Trial / Demo
See how the University of Liverpool uses IES Live for real-time energy management and sustainability gains.
The University of Liverpool is the first project to use the new IES Live tool which connects live data from a building’s BMS, energy meters and sensors to a performance digital twin of the building, and gives the facilities management team a single pane view of operational performance metrics via the cloud. Allowing both advanced energy and carbon management of the building, and live tracking and verification of savings made from a recent HVAC refurbishment undertaken on the building.
In order to set up IES Live, a calibrated energy model that had been created in an earlier phase of the project using historic monthly measured data was upgraded into a Digital twin using live hourly BMS and metered data from the building post refurbishment.
In this earlier phase 1, the IES Virtual Environment (IESVE) was used to create an initial energy model representing energy flow across spaces and rooms within the building. The model was then calibrated against monthly measured data for 2019 (pre-covid) to create a performance Digital Twin, allowing the prediction of the baseline energy use and testing of refurbishment options. After testing a number of refurbishment options on the model the Digital Twin predicted 14% estimated energy savings from the chosen HVAC refurbishment.
Once phase 1 was complete and the building was reopened after refurbishment, the University appointed IES to upgrade the Performance Digital Twin to make it even more accurate by including operational insights gathered from the newly reopened building. This was done by connecting live data from the BMS and energy meters to the Digital Twin, which enabled the model to be re-calibrated to match current measured data on an hourly basis.
This upgraded Digital Twin was also used to look at further potential interventions to improve the operational performance of the building and move towards decarbonisation. Helping to create a long-term roadmap view and plan of decarbonisation interventions.
The university’s facilities management team is also now using this operational performance digital twin, accessed via IES Live, to continually monitor and improve the building. Benchmarking against the simulated baseline, the university can track performance and gain improvement insights for energy, carbon, and comfort. Additionally, the ongoing impact of the refurbishment is being measured and verified.
Using the IES Live “Implemented Projects” tracking page, it was possible to assess and verify in real time the impact of the HVAC refurbishment: between February 2023 and May 2025, it has led to a 20.95% reduction in energy consumption and £50k saving in operational cost. The difference from the predicted savings in Phase 1 can be ascribed to the improved accuracy of the latest model used to evaluate the actual savings.
IES Live is also helping to prevent operational drift on the building, whereby the performance of building systems degrades over time, as any issues will be flagged and can be fixed before they begin to have an impact.
Replicable across the campus, the university is creating digital twins for another part of the Foundation Building – the Wing – as well as three other facilities: the Central Teaching Hub, the Materials Innovation Factory (MIF) and the Yoko Ono Lennon Centre.
Energy audits have been carried out, with suggested interventions, and digital twins will be used to model interventions. The university is using IES Live to assess the effectiveness of interventions already taken and to predict the impact of potential changes. At MIF, the software shows that a photovoltaic (PV) installation has cut energy use by 1.09% and saved £20,850 for the two years up to 13 May 2025.
An exciting development is the scenario modelling being done at the university’s district heating system. IES has simulated six energy-conservation measures and potential energy saving, including fabric upgrades, distribution loss improvements and boiler replacements.
The savings – which range from 3.3% from thermal storage to 43.1% for boiler replacement without combined heat and power - represent significant opportunities for the university.
“Improving the operation of buildings is key to mitigating energy and climate risk, cutting costs and emissions, meeting sustainability objectives and increasing resilience, not to mention being a vital part of a successful net zero strategy. However, you can’t improve what you can’t measure and there was a gap in the market for a tool that can connect live operational data, providing continuous insights and giving energy management teams a holistic view of how their building is performing. IES Live is a real game-changer, maximising the impact of a digital twin which leverages a world-class simulation engine and placing this power in the hands of those who need it. It’s been a pleasure to work with the University of Liverpool to pilot IES Live and enable them to evaluate the effectiveness of their retrofit measures, verify predicted results and allow informed decisions to be made on building improvements. We look forward to replicating the work across the campus.”
Valeria Ferrando, Associate Director at IES
“Working with IES on this project has given us detailed insight into the impact of our refurbishment work and will enable us to continually monitor and update our operational systems to ensure that the building is operating efficiently. With building use, occupants and settings altering frequently, having access to this level of data means we can make informed decisions on improvements and ensure optimum performance doesn’t come at the expense of occupant comfort.”
Tony Small, Head of Engineering Services at the University of Liverpool
