• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Housing Technology logo

Housing Technology

Housing | IT | Telecoms | Business | Ecology

  • Free Subscription
  • Search Archive
  • Home
  • Research
  • Magazine
  • Events
  • Recruitment
  • Blog
  • On Demand
  • Contact
Home / Magazine Articles / Renfrewshire’s IoT trial with iOpt Assets

Renfrewshire’s IoT trial with iOpt Assets

An internet of things (IoT) initiative in Renfrewshire is helping to tackle fuel poverty in social housing and could save local authorities millions of pounds on property management and repair bills.

Working with Renfrewshire Council, smart asset management company iOpt Assets has been detecting temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels at 50 social homes around Paisley over the course of the project. The pilot scheme, which has been running since July 2016, is monitoring a range of property types including high-rise flats, cottages and terraced housing.

Capturing this data in near real-time is allowing the local authority to identify anomalies in housing and take preventative action to protect tenants and its property assets. Consistently high humidity and low temperatures, for example, could indicate a tenant is living in fuel poverty; while high carbon-dioxide levels suggest there might be problems with ventilation and air quality.

The IoT network was deployed last year by a consortium of organisations, including the Scottish Innovation Centre for Sensor and Imaging Systems (CENSIS), Stream Technologies and Boston Networks.

So far, the project has helped the local authority to spot a number of potential issues at its properties, including homes that have impending damp, tenants who needed help with their heating system, and several occupants living in fuel poverty. All of the residents at the properties being monitored have opted into the project.

David Amos, head of policy and commissioning, Renfrewshire Council, said, “iOpt Assets’ easy-to-install technology enables us to spot problems our tenants might have with energy or any issues with their housing that might affect their health. It also helps us take preventative action to protect or even improve our homes, from damp and moisture detection, to issues with air quality.

By the end of 2018, iOpt Assets hopes to have rolled out its sensing technology to 2,000 homes in Scotland, spread across a variety of local authorities and housing providers. The Renfrewshire project has delivered an estimated 600 per cent return on investment to the council, by preventing the costs that would have arisen from damage to properties over the next two years.

iOpt Assets is also going through a funding round to secure investment for the development of low-cost, battery-powered sensors with a five-year life, supported by a robust IT and data management system that can handle all the data from hundreds of thousands of homes. iOpt Assets will be working with CENSIS, with the aim of installing the technology in up to 400,000 rented homes over the next six years.

Dane Ralston, director, iOpt Assets, said, “The results of the project have proven the business case for this service; it’s delivering significant returns by allowing Renfrewshire Council to predict issues and be proactive with maintenance, which is invariably more cost effective than having to deal with them after the fact. It also reduces the need for regular property visits and administration, while also leading to reduced premiums in large property portfolios.”

Stephen Milne, business development manager, CENSIS, said, “This is an excellent example of the IoT in action, delivering significant benefits to society and business.

“With six LoRa networks [used for the project’s data transmissions] in operation, stretching from Orkney to Paisley, there are a broad range of trials going on across the country that could have a serious impact on how we use technology in the future, from flood prevention to monitoring emissions in cities.”

See More On:

  • Vendor: iOpt Assets
  • Housing Association: Renfrewshire Council
  • Topic: Housing Management
  • Publication Date: 062 - March 2018
  • Type: News

Primary Sidebar

Most Recent Articles

  • Free cyber-defence tools from NCSC
  • Learning from history
  • Grand Union Housing gets connected with Aico HomeLink
  • The silences in the system: Predicting and preventing damp and mould
  • Looking back and to the future: Cyberthreats in social housing
  • Hyde signs repairs contract with Totalmobile
  • Fuelling high performance automation
  • Morgan Sindall’s Carbon Zero decarbonisation tool
  • An ethical approach to arrears
  • Housing and the ever-evolving workplace
  • Supporting residents with home safety risks
  • Less innovation & more service design at RHP
  • Ateb Group outsources IT help desks to Central Networks
  • Capital Letters partners with Evo Digital to tackle homelessness
  • Calico appoints M247 for digital transformation
  • 24/7 care requires 24/7 technology
  • Govtech trends for 2023
  • Are you ready for business process automation?
  • Lincoln council moves to the cloud with Civica
  • Why do IT business improvement projects fail?
  • Flagship and Ebrik launch augmented reality app
  • Following the golden thread
  • Setting the standard for carbon-monoxide protection
  • The business case for data
  • Digital twins – When, not if…
  • Using data to build communities
  • The cyber-security jigsaw’s missing piece – Managed detection & response
  • Cyber-security challenges in housing
  • Digitalising retrofits with SHDF & HomeLink
  • Tips for improving care and support

Footer

Housing Technology
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Contact
  • Free Subscription
  • Book an event
  • Blog
  • Search All Articles
  • Research
  • Update Your Subscription
  • Privacy Policy

Welcome to the housing Technology – Trusted Information For Business Professionals in HOusing

Housing Technology is the leading technology information service for the UK housing sector and local governments. We have always believed in the fundamental importance of how the UK’s social housing providers use technology to improve their tenants’ lives.

Subscribe to Housing Technology to gain market-leading research, unsurpassed peer networking opportunities and a greater understanding of your role to transform your business.

Copyright © The Intelligent Business Company 2022 | Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy
Housing Technology is published by the The Intelligent Business Company. A company with limited liability. Registered in England No. 4958057 | Vat Registion No. 833 0069 55.

Registered Business Address: Hoppingwood Farm, Robin Hood Way, London, SW20 0AB | Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8336 2293

htc23 pop banner