Housing associations

Thermal Stores have been an effective and highly efficient hot water solution in the UK for almost 40 years. However, many installers today revert to an unvented cylinder solution for mains pressure hot water, mainly due to a lack of awareness and understanding of thermal store technology.

McDonald Water Storage have seen thermal store popularity rise however, particularly in apartment applications, as they overcome many of the frustrations both installers and housing providers have with unvented cylinder installations, including the hidden costs of the difficult G3 requirements and ongoing annual maintenance.

Hosted from our Technical Workshop the second episode of Aico TV will feature our Managing Director Neal Hooper and Paul White, IT Specialist discussing the creation of Aico TV and the Studio. This will be followed by the World of Work: Careers advice and guidance with members of the Aico team with Careers Live taking place this week. Finally, we have an interview with Alan Lewis, founder of Adrenaline Sporting Events, and to finish we have a popular FAQ presented by Kieran Smith.

From appliances to energy management, the role of ‘smart home’ technology continues to expand. Previously only seen in private homes, smart technology is making inroads into affordable housing too. This comes as no surprise to those in the industry, since Housing Associations are already taking advantage of technology for effective asset management or improving tenant comfort and wellbeing.

Last week saw the launch of the premiere episode of Aico TV, featuring Aico colleagues as well as guests. Formatted into segments, the episode is hosted by two Aico colleagues, Alex Garmston and Holly Moore who introduce the episode and each segment of the show.
To begin the episode, National Sales Director Steve Trafford explores Aico’s journey, from humble beginnings to becoming the UK market leader in Fire and Carbon Monoxide protection and the expansion into IoT and the connected home. Steve journeys through the Aico timeline, highlighting how innovation is at the heart of the company through the advancements in products and technology while retaining the quality that Aico is synonymous with. This leads onto Managing Director Neal Hooper speaking with Shropshire Business Live TV’s Carl Jones and Roy Amyes, Coaching and Personal Development Consultant about the importance of training and development and how Aico have embedded this into their core values.

Social landlords are increasingly realising that the Internet of Things (IoT) can bring many benefits directly to their organisations through improved maintenance efficiencies, investment optimisation and compliance. It is also increasingly clear that there are many benefits to residents including improving health, safety and wellbeing while also providing opportunities to help them save money. This isn’t just anecdotal evidence, but is clearly backed up by recent research HomeLINK carried out with over 50 landlords. Figure 1 indicates that the resident related benefits such as tackling fuel poverty and improving living conditions and energy efficiency are among those most associated with IoT adoption in social housing.

The first episode of Aico TV will have Steve Trafford taking you through Aico’s history. This will be followed by guests Roy Amyes and Carl Jones discussing training and development, then Jane Pritchard and Lily Ellis talking about Aico in the Community and local community kitchen OsNosh. Finally, we will hear from Tina Mistry, and the women of Aico for an International Women’s Day special and we will finish with see Dave Jennings answering a popular FAQ.

Social housing data management company Illumar has appointed Peter Luke as commercial director and Jonathan Gould as client solutions consultant. These appointments mark an exciting time for Illumar with a number of new clients now using its data management platform.