The report, being undertaken by construction innovation guru Professor David Gann, is based on two on-line prototype homes opened last year by the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust in York and Edinvar housing association in Edinburgh.
Digital futures, to be published by the Chartered Institute of Housing next month, will say digital and on-line technology is now commonplace in offices, but conservative tendencies have thwarted its application in homes.
The report will suggest that electronic devices designed to improve security, control temperature and comfort and facilitate independent living are not just for yuppies and hold great potential for social housing.
Up to now, telephone-based sensory systems have been employed on a few supported-housing pilots but little work has been done on general-needs application.
Julie Cowans, housing research manager at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation which commissinoed the work, said: "It is stuff you get in your car like central locking, electric windows, and warning lights when you don+t put your seat belt on - well its like that in a house."
"It's not clever technology it's just taking things that are being used in factories, offices and cars," she said.
Gann told Housing Today that everything from sophisticated alarm systems and automatically operated windows, curtains and lighting to the control of bath water temperature was possible.
He said: "These improvements would be very simple and cheap to put into practice if you know what you are doing. They would have enormous impact on the lives of people in sheltered housing and allow vulnerable people lead independent lives.
"There are a lot of ethical issues surrounding the project with worries about surveillance and Big Brother, but we are convinced this can be overcome."
Source
Housing Today
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