DINLAB: TESTING INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE FIRE SAFETY AND FUTURE-PROOF HOMES
JULY 19th, 2022
We recently teamed up with the Disruptive Innovators Network to undertake a DINLab discovery programme exploring how innovation can improve resident safety, make asset management more efficient, improve resident safety and health, as well as reduce operating costs.
With this project, we wanted to discover how our Automist technology – which involves temperature-detecting sensors activating targeted misting sprayheads – could help housing providers solve these modern-day problems. So, in July 2021, we installed Automist in two homes for each of these social housing providers:
- Thorngate Churcher Trust, which offers independent assisted living and residential care in Hampshire – two flats which were home to vulnerable residents
- Loreburn Housing Association, which provides housing across Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland – two flats where residents had a higher fire risk due to issues such as limited mobility
- Worthing Homes, which has homes in the Sussex coastal area – two flats in high-rise blocks
- mhs Homes, the largest independent landlord in Kent – two flats, one privately rented and one in a sheltered housing scheme.
Our system offers benefits not possible from traditional fire suppression systems and the DINLab tested if this could be a better way for social landlords to demonstrate compliance with fire safety requirements, identify vulnerable residents and monitor what was happening within homes. This approach aligns with the recommendations made in the Hackitt Report for a clearer model of risk ownership and digital records for traceability.
To find out more about the project and its outcomes:
- Read this best practice case study published by the NHMF
- Check out this op-ed from DIN’s Jenny Danson about what we learned on Housing Digital
- Watch this video featuring participants from the DINLab