Devon and Cornwall Police HQ, Exeter

Drought Mitigation

SDS rainwater recovery system supplies new Police Headquarters.

Overview

Devon and Cornwall Police’s new headquarters in Exeter ranks among the UK’s most sustainable public buildings. To enhance environmental performance, a smart rainwater reuse system was installed to reduce potable water consumption by using harvested rainwater for toilet flushing.

What We Did

SDS delivered a rainwater recovery and reuse system that repurposes water from an existing attenuation tank. The system includes automated filtration and SDS SYMBiotIC™ monitoring, providing real-time data on system performance and water savings.

Installation involved clearing silted chambers, routing pipework through soft ground, and connecting to internal plumbing. All work was completed within two weeks with minimal disruption to site operations.

Results

Over 150,000 litres of rainwater have been reused since commissioning, meeting 93% of non-potable demand. The system has significantly reduced the building’s environmental impact and operational costs while demonstrating the potential to retrofit sustainable water reuse systems across public infrastructure.

This project demonstrates the practical value of rainwater reuse at scale. By leveraging existing attenuation infrastructure, we’ve shown how simple it can be to retrofit sustainable solutions into operational public buildings. The system’s performance — delivering over 93% of non-potable water demand from harvested rainwater — is a clear indicator of what’s possible with intelligent design and robust monitoring. It’s a model we believe can be replicated widely across the public and commercial sectors

– Dr Neil Sewell, Director of New Technology Services

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