Intelligent Energy Management for Student Accommodation
Totem reduces energy consumption in PBSA by up to 75% — through room-level control, automated scheduling, and retrofit installation that requires no rewiring, no renovation, and no disruption to residents.
Heating is your largest controllable cost — and most of it is wasted
In purpose-built student accommodation, heating and hot water account for as much as 70% of a building's total running costs. Electric heaters, panel heaters, and towel rails run continuously in empty rooms — during lectures, weekends, vacation periods, and overnight — consuming energy that operators are paying for with no benefit to residents.
Traditional building management systems are expensive, invasive to retrofit, and operate at the building level rather than the room level. Operators have had no practical way to manage energy device by device, room by room, without significant capital investment in new infrastructure.
Totem was designed to solve exactly this problem — for existing PBSA buildings, without renovation.
UK Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) require rental properties to achieve a minimum EPC rating of C by 2030. Real-time energy monitoring and automated control are among the most cost-effective routes to improving an EPC rating without capital-intensive envelope upgrades.
of PBSA running costs attributable to heating and hot water
UK MEES deadline: all rental properties to reach EPC C
UK net zero target — PBSA operators face increasing ESG scrutiny from institutional investors
Two components. Complete room-level control.
Totem's energy management system consists of two devices — a central hub and individual room control units — that work together over a wireless mesh network. No new cabling. No structural work. Compatible with existing heating appliances already installed in the building.
Totem Connect
The Totem Connect unit connects to your building's internet and mains power, then manages up to 35 individual Totem Control units via wireless mesh. It installs in any riser cupboard, plant room, or out-of-the-way location. Once connected, operators have complete real-time visibility of energy consumption across every connected room — via web browser, smartphone, or tablet from any location.
- Manages up to 35 Totem Control units per hub
- Simple internet + mains power connection
- Configured via web interface — no specialist software
- Multiple hubs for larger complexes
Totem Control
Totem Control units are installed inside or behind individual wall sockets — on any high-energy device above 500 watts. They measure real-time power consumption and allow the device to be remotely switched, scheduled, and monitored from the central dashboard.
Full room commissioning — including fitting the push-button and temperature sensor — takes approximately 15 minutes per room. No damage to the building fabric, no new wiring, no replacement of existing heating equipment.
- Installs inside or behind existing wall socket
- ~15 min full room commissioning
- No damage to building fabric
- Works with existing heaters, towel rails, and appliances
Six ways Totem improves your operation
Real-time monitoring
View live energy consumption for every device and room across your entire portfolio from one dashboard, accessible anywhere. Identify high consumers and act immediately.
Individual room control
Control energy at the device level, not just the building level. Automatically power down heaters in unoccupied rooms and restore comfort before residents return.
Automated scheduling
Set custom schedules aligned to term dates, lecture timetables, and occupancy patterns. Devices automatically power down during unoccupied periods without manual intervention.
Energy data analytics
Detailed consumption data for every device supports EPC assessments and ESG reporting. Identify your highest-cost rooms and quantify savings over time with verifiable data.
Portfolio scalability
Totem scales from a single building to a multi-site portfolio of thousands of rooms. All sites managed from one dashboard — adding buildings requires no new cabling infrastructure.
Improve Net Operating Income
Energy savings flow directly to NOI. Reducing energy consumption by up to 75% across a PBSA portfolio materially improves operating margins and asset valuations.
Designed for existing buildings — no renovations required
Totem was built from the ground up for retrofit installation in existing PBSA buildings. There is no requirement for new wiring, no structural alterations, and no replacement of existing heating equipment.
Each Totem Control unit installs inside or behind an existing wall socket. Full room commissioning takes approximately 15 minutes — no drilling, no chasing, no damage to plasterwork. The unit communicates wirelessly to the central hub via a self-healing mesh network, eliminating the need for new data cabling between rooms or floors.
A qualified electrician can commission a full floor of rooms in a single day. PBSA operators can phase the rollout building by building, with each unit fully operational the moment it is commissioned.
- Riser access required for hub — riser must have a mains power point
- ~15 minutes per room — remove, install, make good, fit sensors
- Button & temperature sensor fitted to operator-agreed location
- No rewiring or new cabling — wireless mesh throughout
- No replacement of existing heaters or towel rails
- No structural work or damage to building fabric
What access is required
-
Riser cupboard access
For Totem Connect hub installation. The riser must have a mains power point available. Hub connects to the building's internet via wired or Wi-Fi. -
Each room for approximately 15 minutes
Remove existing socket faceplate, install Totem Control unit behind socket, make good and inspect, then fit the push-button and temperature sensor to a location agreed with the operator.
No specialist HVAC engineers required. A qualified electrician handles the full installation. Room access is pre-agreed with the operator and typically scheduled to minimise disruption to residents.
Compatible device types
- Electric panel heaters
- Storage heaters
- Towel rails and heated towel bars
- Fan heaters and convectors
- Any device rated above 500 watts
Totem works alongside — not instead of — your existing equipment. No replacement of heating appliances is required.
Room-level monitoring and control for every device
Totem provides true room-level energy management — not just building-level metering. Each Totem Control unit monitors and controls a specific device in a specific room, giving operators granular visibility and control that traditional BMS systems cannot match without significant infrastructure investment.
From the Totem dashboard, operators can see the real-time power consumption of every individual heater, towel rail, or high-energy device across the portfolio. Devices can be switched, scheduled, and controlled remotely from any device with an internet connection.
- Real-time power consumption per device and room
- Remote on/off control from web, smartphone or tablet
- Configurable schedules per room, floor, or building
- Outside temperature rules — heating only when needed
- Alerts for abnormal consumption patterns
- Historical consumption data for every device
Resident comfort is maintained. Schedules can be configured to restore heating before residents return — ensuring rooms are warm at the right time, with no energy wasted during empty hours.
Scalable from a single building to a multi-site portfolio
Totem's architecture is designed to grow with your portfolio. A single Totem Connect hub manages up to 35 individual Totem Control units. For larger buildings, multiple hubs are deployed — all feeding into the same centralised dashboard. For multi-site operators, every building across every location is managed from a single interface.
There is no ceiling on scale. Additional Totem Control units can be added to any building without infrastructure changes. New sites are onboarded by installing a Totem Connect hub and the relevant Control units — the central dashboard updates automatically.
- 35 rooms per Totem Connect hub — unlimited hubs per site
- All sites managed from one centralised dashboard
- No new cabling required to expand to additional rooms or buildings
- Dashboard accessible via browser, smartphone, or tablet
- Portfolio-level energy reports for ESG and investor reporting
How multi-site management works
Each building has its own Totem Connect hub (or multiple hubs for larger buildings). All hubs connect to the central Totem cloud platform, which aggregates data from every device across every site into one dashboard. Operators can view total portfolio consumption, drill down to site level, and then to individual room and device level — without leaving the dashboard.
Per-room, per-device, per-site energy data. One login. Any device with a browser.
Built for the compliance landscape PBSA operators face
UK PBSA operators are facing tightening energy regulation and increasing ESG scrutiny from investors. Totem's data infrastructure is designed to support compliance reporting as well as operational efficiency.
UK MEES (EPC-C by 2030)
Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards require all rental properties to achieve a minimum EPC C rating by 2030. Active energy management and monitoring supports EPC assessments and targeted improvements without structural overhaul.
ESG & Investor Reporting
Institutional investors in PBSA are increasingly demanding verified energy consumption data. Totem provides granular, device-level data that supports Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions reporting, ESG frameworks, and net-zero pathway planning.
Net Zero 2050
The UK's legally binding net-zero target creates long-term pressure on all building operators. Totem's data infrastructure provides the foundation for phased decarbonisation planning — identifying highest-impact improvements across an estate.
Everything you need to know
Ready to reduce energy costs across your PBSA portfolio?
Book a demo to see how Totem works, or get in touch to discuss your specific building requirements.