Housing associations

Housing associations and local authorities responsible for management of housing stock, along with their specialist advisors, are to be offered advance access to the UK’s first Ventilation MOT® which has been specifically designed to establish the adequacy, or otherwise, of the ventilation measures installed in an existing home.
 
David Bly, Director of Cornerstone Professional Services (UK) Ltd, the organisation behind the Ventilation MOT®, explains why social housing providers and their advisors are being offered first adopter status, “Inadequate ventilation, or, as it’s referred to in the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act, “not enough ventilation”, can be a major contributor to condensation and mould growth in a home. If a property is a recently built one, then there’s a chance that one of the recognised ventilation systems in Approved Document F has been installed and it can be demonstrated that there is “adequate means of ventilation provided for people in the building”. It’s a completely different situation in older properties which make up the vast majority of the housing stock and that’s where the Ventilation MOT® will prove very useful to social housing landlords. As a key process in the Property MOT® platform, it will let them know where they stand in terms of ventilation adequacy and what, if anything, they need to do to get there”

We begin with a panel discussion regarding the Smart Home Healthy Home project, chaired by our National Sales Manager, Daniel Little. We have some great panellists, including Richard Bould Technical Manager at Yorkshire Housing, Daniel Hardy Project Lead, Housing of the Future at Leeds City Council, Jessica Kuznia Innovation Analyst at Yorkshire Housing, and our very own Jordan Toulson Product Manager at HomeLINK.

Next, our Operations and Learning & Development Manager, Lee Duffy, examines the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the measures taken throughout the distribution network that ensured continuity within the sector. Lee speaks to Andy Crockett Managing Director at TWC Parcel Collection Services, David Brown Managing Director at UPN, Colin Rann Operations Director at APC and Lydia Hopley, QHS&E Administrator about their experiences.

In the last segment, our Relationships Manager Tina Mistry is joined by Lord Porter of Spalding and Robert Chilton of Cratus Communications. Together, they discuss The Hackitt Report, the Golden Thread and Lord Porter’s views on the changing landscape of the sector.

We finish the episode with an FAQ delivered by our Product Development Executive, Samuel Marston, who explains how to remove a product from a SmartLINK Gateway system.

We being episode sixteen with Jane Pritchard our Community Liason talking to Helen Knight, Development Manager and Lizzy Coleman, Events and Fundraising Officer for Lingen Davies Cancer fund. Jane talks to Helen and Lizzy about the charity and its background, their experiences through the pandemic and upcoming fundraisers.

Next Andy Speake our National Technical Manager sits down with Ian Moore, Chief Executive Officer at the Fire Industry Association. Andy gets a glimpse into Ian's role within the FIA, the changing landscape of the industry and where it is heading in the future.

Finally, our Operations and Learning & Development Manager Lee Duffy, Product Development Manager Michael Wright and Alan Lewis, Founder and owner at Adrenaline Sports sit down and reflect on the EIC Race around Europe challenge. The group discuss the challenges they faced, how much they raised and look forward to Adrenalines upcoming events.

While Housing Associations have long been shifting towards a more digital way of working, the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified this further, with more housing managers embracing remote working technologies and embedding digital infrastructures and data standards into their everyday processes. But are these systems being used to their full potential? As well as providing the option to log in to a central database from any location, remote management systems can also help streamline operations and crucially, open up mutually beneficial dialogues with tenants.

This week's episode kicks off with Intelligent Homes, Dan Little our National Sales Manager takes a look into Smart Homes with Adam Williams, Chief Commercial Officer at Lightwave. The pair delve into where they see Intelligent Homes in the future, the evolution of technology and challenges facing the industry.

Next, RSM’s Tony Boyle and Michael Coupland sit down on the eve of England and Scotland’s European Football Championships match up to discuss the differences in Fire and CO detection standards north and south of the border.

And finally, our relationships manager Tina Mistry chats with Claire Heyes, CEO at CORGI Technical Services ahead of National Social Housing Safety and Compliance week discussing the conference, CORGI’s members and challenges facing the social housing sector.

On Thursday 1st July, Bath-based Consultancy Nine Feet Tall will be hosting a Virtual Round Table Event aimed at business and transformation leaders in the Housing sector.

Our RSM Gary Mason runs through the History of Aico’s training and how Expert Installer came to be with Robert Avery, Head of Fire and Security at McIntyre Compliance Services. Gary and Robert discuss Aico and MCS’s relationship, the Installer Community and Gary’s upcoming visit to train 250 engineers.

Aico's Marketing Manager Alex Garmston sits down with Pam Hodgetts, Corporate Partnerships Manager and Helen Stevens, Communications and Marketing Manager for Midlands Air Ambulance. The trio walk through the ins and outs of the day to day life of the service, what companies can do to help and upcoming fundraisers.

And finally our RSM Tony Boyles CIH Ideas Lab throwback returns for its third and final instalment. Tony is again joined by Simon Roberts – Team Leader for Housing Standards and Quality, Scottish Government, Leonora Montgomery, Chair and Secretary of Aberdeen’s Citywide Multi Storey Group, David Bookbinder - Director of Glasgow & West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations, James Ward – Director of Asset Management at Barrhead Housing Association. In this final instalment, the group discuss new safety technologies such as IoT, how these technologies can improve tenant safety and the potential barriers.