Plus Dane Cheshire

Plus Dane are a housing association with a strong social purpose. They employ almost 600 people and have more than 13,500 homes across Merseyside and Cheshire. An ambitious organisation striving to provide the very best possible services to over 30,000 customers who live in their homes. They are passionate about social purpose, and the positive impact that can have on the communities their customers live in.

With this in mind, Plus Dane have recently installed the Aico Homelink Gateway system in one of their assisted living schemes in Congleton. This will provide live monitoring of smoke and carbon monoxide detection in over 17 properties at St James Court.

After consulting with their local Aico Regional Specification Manager, Carl Traynor, Plus Dane decided to take a very proactive and innovative approach. A full circle system including the Ei1000G Gateway, 3000 series alarms and Ei450 control switch would be installed in each individual dwelling. All SmartLINK-enabled devices in a property can wirelessly interconnect, bringing the data together in the HomeLINK Portal giving the organisation transparency of alarm conditions across the scheme and improve resident safety.

Implementing Aico’s connected home technology has enabled Plus Dane to improve resident safety whilst ensuring compliance and proactive maintenance. The systems installed are Grade D1 alarms (3000 Series) and an LD1 category system in compliance with British Standard 5839-6:2019+A1:2020. They have also added Aico’s low-level control switch (Ei450) which increases the flexibility and user-friendliness of the alarms by allowing residents to easily Test, Locate and Silence alarms in their system.

The Gateway also enables more streamlined and cost-effective asset management. Prior to using the Gateway, alarms would be replaced on an EICR if there were less than 5 years remaining on the ‘replace by date’. St James Court now has 100% of its installs completed and there are now plans for another scheme to receive them next.

Aico will continue to work with and support Plus Dane and their appointed contractor AB Building & Electrical Ltd after completion by offering resident engagement days in the future. These days encourage active engagement between landlords and their tenants, Aico’s mobile units and knowledgeable Regional Specification Manager, help facilitate these days by providing useful skills and information for both parties.

QUOTES:

“We’ve always relied on the quality of Aico and the addition of the Gateway now enables us to see the exact date that the alarms are due to be replaced and schedule the replacement works closer to the end of life and gain a much higher ROI. The added benefits for resident safety with the system are obvious, particularly when looking after our most vulnerable” – Sean Gartside, Electrical Team Leader, Plus Dane Cheshire.

“We work with several housing providers who all use Aico. The quality and support from them as a manufacturer is unrivalled. The Gateways and their connected alarms are extremely easy to install through the use of their Installer app. It is user-friendly and walks you through each step of installation” – Danny Birchall, Electrical Operations Manager, AB Building & Electrical Ltd