Giving mould the old heave-ho in affordable housing with Switchee technology – rolling out now by Fairhive
PRESS RELEASE
Giving mould the old heave-ho in affordable housing with Switchee technology – rolling out now by Fairhive
Smart technology detects mould growth in affordable housing
JULY 21ST 2022. FOR IMMEDIATE ISSUE
Affordable housing provider Fairhive Homes, formerly Vale of Aylesbury Housing Trust, has committed to installing a further 1,100 Switchee smart thermostats this year, following a successful installation programme of over 900 devices in the last three years. By the end of 2022, just under a quarter of Fairhive’s 8,500 homes will be connected.
Switchee was initially piloted by the housing association to help them prevent and manage damp and mould through data collected by the thermostat’s five sensors. They have seen significant benefits and associated cost savings across multiple areas in the company including resident communication, appointment scheduling, fuel poverty analytics and remote boiler testing.
Switchee’s many features include a built in display for easy communication with residents, resulting in a 92% response rate - 74% within 24 hours - to messages and surveys on a range of topics including welfare and major works. When compared with sending letters, communicating via the Switchee device has saved Fairhive £12,000 between April 2021 and March 2022.
They have been able to use this feature to survey residents following major works on their homes. It has allowed Fairhive to understand whether their operatives kept appointments, showed their IDs and review resident satisfaction with their repairs services. Such use, improves digital engagement for residents and empowers them to share their opinion directly with their landlord.
Switchee recently surveyed the Fairhive residents about the use of the devices as a communications tool. 90% said they were satisfied, with 75% saying they liked using the device to receive information from their landlord.
Furthermore, as a result of Switchee’s damp and mould analytics, Fairhive has also benefitted from identifying previously unknown mould issues that could prevent some £209,000 in disrepair costs over a 12 month period (April 2021-March 2022).
Andrew Rysdale, Assistant Director of Property at Fairhive Homes, said: “Switchee is already an advantage at an operational level and we want more of our teams to engage with its features so we can be more responsive, in real time, to help residents more, as well as monitor and better maintain our housing stock.
Tom Robins, CEO at Switchee, adds: “Switchee can help housing associations scale up quickly and cost effectively to become data driven organisations that will effect real change in the quality of the service they can provide to tenants, efficiencies across departments and overall cost savings.”
ENDS
For further information contact: Jess Prevost, Switchee Marketing Manager, at jess.prevost@switchee.co or 07517 910185.
About Fairhive
Fairhive provide nearly 8,500 affordable homes across Buckinghamshire and the surrounding areas. As a not-for-profit landlord their income is invested back into their social purpose. Fairhive exist to support residents and neighbourhoods, maintain quality homes and build new ones, and ultimately create thriving communities where people want to live.
About Switchee
It is Switchee’s mission to fight fuel poverty and provide social housing providers with remote data insights that cut maintenance costs and improve resident well-being. Using five sensors, Switchee is able to understand occupancy and optimise heating settings, saving residents up to 17% on their energy bills.
This data is then used to produce a landlord dashboard displaying a range of welfare and maintenance KPIs and alerts such as mould risk, poor insulation, fuel poverty risk, boiler performance and abandonment risk. Plus, with Switchee’s messaging service you can conduct surveys, book in maintenance visits and post announcements directly to the Switchee in-home display. With a typical response rate of over 80%, improve resident communications and make sending expensive, unreliable texts and letters a thing of the past.
We are delighted to be working with over 90 Social Housing Providers across the UK.
Proud winners of the Queen’s Award For Innovation: Enterprise. 2020.