OX Living delivers rapid ROI and major water savings with Watergate

Watergate has completed a 16-week smart water management project with co-living operator OX Living, demonstrating how real time monitoring and early leak detection can dramatically reduce water consumption, cut costs and protect residential assets without disrupting residents.

OX Living manages more than 500 rooms in professional house shares in Oxfordshire. It partnered with Watergate to deploy smart water management across nine properties, with Sonic devices installed on the incoming water supply at each site. Each Sonic monitors incoming water flow 24/7. The system identifies abnormal usage and flags potential issues in real time via alerts and the web dashboard.

The goal was to reduce leak risk, improve operational oversight and deliver measurable financial and environmental benefits across OX Living’s co-living portfolio.

Significant savings delivered in just four months

The impact was rapid and clear. Across the nine properties, Watergate helped OX Living identify and address multiple pre-existing leaks and inefficiencies that would otherwise have gone unnoticed. In total, the pilot prevented an estimated 894,000 litres of unnecessary water use in just 16 weeks. This equates to more than 9 tonnes of CO₂e avoided and water bill savings that repaid the full cost of the hardware in under two months.

Around 30 percent of properties were found to have hidden leak issues at the point of installation, underlining how common undetected water waste can be in shared living environments.

Watergate provided OX Living’s operations team with continuous insight into water performance across the portfolio, enabling faster response times, more proactive maintenance and better informed decision making.

In one case, Watergate detected a developing leak with the potential to waste up to 22,000 litres per day, allowing the issue to be addressed before it escalated into major damage or disruption.

Protecting assets while improving resident experience

Crucially, these reductions in water use were achieved without negatively affecting residents. By identifying issues earlier and reducing the likelihood of major leaks, OX Living experienced fewer emergency call outs and less unplanned maintenance, helping to improve day to day resident experience.

OX Living has also set an ambitious target of reducing average per capita water consumption across its portfolio to 100 litres per person per day, without impacting resident experience. The pilot shows how smart water management can support this goal by combining early leak detection with ongoing visibility of water use.

A strong foundation for further optimisation

The pilot also highlighted additional opportunities to unlock further savings and strengthen protection across the portfolio. With improved configurations, faster operational response and wider deployment, OX Living is well positioned to reduce water use even further and minimise the risk of escape of water damage.

With additional devices already planned for installation, OX Living is building a scalable, data driven approach to water efficiency that supports both operational resilience and long term sustainability.

Proving the value of smart water management for co-living and HMOs

For Watergate, the OX Living pilot represents further proof of impact in the co living and HMO sector, building on results previously delivered in build to rent and institutional residential portfolios.

It demonstrates that smart water management can deliver rapid financial returns, meaningful carbon reductions and improved asset protection in shared living environments, while supporting better outcomes for residents.

To explore the results in more detail read the full OX Living case study.