Complex systems
In the UK’s expanding science research and life science sectors, laboratories and science buildings are quickly becoming critical infrastructure.
The UK’s science sector is a driving force for innovation and discovery. It also attracts talent, funding and investment. A 2024 report from Legal & General 1 pointed to the positive impact of UK university science and technology spinouts on the UK economy: “We believe the UK University Spinout sector is a highly impactful asset class that can offer exposure to growth businesses across key industries such as healthcare, clean energy and advanced computing.”
This is a sector that needs high-quality working spaces. The buildings can be complex, particularly in terms of their building services and HVAC systems. Behind the scenes, these buildings rely on tightly controlled environments, with sophisticated ventilation, heating and cooling systems working in harmony to maintain the stable conditions researchers and research demand.
That high-level performance can be compromised by a surprisingly mundane factor: the quality of the water flowing through the system.
Water treatment may not always be top of mind when planning or operating lab buildings, but it should be. From ensuring accurate temperature control to protecting the energy efficiency of HVAC systems, clean, well-conditioned water underpins the stable operation that these buildings demand.
At Enwa, we believe water treatment is essential to building performance. And when precision matters, as it does in laboratories, our EnwaMatic Side Stream filtration system plays a vital role in keeping HVAC systems operating reliably and efficiently.
Ideal conditions
In life sciences labs, consistency is everything. Even small temperature variations caused by flow restrictions or localised build-up in the system can compromise outcomes, damaging sensitive equipment or even invalidating research. That’s why lab HVAC systems are often built with added resilience, featuring redundancy, automated controls and multiple layers of commissioning.
But even the best engineering is only as good as the medium that transports energy around the system, and in most cases, that’s water.
Without effective water treatment, a closed-loop heating or cooling system is vulnerable to debris, corrosion and biological build-up. These affect the water’s transport properties and can reduce energy efficiency and heat exchange performance, particularly in newer systems with narrower waterways and smaller plant. Left unchecked, they also increase strain on pumps and other equipment, shortening service life and risking system instability.
Out of sight out of mind
Much of the time this remains out of sight but sight glass on expensive lab equipment can become visibly fouled, and leakage in voids can stain ceiling tiles, impacting how equipment and facilities can be perceived.
For laboratories, where temperature control is directly tied to the reliability of operations and where aesthetics matter, it’s simply not a risk worth taking.
The EnwaMatic Side Stream system offers a preventative approach to water treatment. Rather than using conventional chemical inhibitor dosing or reactive filtration, it continuously conditions and filters a side stream of the system water, removing particulates and stabilising water quality.
With the ability to remove particles to below 10 microns, EnwaMatic system keeps water close to potable levels of cleanliness. It also stabilises pH and alkalinity, reducing the risk of corrosion and extending the lifetime of HVAC components. Most importantly for lab environments, the system is fully automated, self-regulating, and designed to operate reliably without requiring constant manual intervention.
This not only reduces maintenance and labour demands (a major benefit in busy sites with stretched FM resources) but also ensures issues are dealt with in real-time before they escalate into problems.
Technology superpower
The UK government has committed to becoming a global science and technology superpower, backed by increased investment in R&D and specialist infrastructure. That ambition is already transforming the built environment: clusters of new laboratories and advanced manufacturing spaces are emerging in science parks, near research universities, and in city centre innovation zones.
These high-value buildings are not only research facilities, but commercial assets. Their owners and occupiers expect them to operate at peak efficiency, from energy use and carbon emissions to resilience and ease of maintenance.
In this context, Enwa’s automated, chemical-free water treatment is an asset. It supports energy-efficient performance, simplifies maintenance, and reduces the need for chemical storage or manual filter replacement – all important in buildings with a focus on sustainability and occupant safety.
In new-build labs, including EnwaMatic Side Stream filtration from the outset protects systems from the earliest stages of commissioning. Design efficiencies are preserved, and maintenance planning becomes easier, especially when FM and operational teams are involved early in the specification process.
In refurbishment projects, where historical deposited debris can be dislodged during system upgrades, EnwaMatic helps to protect new plant from inherited risks. For life sciences campuses with a mix of old and new buildings, this is particularly valuable, offering a consistent, reliable and robust approach across the estate.
Laboratories demand precision. That includes the water in their HVAC systems. With EnwaMatic Side Stream filtration, precision is built in.
If you’d like to find out more about our approach to water treatment, we can offer CPD-approved presentations on the principles behind it and talk to you about how Enwa’s approach can benefit you or your clients’ buildings.
