Building environmental services specialist Alan Jordan thinks over-regulation is building up resentment among clients and hiding the real benefits of hygiene services. Ewen Rose reports.
Water and ventilation hygiene is a growing market. Despite the depth and length of the current recession, demand for these specialised services has continued to grow.

'Turnover amongst members has risen dramatically in the past 12 months despite the general downturn in construction and installation,' a statement issued recently by the HVCA's Ventilation Hygiene branch reported. 'Although new-build project work has reduced, people still need to change workspaces (to larger or smaller footprints) or to re-arrange the layout to cater for change of use. This has created real business opportunities for hygiene specialists.'
Suffolk-based water treatment specialist Jordan Environmental has enjoyed the benefits of this trend, but founder and managing director Alan Jordan believes many clients still do not appreciate the real benefits of specialist hygiene services.

'A lot of people think water hygiene is just cleaning - it's not,' he says. 'Clients are being heavily regulated and many feel they have been forced into unnecessary compliance - so they will look for the cheapest possible solution. However, we believe that good water quality is something people should desire and expect in 2011. It would be very refreshing if clients engaged our services because they believed in water quality and not because they felt that they simply had no choice.'

The obsession with regulation has also led to an epidemic of 'cut and paste' tenders based purely around the letter of the law.

'I don't think people understand many of the issues anymore because they don't sit down and talk about them,' he adds. 'All they do is quote the ACoPs [approved codes of practice] at each other. Consultants also fail to involve hygiene specialists early enough in the process - so there is no water hygiene strategy.'
And the stream of legislation shows no sign of drying up. Alan has just ploughed through the detail of the new BS8580 for legionnella, which focuses heavily on rainwater harvesting systems. These are becoming more common and present a particular threat because they involve large amounts of stored water that is already contaminated.

'There is a lot of red tape that does build up resentment and part of our role is to focus on what is meaningful,' adds Alan. 'However, the figures suggest we are winning. Very few people die from contaminated water systems any more - and while we might resent the regulations, we do have to ask the question how bad would it be if the control measures were not there?'

Alan, who was a technical sales consultant for Rentokil Water and Ventilation Services Division when it was founded in the early 90s, at a time when Legionnaires' Disease was regularly hitting the headlines, started Jordan Environmental in 1996 and joined the HVCA three years later. The company now works off a solid annual turnover and directly employs 14 staff.

He has seen some dramatic changes in the approach to building services hygiene since he launched into a 'niche market' - not all of them good.
'I don't like the way the selling of these services has changed,' he says. 'Back then we only had basic guidance and this meant both sales consultants and engineers had a chance to use their knowledge and experience to develop the most appropriate and practical solution for each customer.'

However, he believes that the continued development of Codes of Practice has allowed a number of charlatans into the sector. They understand little about water treatment or engineering, but they do know the legislation and will quote L8 [the code of practice relating to Legionnaires' Disease], COSHH and Water Regulations at a customer to scare them into taking some sort of action.'

He believes that more time and effort should be put into explaining the benefits of water hygiene to clients rather than 'beating them about the head with legislation'.

'I have seen companies spend thousands of pounds refurbishing water storage vessels that they didn't need and should have taken out of service, because they were told that they had no legal alternative,' he adds.

Good water quality is also not just about health. It reduces system breakdowns so minimising downtime, costly repairs and complaints from building occupants. Jordan will offer traditional water hygiene regimes, but also more sophisticated approaches including automated continuous disinfection. Many building owners rely on periodic treatment, but Alan believes this means they may receive limited benefit.

Water systems that are continually dosed do not have to be maintained at high temperatures in order to guard against legionnella build up. This is a major energy saving benefit. Alan points to the large number of schools who leave their water heating running even during the holidays to maintain the system above 60°C, as an example of where major cost savings can be made. Also, the higher the temperature of the system the more scale builds up, so disinfecting the water avoids that vicious circle.

'For example, each millimetre of lime-scale in a heating system will reduce its energy efficiency by 8 per cent because the scale acts as insulation on the inside of pipes and heat exchangers so reducing heat transfer.'

The ability to maintain systems at lower temperatures also reduces the risk of scalding without the need for thermostatic mixing valves. Planned bacteriological protection also reduces the potential hazard of 'dead legs' in pipe work.

Jordan's 'Hydreco PDT' (Precision Disinfection Technology) systems have been developed by the company in association with a local and highly specialist technology company. The most requested type creates chlorine dioxide at source and delivers it in controlled quantities continuously to the water system, to reduce and remove all potentially harmful bacteria.

Jordan also provides a temporary mobile version to tackle specific problems and offers pre-commissioning disinfection, which can be difficult in long running and convoluted construction or refurbishment projects. In some circumstances they will protect them from existing stagnant pipe runs which, if they are ignored, will instantly contaminate a new installation the moment it is turned on.

The mobile units are in demand to tackle emergency reactive disinfections where systems have become infected and also for sheltered housing, healthcare premises and hotels.

'We also offer a 'try before you buy' service prior to permanent installation,' says Alan. 'Beware the 'snake oil salesman! There are many potential benefits from these systems, but they are not always the most pragmatic approach. We review the individual circumstances to assess suitability because this is a bespoke piece of equipment and not a one size fits all solution.'

It is a long way from his original background in technical sales of building repair materials, but Alan had to learn on the job and found out most of what he needed to know by 'poking around in plant rooms'. Following a brief return to the building materials industry he started his own water and air hygiene business, but it was a juggling act at first.

'I had a few Superman moments in the early days,' he recalls. 'I would be in a suit and tie for sales visits and then do a quick change into my overalls in the back of the van before heading off to clean water tanks.'

He decided he needed to progress the day he managed to lock himself in the van. Suitable premises were located in Bury St Edmunds and business expanded, particularly in the Cambridge and North London area where many building owners turned to him for legionnella protection.

A further recent 'big step' has been to open a branch office in Waltham Abbey to service the London area, because so much of its business is there now.
'Our philosophy has always been: Aim for service and success will follow.' says Alan. 'We try to offer a bespoke solution and risk assessments for each client, based on the individual circumstances of their building.

'Water has always been something of a Cinderella service and kept out of site out of mind, but I can't think of anything more fundamental to the quality of life for all building occupants.'