When the University of Western Australia (UWA) undertook a $6 million refurbishment to improve the campus experience for students, staff and visitors, the bathrooms received a unique upgrade.

Open to over 25,000 students and the public, the university’s bathrooms experience extremely high footfall. Paper towels, in combination with a few hand dryers, led to considerable unwanted mess and complaints and incurred a high, ongoing cost to supply hand towels to all campus bathrooms.

The University looked to Ferguson Architects for a solution that would save on the cost of paper hand towels, and combat the hygiene and safety issues of water across the washroom floors.

Ferguson’s solution was the Dyson Airblade Tap hand dryer, which, as the name suggests, combines a water tap with a hand dryer. Following a one-off installation for UWA to trial the product, UWA reported that the feedback from maintenance staff, cleaners and washroom patrons was positive, with many impressed with the results.

Immediately after the trial, Dyson provided training to the installers who handled all 60 bathrooms, achieving a seamless fitting of the Dyson Airblade Tap hand dryers at the University campus.

“Getting rid of paper towels has helped reduce waste, decreased costs and makes UWA even more sustainable and environmentally friendly,” said Beau Ruthofer, UWA Campus Management.

Using the Dyson Airblade Tap hand dryers means there is a noticeable reduction of unwanted water on the bathroom floors, improving the hygiene quality in all UWA bathrooms and having a cleaner washroom means less maintenance for staff and more satisfied people coming and using the amenities at UWA, said Ruthofer.