Thousands of UK student buildings waste millions on energy with inadequate control systems

For colleges looking to reduce energy costs, the biggest challenge is often surprisingly simple:

You can’t reduce what you can’t see.

At Wolfson College, Cambridge, hundreds of individual occupants have very different energy habits.

Two buildings are already using Atamate. A third is coming online in 2026.

The goal? Give the College far greater visibility and control over where energy is being used — and wasted.

The challenge: hidden energy waste

Student accommodation is notoriously difficult to manage efficiently.

High-wattage appliances can run around the clock. Portable heaters may be brought into rooms. Heating can continue when rooms are empty or after the desired temperature has already been reached.

For bursars and facilities teams, that creates a difficult balancing act:

Reduce energy bills.
Keep students comfortable.
Meet sustainability and Net Zero targets.
Manage safety risks.

But without detailed information about what is happening at room and circuit level, it is difficult to know where to act.

The Atamate solution

Atamate's atBOS building operating system gives Wolfson College detailed visibility and intelligent control across its accommodation.

Four capabilities are helping the College manage energy more effectively:

1. Intelligent metering
Circuit-level monitoring identifies unusually high electricity consumption, helping facilities teams spot excessive energy use and high-load devices such as portable heaters.

2. Smarter heating
Atamate-controlled electric panel radiators provide heat when it is needed and stop once the target temperature is reached, helping prevent unnecessary heating and energy waste.

3. Better visibility of every room
Multi-sensors monitor environmental conditions and air quality, giving the College the information it needs to manage healthy, comfortable spaces more effectively.

4. Automated energy-saving controls
Smart room controls and automated eco-modes help maintain student comfort while allowing rooms to return to more efficient settings when they are unoccupied.

The result?

Instead of making decisions based on assumptions, Wolfson College can see how energy is actually being used across its buildings.

Real data. Greater control. Better-informed decisions.

And importantly, this isn't a theoretical smart-building project.

It's technology operating in real student accommodation, with hundreds of occupants and all the complexity that brings.

For colleges facing rising energy costs, ageing buildings and ambitious sustainability targets, better building intelligence can reveal where energy is being wasted — and give facilities teams the tools to do something about it.

Want to understand where your college could be wasting energy?

Book a demo with Joe Miles at atamate.com/joe.