Anglian Water and Corporate Culture in woolly hat house tour of East

Anglian Water is taking to the streets to wrap us all up against the winter – and it’s not just about scarves, gloves and bobble hats. Working in conjunction with Corporate Culture, the sustainable behaviour change agency, Anglian Water will be touring cities in the East of England with a giant woolly bobble hat to highlight the importance of keeping water pipes warm and cosy during the winter.

The bobble hat, perched on top of a four-metre high flat-packed demonstration ‘home’, will be appearing in Peterborough and Lincoln over the next coming weeks. Shoppers stopping by the house will be greeted with a free cup of hot chocolate or snack, and offered advice on how to keep out the cold at home.

‘The House with the Woolly Hat’ campaign aims to educate householders on the benefits of insulating pipes, preventing bursts and leaks when the weather turns colds. Anglian Water and Corporate Culture will be persuading people of the benefits of acting now, in advance of the cold weather predicted in early 2013, to save on a costly clean-up should pipes freeze and burst.

Corporate Culture’s involvement with the project forms part of Anglian Water’s wider Drop 20 initiative to encourage everyone to use 20 litres less water every day, all year round. Corporate Culture developed the Drop 20 campaign, tackling water shortages across the South East, giving householders context for water saving, such as stepping out of the shower two minutes earlier or fixing a dripping tap to help householders understand how to ‘drop 20’.

Paul Valleley, Anglian Water’s director of Water Services: “2012 was a year of unpredictable weather and being ready is definitely preferable to being caught out. We’ve gone from drought to flooding, both of which had a huge impact on us. It’s impossible to know what winter will throw at us after that. We think the best thing we can do is to be ready for whatever comes around the corner. We’re doing our bit, and we’re asking our customers to do the same. If you want to make sure this January isn’t a damp one, you need to wrap your water pipes first, to prevent the bursts and leaks that sub-zero temperatures bring.”

He added: “The ‘House with the Woolly Hat’ will remind customers that it’s important to protect against bursts and leaks, to save water all year round. Customers often forget about the importance of water saving in winter, with most admitting that they don’t spend much time looking after every drop when temperatures plummet and it starts to rain. In winters gone by we’ve had a torrent of calls from customers with frozen pipes, and they don’t know what to do about it. Because we’re not responsible for pipes in people’s homes it’s hard for us to help – and that’s understandably very frustrating for customers. That’s why we’re getting out there now, making it easy for customers to help themselves. Cheap prevention is definitely better than costly repairs when it comes to bursts and leaks.”

Tim Parr, client services director at Corporate Culture said: “The UK saw a flurry of below-freezing weather before Christmas, and if this returns it can cause serious issues to many homes. Measures such as insulating water pipes in advance are an inexpensive and simple way to ensure that burst water pipes and leaks are avoided.”