Interview
Improving air quality with smart tech
EW speaks to Sam Collier, head of market intelligence at Aico|HomeLINK.
What does your current role entail and how long have you been doing it? As head of market intelligence, I am responsible for providing insight into how our products evolve to meet market needs. The demand for enhanced data about our homes has risen sharply in response to net zero targets and urgent calls to address poor conditions within social housing. Responding to this increased demand, as well as the increased attention on landlords from the Social Housing Regulator and the Housing Ombudsman, led us to create this new function within the team in early 2023, ensuring that we can effectively respond to the growing requirements of our customers.
What roles were you doing before and how did they prepare you for this one? I joined HomeLINK as part of a PhD placement, which sought to understand the ethical dimensions of using environmental sensors in social housing. Ensuring the risk of unintended consequences is minimised is a core consideration in our product development. Developing knowledge in areas of regulation and legislation, as well as considering how our products impact end users was key in informing my current day-to- day work. Following this initial role, I took further interest in sustainability aspects of HomeLINK’s products, leading on the development of new tools to complement the rollout of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.
What are the health risks of damp and mould in the home?
In September, DLUHC in conjunction with DHSC and UKHSA, published comprehensive guidance on the health risk of damp and mould in the home. The primary health impacts of damp and mould are on the respiratory system, with the eyes and skin also affected. These health impacts are of particular concern for those with related pre- existing conditions such as asthma and COPD.
26 | electrical wholesaler December 2023
Damp and mould can also negatively impact occupants’ mental health, due to health worries, poor conditions and damage to possessions. The resolution process can also provide frustration for residents, and the Housing Ombudsman has moved quickly to eradicate blame.
What effect do you predict the rising cost of energy bills is likely to have on social housing residents in particular? Energy is an essential service to heat and power all our homes. The vast majority of us need to purchase our energy, and the cost of energy is relatively standardised across the UK. As a result, lower income households will face a disproportionately higher energy burden (% of income spent on energy bills). As these bills rise, this gap widens. Further, those in rental properties, and particularly those on lower incomes, have reduced access to home improvements and other energy efficiency measures, which can reduce their energy demand.
The impact of this can present some difficult choices to those unable to afford high energy costs, which in reality often present themselves as
trade-offs, which the increasingly used phrase “heating or eating” encapsulates. Inadequately heating your home can lead to secondary impacts such as damp and mould, and this can exacerbate the negative health impacts of low indoor temperatures.
Poor quality housing is a significant contributor to higher energy bills. Funding is desperately needed to improve the energy efficiency of homes across the UK to lower bills for residents and improve their conditions. Whilst social housing is, on average, the most energy efficient tenure (by EPC rating), around 4 million properties will need to be improved to meet energy efficiency targets. The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund has enabled the improvement of thousands of social homes and has led to the development of structures, frameworks, and associated delivery models, but there is a vast amount of work still to be done. This winter, we are unlikely to see the scale of energy bill rises we saw last winter. However, the summer months often provide a period of recuperation for the annual energy bill cycle, and it remains to be seen how prepared households are financially to deal with the coming winter.
ewnews.co.uk
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