We have the technology, now all we need is the manual. Time stands still for no man and in this day and age technological advances are taking place at an alarming rate. Housing and construction like any other industry is turning to new technology every day to help improve standards and services. Michelle McKenna takes a look at what is out there ....

Let there be light

The simple electric light bulb is the simplest reminder that technology isn’t exclusively the latest whiz-bang space age gizmo. There’s a lot we take for granted, but in what might be regarded as a timely reminder of the importance of the humble bulb, eight million of the things are to be given out to housing association tenants

Are friends electric?

In Solihull, the mains electricity is being used to deliver high-speed broadband to the residents of multistorey tower blocks. No, that’s not the power for the kit, well not only the power, but also the data itself.

The scheme is being put together by CI-Net on behalf of Solihull Community Housing (SCH), the local ALMO, to provide free or subsidised broadband Internet to the residents, who include long term unemployed residents, low-paid workers, single parent families with young children and people with disabilities.

According to the surveys, the ALMO has carried out, tenants are showing an increased desire to embrace the Internet for, among others, widening employment prospects, providing greater access to support organisations, development of computer literary skills, access to online banking and shopping, and access to educational opportunities for children.

CI-Net’s setup, which is currently being set-up in the first tower block, uses an existing wide area network (WAN) Redkite radio base station located five miles away in Yardley. The signals are picked up by a transceiver on the building’s roof and a ‘gateway’ transfers the incoming bandwith signals into the electrical mains supply cables running into the individual flats.

Tenants that qualify for the broadband service will be issued with special devices that plug into the electrical socket and function as a modem, receiving the broadband signals and converting them into information the computer can use. The result is a
home wired up to the Internet - without any physical wires.

“One of our technical challenges was finding a low cost, low maintenance, reliable way of providing Internet connectivity,” said Chris Deery, SCH’s head of IT. “We wanted to minimise the civil engineering work required to deliver broadband to the multi-storey buildings, as well as avoid causing disruption to individual tenants during the implementation. We also wanted a solution with the ability to expand over time so we could start with one building and roll it out to more tenants in the future.”

It’s good to text

Pinnacle has cottoned on to the idea of using mobile phones to keep in touch with its customers across the UK. The housing and facilities management company is so proud of the scheme, that it launched the new communication drive at this year’s CIH event
in Harrogate.

Together with 3G Mobile Marketing, Pinnacle is looking to use mobiles and text messaging to encourage tenants to answer questionnaires, to recover rent arrears and to otherwise foster greater efficiency across repairs and maintenance services. It is said that the approach will enable a quicker, more efficient and free way for tenants to keep in touch with their landlord.

“With approximately 74 million registered mobiles in the UK and an average of 156 million text messages sent each day last year, it simply makes sense to use this form of technology to communicate with tenants,” said Pinnacle’s chief operating officer Steve Glazebrook.

Brian Fullerton, 3G’s managing director added: “We don’t leave home without our mobile: it’s an essential and necessary part of our everyday life. How many of us do not send or receive texts? Mobile technology will transform the way the public sector communicates with its stakeholders and its communities - it will reduce costs and increase efficiency.”

Mobile staff can phone home

Mobile phone technology is not just being used to keep in touch with customers, several housing associations have chosen to turn to high-performance PDA devices to enable staff who work out of the office to touch base.

The MDA Vario is the system of choice for Bradford Community Housing Trust and The Havebury Housing Partnership in West Suffolk. For Havebury T-Mobile’s mobile voice and data solutions system allows the company’s maintenance and repair technicians, such as
plumbers and electricians, to receive job schedules, read and send emails, browse the Internet and work on documents and applications while out and about.

Paul Rowley, head of information services and performance at Havebury Housing said: “When our technicians are on the road they can now access the very latest information on any job or customer that they are visiting through a specially tailored business application. As soon as we receive a call from one of our tenants requesting a visit we are now able to immediately email this information to the most relevant technician who is closest to the job.”

Havebury Housing also uses 100 T-Mobile handsets for mobile communications.

Bradford Community Housing Trust is using PDA devices and web ‘n’ walk laptop cards to mobilise staff across its core functions and building services team. BCHT has opted for the MDA Vario II, which provides users with mobile Broadband connection speeds of 1.8 megabytes per second, enabling business users to download larger files and applications at near desktop speeds.

Jason Baines, ICT manager for BCHT says: “Before using the MDA Vario II our building operatives had to come into work every morning to get their lists of jobs for the day and return to the office after each visit to process paperwork. Now we can send their jobs through via a proprietary mobile data system provided by Consilium Technologies, meaning they don’t have to waste time travelling into the office every morning and can travel direct to their first job instead. There’s also no need to return to the office after each job because all the paperwork can be done electronically. As a result of the decrease in downtime operatives are able to do more jobs per day.”

Senior operatives also use the system to stay in touch with the office when travelling to and from off-site meetings.

Landlord on the box

And sticking with the theme of keeping in touch with tenants South Staffordshire Housing Association has launched a ground-breaking digital service, which will allow tenants to report repairs and check their rent accounts through their TV.

The service will be available to all of the landlord’s tenants who subscribe to a Sky service or Virgin Digital Media and will also be available through mobile phones, which have Internet access.

There will be no extra charge for using the service, which will be provided by not-for-profit organisation DigiTV.

Adrian Eggington, South Staffordshire Housing Association’s assistant director of housing, said: “By 2012 all terrestrial television services will be digital and Freeview services.

“What we are doing is harnessing the technology to make it easier for our tenants to contact us and access information. This is in addition to the telephone and internet services that we already offer.

“This means, that in the future, you could be sat in your armchair and just use your remote control to let us know if something needs repairing or if you want to check your rent account.

“In addition you can access the digital service from your mobile when sat on the bus to send us a message or apply for a new home.

“The whole idea is to make our services and vital information as easily accessible as possible.”

Outsmart the thieves

Housing association Hyndburn Homes has turned to technology to help its tenants protect themselves against theft.

Residents living on the recently-built Charter Street/Chester Street development in Accrington have been issued with bottles of SmartWater - the latest tool in the prevention of property theft.

Wayne Smith from Hyndburn Homes said: “Smart water is similar to DNA profiling. The chemically enhanced water is a colourless liquid solution that is dabbed onto valuables. Each bottle contains a unique chemical ‘code’ and this is registered to the homeowner - conclusively proving ownership.

The SmartWater was donated by the community safety partnership, which has also provided a number of burglary protection packs for new Hyndburn Homes residents, containing UV pens and stickers and useful information.

Interact with the intranet

Many housing associations are now turning to the web to help with their internal housekeeping and paperwork.

More than 40 organisations are now signed up to Interact Housing Edition - a fully secure Intranet, which allows companies to have a single source portal for information such as staff details, news and procedures.

The simple to use out of the box intranet solution can be easily updated by non-technical users.

Businesses can add modules to suit their business process to the basic set of core modules and Odyssey’s specialist housing consultants have a wealth of experience within the sector and a real understanding of the key challenges faced by housing organisations.

Operated by Odyssey Interactive Ltd it is the market leading intranet solution for social housing associations and the partner of choice for the National Housing Federation’s affinity partner programme.

“Our focus is on delivering an easy to use intranet solution designed to specifically meet the needs of housing associations has been a significant factor in Interact’s success”, says Nigel Fanson, managing director of Odyssey.

It’s snow joke - fur coats for buildings

Moving further a field we go to Russia where British architects and engineers have created the world’s first ‘green fur coat’ to insulate buildings and keep Russian worker’s warm during the bitter winters, where temperatures can reach minus 30OC.

The cutting edge, energy-saving concept was developed by UK architects RMJM and will be used to build Europe’s largest building - the 396m Okhta tower in St Petersburg.

The 79-storey HQ of energy giant Gazprom will be cased in two giant glass and steel sensorlined envelopes with plants and shrubs filling the buffer zones in between.

The design will slash the cost of heating the £1.2 million building in the winter and create a rich source of fresh air to ventilate and keep offices cool in the summer and the buffer zone will use sensors to respond to the weather.

The building will be finished off with an exterior of temperature-colour changing glass panels.

RMJM director of group design Tony Kettle says: “The building will be alive - it will breathe, think and make decisions about how best to use energy.”

Looking to the future

Well there is no doubt that technology is at the forefront of everything we do and it is certainly having an impact on housing and construction. The industry continues to change at a rapid pace and who knows where we will be in a few years time.