Member Article

Canterbury Christ Church University prioritises student accommodation safety with IoT sensors

Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) has upgraded its student accommodation alarm systems via the implementation of IoT connected smart home sensors from Aico.

The university offers guaranteed accommodation, to all students during their first year. Following the most recent British Standard revision for the planning, design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of fire detection and fire alarm systems in UK domestic premises, CCCU sought to upgrade all of its fire and smoke alarms to a Category LD1. This is the highest level of protection and incudes alarm coverage in all areas where a fire could start.

Alongside fire detection, Aico’s HomeLINK Connected Home Solution has been designed to gather data on indoor environmental conditions. Monitoring indoor air quality, Aico HomeLINK connected devices check temperature, humidity, ventilation, and carbon dioxide levels, enable proactive maintenance and improved indoor conditions across CCCU’s student homes. The sensors also give occupants actionable insights into the indoor environment in their student accommodation to help them prevent condensation, and damp and mould and provide a better experience within their term-time homes.

The solution minimises nuisance and false alarms, by offering the university’s security and fire teams real-time data and trends in alarm activations to help them reduce call-outs that were not genuine fire or smoke alerts. By giving CCCU remote monitoring for property management, the right departments and people receive custom notifications and tags at the right times. This in itself has saved the university the cost of not-needed call-outs as the Aico Gateway only sends personalised notifications to whoever needs the alert and data.

A CCCU Estates Team spokesperson said: “The Gateway system with instant notifications has helped us already to identify which students are triggering the alarms and then addressing the issue. The added benefit of the environmental sensors has led us to prioritise some remedial works to improve thermal efficiency of certain properties. Overall, so far it has shown how technology can benefit us as landlords, and plans are already in place to roll out across more of our properties.”

The installation of the IoT sensors has tackled more problems than initially intended thanks to insights highlighting the key areas that need addressing in the student properties’ ventilation and insulation, and assuring the university that all of their alarm systems are working as they should.

Chris Jones, Chief Executive Officer for Aico|HomeLINK, comments: “Canterbury Christ Church University is just one of the educational institutions we are working with to help keep their students safe and well. By leveraging IoT technology and integrating their teams with constant monitoring via sensors in real-time, the notifications allow the university to ensure the system is working optimally, ensuring devices are correctly sited and working to keep students safe in their accommodation at all times.”

Aico|HomeLINK works with educational institutions across the UK, including the Universities of Bristol, Leeds and York, and Harper Adams University in Shropshire.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Aico|HomeLINK .