Heating & renewable energy
of Southampton’s faculty Engineering and Environment to better understand the problem. Patryk agrees: “Mould growth is oſten an expensive, perennial and ongoing
problem for landlords. Firstly, there are health implications for tenants exposed to mould growth for prolonged periods of time – including nasal lung conditions, asthma and allergies in children. “Removing and stopping mould growth isn’t always a simple process and
oſten requires a combination of tradespeople and services to fix it. Tis can include the complaints team, housing managers, surveyors and contractors. In the meantime tenants may have to be rehoused. It all mounts up. “Smart heat controls should be able to assist in a number of ways. Firstly,
it can alert us to the homes with problematic levels of humidity, allowing us to take preventative action before mould growth takes hold.” Patryk further explains: “Secondly, it should provide my team with the
information needed to have an informed conversation with the tenant. If we can see that humidity is spiking at say meal or shower times, we can suggest ventilating the bathroom or putting lids on pans.”
WHAT ARE THE MAIN BARRIERS TO THE ADOPTION OF SMART HEAT CONTROLS? Te two main barriers to adoption identified are the upfront capital investment required to purchase and confusion over various technologies. Te issue of CapEx isn’t a surprise, and in our experience landlords would
rather spread the cost by paying monthly for managed services – with guarantees that products will be maintained and kept up-to-date as part of any contracts. With solutions evolving so quickly you can understand why landlords are anxious to avoid purchasing ‘yesterday’s technology’. Patryk comments: “Smart heat controls should provide ongoing financial,
environmental and social benefits – and this return should be balanced against upfront costs. However, keeping upfront capital costs as low as possible definitely makes purchasing easier, and most landlords now prefer to pay for new solutions as an ongoing service funded by the value they deliver.” “Tere are a lot of different connected home technologies out there from
a growing number suppliers, and in an ideal world they would all be able to integrate and work together, but landlords understand that’s never going to be the case.” Patryk concludes: “As well as conducting their own trials to test and compare
various new technologies, landlords are also sharing pilot and installation data. Tis should prove reassuring to landlords and speed up mass adoption of the right solutions.”
Nigel Ebdon is the market development manager at Secure Meters UK Ltd 44 | HMM November 2018 |
www.housingmmonline.co.uk
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