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ALMO to use robots to fit insulation

Newcastle City Council’s ALMO is to start using cutting-edge robot technology to provide an underfloor insulating fitting service for its tenants and other landlords.

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A Q-Bot Spraybot (picture: Q-Bot)
A Q-Bot Spraybot (picture: Q-Bot)
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ALMO to use robots to fit insulation #ukhousing

Newcastle ALMO to provide AI robot under floor insulation service #ukhousing

ALMO partners will London-based AI robot company #ukhousing

Your Homes Newcastle (YHN), which manages 26,000 homes on behalf of the local authority, has become the first partner of London robotics company Q-Bot.

The robots will be used to install underfloor foam insulation in YHN homes, and the ALMO will also manage a service to carry out similar work on other housing providers’ stock.

Q-Bot’s AI robots install insulation in homes with suspended timber floors, which can be the source of up to 25% of heat loss.

More than 10 million homes in the UK are thought to have this type of floor and only a handful are insulated.

YHN claims the Q-Bot insulation could significantly improve energy efficiency in these homes in a cost-effective manner.


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Tina Drury, managing director of YHN, said: “We’ve obviously already undertaken a great deal of work around energy efficiency and we manage around 18,000 properties on behalf of the city council that could benefit from this sort of product.

“We’re also keen to generate more income for the organisation, which will benefit our customers in turn, and we know that this is a service that many other landlords and housing providers like us will be keen to take advantage of.

“It’s a slight diversion from our core business, but we have people with the relevant skills already, as well as experience of attracting new business and managing contracts, so we’re confident we can make a real success of it.”

The ALMO has committed to using the robots to install underfloor insulation in 1,500 of its homes in the next three years, starting with empty units.

It has bought two vans equipped with the technology.

The insulation takes one or two days to install, and can be done without moving furniture or lifting floors as the robots – called Spraybots – operate beneath the floorboards.

Q-Bot spent five years developing the Spraybot.

Mathew Holloway, chief executive of Q-Bot, said: “Q-Bot is excited to be working with YHN to deliver a vision of the future where robotics and AI have transformed the construction industry and empowered workers.”

“We believe that technology can empower the construction industry and, as a result, make all of our lives better.”

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