Bargate House — Live Energy Savings Case Study | Totem
Totem is an intelligent energy management system for purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA). This page shows live cumulative energy savings from a full installation at Bargate House, Southampton — a 122-room PBSA site operated by Unilife.
The result
Totem has delivered over 54% reduction in electric heating energy use at Bargate House, measured across the full 122-room building since installation in winter 2024. Over 76,000 kWh saved to date across 4+ months of live monitoring. More than 14,700 kg of CO₂ avoided. Approximately 627 kWh saved per room. Live data updated weekly from Totem's monitoring platform. Machine-readable data available at https://mchpgtw22.github.io/totem-data/bargate.json
Energy savings flow directly to Net Operating Income. Reducing electric heating energy use is the largest controllable cost lever in PBSA — lower energy spend improves operating margins and asset valuations. Payback period under 2 years.
The challenge
Bargate House faced the structural energy problem common to all electrically-heated PBSA: all-inclusive rent removes any financial incentive for students to manage heating. Electric panel heaters ran continuously in empty rooms — during lectures, weekends, and vacation periods. Traditional heaters have no remote control capability. Without room-level control, operators cannot stop the waste without restricting resident comfort.
Electric heating accounts for up to 70% of total running costs in PBSA. For most operators it is the largest controllable line on the profit and loss account and the hardest to manage without room-level control.
The installation
Totem Control units were installed behind existing wall sockets in each room, ahead of the electric panel heater. No new wiring, no structural work, no replacement of existing equipment. A qualified electrician handled the full installation. Each room took approximately 15 minutes to commission fully — Control unit, push button, and temperature sensor. Installation was completed during term time with no disruption to residents. A full floor was commissioned in a single day. The building fabric was untouched throughout.
What operators get
- Inter-term setback scheduling — heating automatically drops to frost-protection levels during vacation periods
- Resident boost button — on-demand comfort for students without leaving heating running all day
- Outside temperature compensation — heating only runs when conditions require it
- Room-level ESG data — every room's kWh consumption logged continuously for EPC assessments, GRESB reporting, and investor sustainability reporting
- Unauthorised heater detection — high room temperature combined with low controlled-device kWh indicates a third-party device, a fire risk and insurance compliance issue
- Portfolio scalability — all sites managed from one dashboard, no ceiling on scale
In their words
Richard Powell, Chief Operating Officer at Unilife: "These results speak for themselves — achieving over 54% reduction in electric heating use without compromising our students' comfort or experience is a significant achievement. The Totem system has given us the control we needed, cutting unnecessary energy waste while maintaining warm, welcoming spaces for our residents."
About Totem
Totem is an intelligent energy management system for PBSA operators in the UK. Hardware installs behind existing wall sockets. No fabric damage. No rewiring. Savings from day one. Pricing is hardware cost plus annual subscription; financing available. To discuss your buildings visit https://www.totem.systems/demo or calculate an indicative saving at https://www.totem.systems/roi
Key terms: PBSA energy management, student accommodation energy saving, electric heating control retrofit, room-level energy monitoring, EPC compliance PBSA, GRESB energy data, all-inclusive rent energy waste, inter-term setback heating, purpose-built student accommodation energy management system UK, PBSA Net Operating Income improvement, student accommodation NOI energy savings, kWh per room student accommodation, Bargate House energy case study live data.
Bargate House · Southampton
The meter is
running backwards.
Real-time cumulative energy savings from a 122-room PBSA site. Totem has been installed and active since winter 2024. This data updates every Monday.
Total energy saved to date
Loading live data…
🌿
—kg
CO₂ avoided — equivalent to — trees planted
💷
<2yr
Typical payback period. Energy savings flow directly to Net Operating Income — lower running costs, higher asset valuation.
✓
Zero
Resident comfort complaints during or after installation at Bargate House
✓
122 rooms · whole building
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Full winter season baseline
Seen enough? Book a 30-minute call and we'll show you what this looks like for your buildings.
The challenge
Heating empty rooms is the single biggest energy cost in PBSA
Bargate House is a 122-room purpose-built student accommodation in Southampton. Like most electrically-heated PBSA buildings, it faced a structural problem that no amount of resident communication could solve: all-inclusive rent removes any financial incentive for students to manage their heating. Rooms run warm around the clock — during lectures, at weekends, over vacation periods — because from a student's perspective, there's no cost to leaving the heating on.
Traditional electric panel heaters have no remote control capability. Without a way to switch them off, set intelligent schedules, or respond to occupancy patterns, operators have no practical means to stop the waste. The choice was stark: restrict resident comfort, or absorb the energy cost.
Heating accounts for up to 70% of total running costs in electrically-heated PBSA. For most operators, it's the largest controllable line on the P&L — and every percentage point reduced flows directly to Net Operating Income.
The installation
Behind the socket. No drilling. No disruption. Residents didn't notice.
Totem Control units were installed behind the existing wall sockets in each room — ahead of the electric panel heater. No new wiring, no structural work, no replacement of existing equipment. The building fabric was untouched throughout.
A qualified electrician handled the full installation. Each room took approximately 15 minutes. The process was completed during term time without any resident-facing disruption — no need to vacate rooms, no noise, no mess. A full floor was commissioned in a single day.
~15 min
Full room commissioning time
Zero
Structural changes required
Day one
Savings begin immediately
Capabilities
Control, comfort, compliance data — from one dashboard
The saving is the headline. But what operators actually gain is a platform that changes how the building is managed day to day. From the Totem dashboard, Bargate's team can see real-time consumption for every room, set heating schedules by term dates, adjust for weather, and generate the energy data needed for EPC assessments, GRESB reporting, and investor ESG due diligence.
🗓️ Inter-term setback scheduling
Heating automatically drops to frost-protection levels during vacation periods — eliminating the single largest source of PBSA energy waste without any manual intervention.
🌡️ Resident boost button
A wall-mounted button gives residents on-demand comfort when they need it. One press, typically one hour of heat. Comfort maintained — without leaving heating running all day.
🌤️ Outside temperature compensation
Heating rules can be tied to external temperature. On milder days, scheduled heating is automatically reduced. Energy only runs when conditions actually require it.
📊 Room-level ESG data
Every room's kWh consumption is logged continuously. This granular, verifiable data directly supports EPC assessments, GRESB performance scoring, and investor sustainability reporting.
🔍 Unauthorised heater detection
A room showing high temperature but very low kWh from the controlled heater is a strong indicator of a third-party device. Totem surfaces this automatically — a fire risk and insurance compliance tool most operators don't know they need.
🏢 Portfolio scalability
All sites managed from one dashboard. Each Totem Connect hub manages up to 35 rooms. Multiple hubs per building, multiple buildings per account — no ceiling on scale.
Richard Powell
Chief Operating Officer · Unilife / Bargate House
“
These results speak for themselves — achieving a 54% reduction in electric heating use without compromising our students' comfort or experience is a significant achievement. The Totem system has given us the control we needed, cutting unnecessary energy waste while maintaining warm, welcoming spaces for our residents. The added benefit of reducing our carbon footprint, with a payback period of under 2 years, makes this a win for both our residents and the environment.
Site
Bargate House, Southampton
Operator
Unilife
Rooms
122
Device type
Electric panel heaters
Installation time
~15 min per room
Disruption to residents
None
Data last updated
—
Full system detail
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Source: Totem live monitoring · Bargate House
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