PEW finds out about Aico’s longstanding relationship with Southend-on-Sea City Council and the installation of the council’s fire and carbon monoxide (CO) alarm systems in its social housing stock.

Southend has pledged to reach Net Zero emissions by 2030 and is now launching a proactive retrofit programme for its 6,000 homes, which currently constitute 46% of the organisation’s carbon footprint.

Supported by Ben Harrsion, finalist for Aico’s Rising Star award in the company’s 2024 Community Awards, the programme is currently implementing a wide range of projects from internal training and data improvement, to insulation projects including Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) wave 2.1.

The standout initiative within this programme is the retrofit show home which opened in November 2023. By partnering with several council departments and obtaining support from the DEFRA funded ‘Catchment to Coast’ project, the housing team led a comprehensive retrofit of a solid wall 1950s semi-detached home which included:

• External wall and loft insulation
• Triple glazing
• De-centralised mechanical heat recovery ventilation
• Air source heat pump and electrical appliances
• Solar panels with a 6kW battery
• Grey water recycling Hydraloop that recycles shower water for toilet flushing
• Sustainable drainage and Hydrorocks to reduce risk of flooding
• Low maintenance bio-diverse and drought tolerant garden planting

Aico’s 3000 Series fire and carbon monoxide alarms and HomeLINK environmental sensors

The project stands out for its holistic approach to sustainability, which included using recycled materials, local products, and future-proofing the home from overheating and drought risks in the home.

Educational resource

Hosting 250 visitors, the show home served as an educational resource for the entire community and enabled the council to showcase exemplary practices. The test-and-learn approach to the show home also allows the project to inform which measures to roll out to the wider programme.

All retrofitting carried out in the show home adhered to PAS 2035 and will undergo ongoing assessment with Aico’s HomeLINK environmental sensors, which were used both prior to and after the retrofit to ensure that there are no unintended consequences, and that indoor air quality is being maintained moving forward.

Southend-on-Sea Council’s show home is fully equipped with a Category LD1 fire and CO system using Aico’s Grade D1 3000 Series multi-sensors, future proofing it for any revisions to British Standard 5839-6. By using Aico’s HomeLINK Gateway and environmental sensors, temperature, humidity and CO2 levels can be monitored, giving insight into issues such as damp and mould, indoor air quality, fuel poverty and void properties. This information is seamlessly transmitted to the online HomeLINK Portal, so that Southend Council and its property management company, South Essex Homes, can see in real-time exactly how the house is functioning and can intervene before any issues occur.

Ben Harrison, Housing Sustainability Officer at Southend-on-Sea City Council, says: “The retrofit show home involved taking a holistic approach to sustainable housing which meant that we installed a wide range of interventions. The project is designed to test the latest innovations to inform us on where we should focus our efforts in the wider retrofit programme. Aico’s environmental sensors are crucial for understanding the impact of these measures and ensuring that we continue to evaluate the performance of the home beyond installation.”

Proactive approach to health and wellbeing

The utilisation of Aico’s HomeLINK app for residents has played a significant part in this project, enabling residents to take control of their own environment and take a proactive approach to their health and wellbeing. The app facilitates direct real-time communication between Southend Council, South Essex Homes and the tenant through its messaging feature. In addition to this, Southend Council and South Essex Homes have collaborated with Aico on Smart Meter Integration, to offer the tenant and council an additional dimension to the app.

This system has garnered positive feedback and is not only being implemented in SHDF trials and void properties equipped with environmental sensors, but has also prompted a Category LD2 upgrade programme across all of Southend Council’s properties. This initiative underscores the commitment to prioritise tenant safety and compliance for both the council and South Essex Homes.

Southend Council’s retrofit programme has enjoyed remarkable success, achieving such acclaim that it has been honoured with the following awards and nominations:

• Winner of ACES Retrofit Housing award 2023
• Highly Commended at Essex Housing Awards’ 2023 (Retrofit)
• Shortlisted for RICS’ Eastern Region
• Shortlisted for MJ Awards’ Innovation in Delivering Sustainability and Social Value
• Shortlisted in the Unlock Net Zero Awards

Steve Morl, Mechanical & Electrical Engineer at South Essex Homes, says: “Following on from the success of our show home we have been very impressed with the information that we are receiving, we are now extending this to all our SHDF homes, as we now have the ability to monitor and manage our stock by using the data on the portal. We are intending on rolling this out to our housing stock over the coming months in particular the higher risk properties bringing them up to LD2 standard.”

Forward thinking

Matt Golding, Regional Specification Manager at Aico, concludes: “The retrofit housing project that Southend Council and SEH have been tirelessly working on has really yielded some great insights across all aspects of the property, a real success and credit to them working to BS5839-6 Category LD1 and the forward thinking use of our environment sensors has future proofed this property for the eventual tenants and will provide them with great insights as to how the property environment is working and also how efficient Southend Council have made the property. Maintaining their sustainability and compliance drive, Southend Council and SEH are now rolling this process out to all the properties involved in their SHDF project and will be installing Aico Gateways in all properties across the next few years.”

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This year Aico has been working with JTL Training in Ashford, Kent to provide their students with Aico’s free, award-winning Expert Installer Training.

JTL is one of the largest work-based learning providers in England and Wales working with over 3,800 businesses from large corporations to small local suppliers. JTL is currently working with over 8,000 learners and trains more apprentices than anyone else in the building services and engineering sector.

Aico’s FIA CPD accredited Expert Installer Training is designed to ensure electrical contractors have all the information they need to install domestic fire and carbon monoxide alarm systems. Guaranteeing effective fire safety protection for customers relies on alarm systems being installed correctly. It is important that young people who are entering the work environment are given the correct information when it comes to installing life safety devices.

The students at JTL were also provided with information and a demonstration of the HomeLINK Connected Home Solution. The system can extract and collate data directly from alarm heads and Environmental Sensors and be made available from a user-friendly dashboard. These actionable insights enable preventative measures and proactive maintenance of Landlords’ housing portfolios.

Once students have completed Expert Installer training, they are invited to join the Aico Installer Community – a connected online platform built to support Expert Installers. Members of the community are eligible to participate in Aico’s free-of-charge City & Guilds Assured Training – Domestic Fire &CO Alarm Systems.

Aico’s Regional Specification Manager (RSM), Paul Barrett, who provided the training, added: “Educating future generations is one of the most rewarding parts of my role. It has been great to work with Russell Griffiths and Dave Cunningham educating their students on the importance of installing Domestic Fire and CO alarms to British Standards BS 5839-P6 and BS 50292. It is now becoming an annual event and I hope we can roll the training out to all their colleges.”

JTL’s Senior Electrical Tutor, Russell Griffiths, commented: “I have been teaching electrical installations for 17 years and it has always baffled me that fire alarms do not form more of a part of the qualification than they do. So, with this in mind, I made an approach to Paul Barrett of Aico to see if the company could provide CPD to our learners here at JTL Ashford.

“On meeting with Paul, I could tell that Aico were going to be very proactive partners in the assistance they were to give us, and it was fantastic to hear about the Expert Installer training that they could provide for our learners. We arranged a date for Paul to come in and deliver the training and I have to say it was of great benefit to our learners. Students were actively engaged from start to finish and all were provided with a certificate of completion, that they could add to their CPD files and off-the-job training logs.

“All learners found the session very useful and were happy with gaining a better understanding of domestic smoke alarm systems and the different types of protection offered with Aico products, Paul was very professional and able to deliver a good session to our learners with his expert knowledge.

“Moving forward, Paul has arranged for a bespoke display board to be made for our workshop enabling the learners to have access to not only demonstrate products but also can be made live to enable learners to test functionality. I hope that we can have a Paul back every year to deliver to our learners because the service that Aico and Paul provide is a valuable addition to our curriculum here and I believe that it should be used widely throughout our organisation.”

Supporting education is a big focus for Aico and they have a dedicated team of 29 RSMs, delivering fully accredited CPD courses across the UK.

To find out more, you can find your local RSM here

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