Plumbing & Water
Water supply, drainage and — critically — water hygiene risk management across a facility's water systems.
The water hygiene risk in a building is highest exactly when the building is least used — stagnant water, not busy taps, is what breeds legionella.
Why this service exists
Beyond basic supply and drainage function, this service carries a statutory water-hygiene dimension that is frequently under-resourced relative to its genuine risk profile, particularly for calorifiers, cooling towers and any low-flow or intermittently used outlets.
What the service covers
- Water supply and drainage maintenance.
- Legionella risk assessment and control (temperature monitoring, flushing regimes, calorifier maintenance).
- Leak detection and repair.
- Water quality testing.
Assets and objects
- Water supply pipework.
- Drainage systems.
- Calorifiers/hot water storage.
- Low-use outlets.
Who takes part
- Water hygiene specialistRequired
Mandatory for legionella management.
- Plumber/technicianRequired
Delivers day-to-day maintenance.
- FM operations managerSituational
Steers the service.
What the service needs
- Prior legionella risk assessment.
- Water system asset register.
- Occupancy and usage patterns identifying low-flow risk areas.
How delivery runs
- 01Maintain a current legionella risk assessment, refreshed when building use changes materially.
- 02Execute the resulting control regime: temperature monitoring, flushing of low-use outlets, calorifier maintenance.
- 03Respond to leaks and drainage faults against defined severity tiers.
- 04Test water quality on the regime's defined schedule.
- 05Retain records for regulatory audit.
What is delivered
- Risk assessments.
- Flushing/monitoring logs.
- Water quality test results.
- Completed repairs.
From output to outcome
Delivered legionella control with records.
Safe, reliable water supply and drainage with managed legionella risk.
An outcome that is invisible when achieved and severe when missed, which structurally biases organisations toward under-investing in it until an incident forces attention.
Where it gets tense
- Legionella control regimes not adjusted when parts of a building go into reduced or intermittent use (a genuinely common and dangerous gap, since reduced occupancy is exactly when stagnation risk rises).
- Flushing logs completed as a compliance ritual without genuine verification.
Strategic, tactical, operational
Water hygiene risk should be explicitly reassessed whenever occupancy patterns change materially (hybrid work has made this a live, recurring issue rather than a one-off).
Identifying and mapping low-flow outlets across a portfolio, since risk concentrates disproportionately in a small number of locations.
Flushing regimes need genuine operational discipline, not just a schedule — missed flushes compound risk silently.
Performance indicators
- Legionella control regime compliance rate
Core indicator for this service.
- Water quality test pass rate
Direct compliance indicator.
- Leak response time
Prevents consequential fabric damage.
Risks
- Legionella carries direct criminal liability in most European jurisdictions when control regimes are shown to have lapsed; this is one of FM's highest-consequence-per-incident statutory risks despite its low profile in routine reporting.
Statutory context
Legionella control is a hard obligation with a criminal-liability dimension in most European jurisdictions. The duty rests on the organisation; outsourcing moves execution, not liability.
Sourcing options
- Single service
Water hygiene specifically often single-service outsourced to a specialist even where general plumbing is handled in-house or bundled.
Technology and data
- Remote temperature monitoring for legionella control points.
- Leak-detection sensors.
Competencies required
- Water hygiene/legionella risk assessment competency.
- Plumbing trade qualification.
Common mistakes
- Treating legionella risk assessment as a one-off compliance document rather than a living assessment revisited when use patterns change.
- Under-resourcing low-use-outlet flushing precisely where risk is highest.