We are really excited to be involved in the Scottish Federation of Housing Association’s (SFHA) Home of the Future team, who are investigating how we can deliver more efficient, affordable, accessible and low energy housing in the future. We are currently working with housing providers and academic experts on a specific project to consider a digital model for managing existing properties, combining our specialisms of architecture and BIM.
Following an inspiring “bootcamp” (involving Lego!) with other architects, housing providers, academics, housebuilders, innovation experts and construction professionals, the Home of the Future team has formed ten core projects to focus efforts on driving change in the industry, looking at everything from modern methods of construction to green infrastructure to build and enhance community living. It is a massive exercise, and combines with other SFHA teams who are looking into poverty impact and service transformation to consider all aspects of the affordable housing sector.
Our particular project has begun work to look at what kind of data housing associations should be recording on their properties, how this can be stored and interfaced with, and how it can provide a strong foundation for decision making in the future. BIM clearly links to this, with intelligent data being attributed to built assets, and offers a potential model around which a system could be built. Providing useful data is key, and a challenge we face is making this easily accessible and understandable to people who may not consider data as exciting as we do!
There are some innovative exercises currently being undertaken by individual housing associations around Scotland on the use of data, sensors, occupancy feedback, and tenant interaction with data on their homes. Aligning this with wider industry advances in facilities management technology for existing buildings we will hopefully plot a route map which can inspire all housing associations to make better use of their existing assets and maximise on the information they have.
The outcome of all the projects will inform future government policy and the future of the housing sector, and we are proud to be able to play a small part in making the sector better for everyone.
For more information and to keep up to date with the project please visit the SFHA’s website here.
