In a recent issue of Housing Management and Maintenance magazine research from Rentokill Property Care was published highlighting the significant damp and condensation problems that affect up to 5.8 million renters in the UK. The causes of this are varied such as 35% of rented properties surveyed did not have enough natural light and 34% did not have reliable central heating. Worryingly the average landlord can take up to 84 days to rectify any reported damp related issues and this creates not only the obvious risk of damage to the property but more seriously can have adverse effects on resident health.
As with so many challenges facing housing organisations today the solution to this problem comes under the banner of digital transformation through the implementation of automated systems.
ROCC have pioneered a fully automated monitoring solution with our partners at Cambridge based Purrmetrix that not only continuously monitor condensation and damp in a property but also proactively creates a task for an adhoc visit to take place. This visit determines what work is required to rectify the issue and if possible resolve the problem there and then. Communication can be fully automated between the sensors, the works management and scheduling system, the resident, works planners and ultimately field service workers to ensure the issue is resolved as quickly as possible.
The solution can harness all of the current technology trends that many are talking about in housing. Not only can sensors detect when problems are occurring and trigger the automatic creation of works that require completion but communication, even two way communication can be managed through the use of well-designed conversational interfaces. Predictive forecasting can also be used to predict which types of property or which areas and what times of the year are most likely to have issues and this can feed into ensuring operatives are available to ensure the issues are resolved as quickly as possible.
As an initial step, it is extremely cheap and easy for housing organisations to roll out a trial to a few select properties and to get up and running receiving real time feeds from the sensors in the properties within a matter of days.
To find out more about our environmental monitoring and works management solutions call us on 01273 274716 or complete this form.
