From Man-in-a-Van to Data-on-Demand: 7 Proven Ways to Cut Costs & Carbon
From Man-in-a-Van to Data-on-Demand isn’t just a catchy slogan. It describes a real shift that estates, facilities management (FM) and multi-site operators are making right now: away from manual, clipboard-based checks and towards smart, continuous, IoT-powered monitoring.
Instead of sending a man-in-a-van to check temperatures, tanks, plant rooms and leaks, data-on-demand means the building tells you what’s happening in real time. That saves money, cuts carbon and makes compliance easier to prove.
In this article, we’ll look at what From Man-in-a-Van to Data-on-Demand really means in practice, how many site visits you can realistically remove, and what that means for your ESG story.
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What does “From Man-in-a-Van to Data-on-Demand” really mean?
Traditionally, water safety and asset checks are built around physical site visits. An engineer gets in a van, drives to site, and walks the building:
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Running taps and recording temperatures for Legionella checks
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Opening plant room doors and visually inspecting assets
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Checking tanks, overflows and sumps
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Listening for pumps, looking for leaks and damp
For Legionella alone, UK duty-holders are expected to identify sentinel outlets and carry out regular hot and cold water monitoring, keeping records to show they are in control of the risk. HSE guidance sets out monthly checks for distribution temperatures at key outlets and hot water storage cylinders, with cold water storage tanks typically checked at least every 6 months. HSE+2HSE+2
On a small site, this is manageable. On a portfolio of 10, 20 or 50 buildings, the man-in-a-van model quickly becomes:
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Expensive – fuel, vehicle costs, engineer time
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Carbon intensive – thousands of miles every year
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Risky – because anything that happens between visits can go unnoticed
When you move From Man-in-a-Van to Data-on-Demand, you change the model:
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Sensors continuously monitor temperatures, levels, flows and alarms
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Data streams back to a secure platform
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Alerts are raised automatically when something drifts out of spec
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Engineers only attend when there’s a real need, not “just in case”
The compliance duty stays the same. The way you fulfil it becomes smarter, more transparent and lower carbon.
From Man-in-a-Van to Data-on-Demand in numbers
To make From Man-in-a-Van to Data-on-Demand real, let’s look at a simple example.
Scenario: 15-building estate
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15 buildings across a town or region
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Each building requires a monthly Legionella temperature walk-round
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Each visit is a return journey of around 10 miles
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One engineer can comfortably do 3 buildings per day
Under a classic man-in-a-van model, that’s:
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15 site visits per month
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180 visits per year
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Roughly 1,800 van miles per year for Legionella checks alone
Now add on leak inspections, tank checks, pump rooms, sumps, gullies and ad-hoc “can you just have a look” visits, and it’s easy for that mileage to double.
If you adopt a data-on-demand approach using remote Legionella monitoring, leak detection and sewer or gully sensors, you might realistically remove 50–70% of those routine visits, while still retaining occasional physical inspections.
Let’s assume a conservative 60% reduction in mileage:
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1,800 miles × 60% = 1,080 miles saved per year
Average car and light van emissions in the UK are typically in the range of 160–207 gCO₂ per mile, depending on fuel type and assumptions. NimbleFins
Using a mid-range figure, those 1,080 miles avoided equate to roughly 0.2–0.3 tonnes of CO₂ per year for this small portfolio, just from shifting routine checks to data-on-demand.
Scale that up to:
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A national FM contract with 100+ sites
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A university or NHS Trust estate
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A housing provider or defence estate with thousands of rooms
…and the move From Man-in-a-Van to Data-on-Demand quickly becomes a meaningful line in your carbon reduction plan.
7 ways data-on-demand cuts costs for estates & FM teams
Here are 7 proven ways that moving From Man-in-a-Van to Data-on-Demand reduces cost and operational pain for estates and FM leaders:
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Fewer routine site visits
When temperature profiles, tank levels and sewer levels are online, engineers only attend when the data says there’s a problem or a planned intervention is due. -
Lower fuel and vehicle costs
Every avoided van trip saves fuel, wear and tear, and often parking or tolls. HMRC’s Advisory Fuel Rates for cars and vans show how quickly mileage adds up in real money terms, even before you consider CO₂. The Sun -
Reduced emergency call-outs
IoT leak detection can spot small leaks before they become major events, shutting off supply automatically if required. AQUAIOT’s leak detection solution is specifically designed to detect anomalies early and is built for estates, housing and critical facilities. aquaiot.co.uk -
Better use of skilled engineers
Instead of spending days driving and taking manual readings, your best people focus on solving real issues, planning upgrades and fine-tuning performance. -
Fewer compliance surprises
Continuous Legionella monitoring gives you a tamper-evident record of temperatures at tanks, loops and sentinel outlets, aligned with HSE expectations around risk control and record-keeping. HSE -
Less paper, more usable data
Digital logs are searchable, filterable and exportable. That makes internal audits, insurer questions and regulator visits much easier to handle. -
Stronger business case for upgrades
Data-on-demand shows exactly where you’re wasting water, losing heat or sending too many people to site. That evidence helps unlock capex for targeted retrofit and optimisation.
From Man-in-a-Van to Data-on-Demand and your ESG story
For many organisations, business travel and fleet mileage are a significant chunk of their carbon footprint. In the UK, domestic transport accounts for around 29% of territorial greenhouse gas emissions, largely from road vehicles. RAC Foundation
That means every mile you can avoid has a direct impact on your environmental performance.
By shifting From Man-in-a-Van to Data-on-Demand you can:
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Cut short, frequent van journeys to and from site
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Replace “check if everything’s OK” visits with remote dashboards and alerts
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Demonstrate tangible emissions reductions in your ESG reporting
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Show stakeholders that you are using digital tools to deliver compliance more sustainably
Remote monitoring is increasingly recognised as a key emerging technology in Legionella control and water management, offering real-time insight without constant site attendance. Aquatrust
Combine that with AQUAIOT’s experience in smart water butts, sewer monitoring and leak detection, and you have a portfolio of measures that all help your organisation move away from carbon-heavy, van-based inspections. Water Industry Journal
What a data-on-demand dashboard actually looks like
To picture From Man-in-a-Van to Data-on-Demand, imagine this instead of a stack of paper logbooks.
[Insert image: From Man-in-a-Van to Data-on-Demand smart water monitoring dashboard – estate view with alerts]
Alt text:From Man-in-a-Van to Data-on-Demand smart water monitoring dashboard
A typical AQUAIOT data-on-demand dashboard for water systems might include:
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Estate overview map – pins for each building, colour-coded by status
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Live temperature tiles – hot and cold temps at cylinders, loops and sentinel outlets
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Leak and level indicators – showing normal, warning or alarm states
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Alarm panel – prioritised list of active alerts (e.g. low hot water temperature, tank level too high, sewer level rising fast)
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Trend graphs – so you can see whether a problem is new or long-running
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Export and reporting tools – PDFs or CSVs for compliance evidence and board reporting
Instead of waiting for someone to visit site and spot a problem, a duty-holder can open the dashboard and see instantly:
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Which buildings are compliant
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Where the next engineer should go
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How the estate is performing overall
That’s the essence of From Man-in-a-Van to Data-on-Demand.
How AQUAIOT gets you From Man-in-a-Van to Data-on-Demand
AQUAIOT specialises in IoT-based water monitoring across Legionella, leaks, sewer levels and smart water butts, with UK-ready hardware and support. aquaiot.co.uk
Key building blocks in a From Man-in-a-Van to Data-on-Demand journey include:
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Legionella monitoring system – sensors on cylinders, loops and sentinel outlets to capture continuous temperature profiles, with automated alerts and audit-ready logs
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Leak detection – monitoring for unusual flows or moisture, with options to shut off supply automatically before damage escalates
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Sewer and gully monitoring – level sensors that detect blockages and rising flows early, reducing emergency call-outs and pollution risk
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Smart water butts and stormwater control – helping councils and property managers manage rainfall more intelligently, reducing flood risk and unnecessary pumping
These systems can use public or private LoRaWAN, cellular connectivity or other telemetry options, depending on the site. The key point is that data is always available, even when engineers are not.
When you pull these streams together into a single, simple dashboard, estates and FM teams get a true data-on-demand view of their water systems.
Conclusion
In summary, From Man-in-a-Van to Data-on-Demand is about more than swapping clipboards for dashboards – it’s a fundamental shift in how estates and FM teams manage risk, cost and carbon. By using continuous monitoring for Legionella, leaks, sewers and plant rooms, you cut unnecessary van miles, free engineers to focus on real issues and gain a defensible, data-rich audit trail for regulators, insurers and boards. If you manage a multi-site portfolio and want to see how many visits and emissions you could remove in year one, get in touch with AQUAIOT and we’ll build a tailored, data-on-demand roadmap for your estate.