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Nigel Newman is director of strategy and growth at Raven Housing Trust
Don’t be afraid of investment in smart technology – it can improve services and make homes safer
Raven Housing Trust is looking at the potential of the Internet of Things to make properties safer, including testing sensors that could trigger alerts about broken fire doors. Nigel Newman explains more
Before Christmas, I read Mark Henderson’s article about how Home Group were exploring new smart technology.
What struck me first were the words in the title warning us “but needs investment”. The chill wind of increased costs blows again.
Is this another play thing for the sector to dabble with, but not really embrace?
Well, the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) have a momentum and so the question is not if, but when, new technologies will change the way we provide services to customers and manage our stock.
“We need to be more imaginative, adopt new ways of working, and invest in emerging markets”
I think there needs to be a stronger appetite for change, investment and exploration throughout our sector. We need to be more imaginative, adopt new ways of working, and invest in emerging markets.
Smart technology (and I don’t just mean heating systems) might need investment – but everything needs investment: staff, systems, services, assets.
We just need good investment. Don’t forget, smart technology is proven – after all, we’ve been talking about the IoT for more than 10 years now.
Other sectors have been comfortable in this world for years and artificial intelligence is in most of our homes, but the social housing sector is lagging behind.
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Let’s think more about smart technology and property compliance. We should seriously consider everything that makes our customers safer and improves what we do.
The IoT can help us track fire doors and property compartmentalisation. Why do we think a fire risk assessment is satisfactory when a sensor tells us that a fire door has been wedged open, or if the closure mechanism has been broken?
Why do we wait for an electrician to visit and carry out an emergency lighting checks when we can do this at any time, remotely – so we know exactly when an emergency light fails?
Why do we wait for surveyors to have an appointment to visit customers simply to tell them to ventilate or heat their homes more effectively, when a sensor can tell us when the risk of condensation is high?
New technologies can help us improve our services and create safer homes. That’s good investment.
“Why do we think a fire risk assessment is satisfactory when a sensor tells us that a fire door has been wedged open, or if the closure mechanism has been broken?”
Raven Housing Trust is a medium-sized housing association – a stock transfer association with 7,000 homes, that employs 250 people. We are regionally focused and do not have deep pockets. But we’re investing in smart technology and are rethinking how we work.
Depending on what smart technology we invest in, we expect to see a payback after 18-24 months, while making our homes safer places to live for our customers.
We are working with our customers to rethink our business model, our relationship with them, and our ambitions for the future. This means modernisation and changing the way we do things.
Our appetite for change is strong; we are launching a vibrant new co-working space for entrepreneurs and small local businesses, which will work as a business accelerator and helps us to forge closer relationships with innovative small companies looking to grow.
Our work with IoT and new sensor technologies will be available to the sector in a few months.
It’s just a mindset thing – let’s not be put off by the term ‘investment’. Investment can be positive and it doesn’t need to be prohibitive.
Investing in smart technology can save us money, improve what we do, and make our homes safer places to live.
Nigel Newman, director of strategy and growth, Raven Housing Trust
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