-solid. Genius’ own trained installers fit the system in one or two days. But once it was installed, what was their first impression of using the system? “The system has been really easy to use”, says Raj. 

“We can actually just forget it’s even there, because all the rooms are in the automatic ‘Footprint’ mode – we found that’s the best because each of the clients have a different schedule and sometimes they forget to do things, so it’s great that it will just keep the heating warm for as long as they stay in the room.”

 “In reality, though, I love to micro-manage the heating! It’s nice that I can see the temperature of every room on my phone – the temperature readings from the room sensors seem to be really accurate. It means I don’t have to walk around the whole home checking; I can just see at a glance that there are no problems, and if a client wants me to adjust the temperature in their bedroom, I can do it right there in front of them – even if we’re in the lounge at the time. They like that.”

“Also, some clients prefer their bedrooms warmer at night and some prefer it cooler, the system is so person-centred that each client can have their heating micromanaged to their exact needs. 

In the eyes of the CQC the Care home is ‘Effective’ and ‘Responsive’ to client’s needs; it just turns the temperature down automatically every night at a set time. It’s one less thing for staff to remember, and helps us make our clients more comfortable, which is really a priority for us.”

Can Genius Hub cut their bills?
“To be honest it’s too early to say, as this will be the first winter we have had Genius Hub installed. I get the feeling it’s saving us quite a bit though because I often walk into an empty room and it has really cooled down. Previously we would have been heating that room all day, even though it’s empty.

We’ve also finally been able to get rid of all those oil filled electric radiators! It’s also really useful how it automatically shuts off the radiator when the window is open, so we aren’t wasting all that heat when somebody forgets to shut the window, which used to happen.”

Can Genius Hub cut their bills?
“I definitely had my concerns before we had it installed; it’s really essential for us to keep our clients warm so we really can’t afford to have any difficulties with our heating system. We also couldn’t have anything that would be difficult for our clients to use. This is definitely a “high tech” solution so I needed a lot of reassurance that it would work without a glitch.”

“I’m pleased to say that those fears turned out to be unfounded; it’s been really reliable and surprisingly easy to use. We did have an issue with one of the valves not connecting properly at first, but the technical support from Genius was great. They’ve always responded to us within a day or just a few hours, even when we just wanted some advice on how to set it up in the best way for us. It’s really reassuring to know that if we ever had any difficulties with the system, their support team would be there to help us out.”

Has the hotel benefitted in any other way?
“Yes, the heating is now a lot more balanced: all the rooms are kept at a comfortable temperature when they’re in use. That wasn’t the case before, because the boilers we have aren’t really big enough to heat the whole space. Also, the largest bedroom was always cold, because there weren’t enough radiators to keep that big room warm. Now it’s noticeably more comfortable throughout the home – not stiflingly hot, but a comfortably warm temperature everywhere. 

That’s because the boilers don’t have to work nearly as hard now because they’re only heating the rooms that are in use. They can get the radiators up to a higher temperature, so even the largest bedroom is nice and warm now. I could have solved this by buying a big new gas boiler, but that wouldn’t have been cheap and we would have ended up with larger gas bills, not smaller. That doesn’t seem like a smart solution to me!”

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Mr. Roe

Hay Family Home
Hay Family Home

MR. ROE

CASE STUDY

DURHAM

Mr Roe, his wife and parents live in a lovely rural home near Durham, in Northeast England. It was built in the 1750s. Fireplaces originally provided heat throughout the house, as you can see from the 12 chimneys along the roofline. Fires were lit in the rooms as necessary. Now, the house is heated by an LPG-fired boiler, but heating the entire 6000 sq. ft property is very expensive. Roe was looking for a way to heat their home that had the individual room control of the original fireplaces, with the convenience of central heating. The Genius Hub provided the ideal solution.

Why switch to smart heating?
“For me, the decision to get smart heating was primarily an economic one. Smart heating provides an intelligent way of controlling the house, without overheating or under heating individual rooms. With smart heating, you only heat rooms when you use them. I admit there was also the ‘cool factor’ of being able to use my phone to control each room from anywhere. I was definitely attracted to the ‘zoned’ systems that control each radiator. It’s much more convenient than having to go throughout the house to turn radiators off when the rooms are not being used. You really need do that in a home this size; otherwise would cost a fortune to heat!”

Why did you choose the Genius Hub?
“I looked at some comparison reviews of smart systems, including Honeywell, Nest and Tado. In those reviews, people glowed about The Genius Hub. They were incredibly effusive and said that The Genius Hub was the most capable system on the market. No other system on the market had as many features, or was as flexible, as The Genius Hub. The other systems limited the number of zones we could control and lacked the automatic footprint mode. Also, the other products were “clunky” with bulky valves or controllers that wouldn’t fit into our home. For larger houses, there is simply no other system that can do as much as The Genius Hub.”

Were there any concerns?
“Yes, I was worried that as The Genius Hub is a wireless system, it wouldn’t work well in our house. We can’t get our cordless phone to work across the house even with two range extenders, so we were worried about the range of the signal. I spoke to the Genius home technical team and they assured me that it would be fine, as each radiator valve and smart plug repeats the signal, and they’d installed it in large homes before without any problem. We went ahead with it, and it does indeed work perfectly well; there’s a strong signal everywhere.”.

What were your first impressions of the Genius Hub?
“Before ordering, I rang up with a number of questions about the installation. The guys on the phone were incredibly helpful and talked me through the configuration of the system. In one room we have 6 radiators, but the team sorted it all out, so I knew exactly what to order. We bought it through the website and then liaised with the local installer. When the kit arrived, it was already labelled and configured, so the components just needed to be installed. It was very easy; I didn’t need to do anything. The installer did experiment a bit with positioning the smart plugs, to find the locations that gave the strongest network signal. But apart from that, it was completely straightforward. I loved that I could let the Genius home technicians log into my system, so they could give us remote support if we needed it. More importantly, though, it just worked!”

Has Genius Hub lived up to your expectations?
“Yes, absolutely. It’s given us the control we need so that we can easily stay comfortable without wasting money. I also particularly like how it looks in our home. The Genius Hub is clean, white and smart, which fits in very well in all of the rooms, even the more formal rooms. For example, there is not much to see on the radiator valves, they are very discreet. The room sensors are much smaller than we expected – we thought that they would be the same size as security sensors but actually they are tiny, so no one notices them. The other systems look utterly dated and very poor in comparison. Another thing that’s great about The Genius Hub is the ability to chop and change; moving radiator valves from one zone to another was easy to do. We did that because we realised that we didn’t need control of one room that we had bought a valve and room sensor for. We easily moved the valve and room sensor to another room and then assigned it to a new room on the app.”

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