We spend a lot of time inside our homes, and while we talk about outdoor air quality, indoor pollution doesn’t get much attention.

However, common household problems like mould and damp can have a real impact on our health and wellbeing. Smartline’s researchers worked with Coastline Housing in Cornwall to collect data about the home environment, using ground-breaking sensor technology. How can data be collected and used to create healthier households?

 Read Smartline’s paper about sensor data

How housing affects our health

Damp, mould, cold, household chemicals, smoke. All these internal pollutants are bound to have an effect on our health, and the more time we spend at home, the more exposed we are to them. This means that older and more vulnerable people, those who are likely to be more susceptible to health problems, are the most at risk.

Back in 2010, the then-Government commissioned the Marmot Review into health inequality. It was revisited a decade later, and both reports discussed the impact of cold, mould, damp and noise on physical and mental health. However, the report was also clear that the opposite, a warm, dry and comfortable home, has a positive impact on health and is achievable:

‘Interventions such as improving heating and warmth, rehousing, retrofitting and neighbourhood renewal have all been shown to positively influence physical and mental health and wellbeing, and many housing improvement initiatives have been shown to be cost-effective. To be most effective in protecting and improving health and wellbeing, housing services must be preventative.’

How can housing associations and households proactively monitor conditions before they become unhealthy? The answer lies in real-time data collection and monitoring through sensors.

How monitoring homes can help

The simple premise behind this project is that if something is monitored, it has the potential to be fixed. We worked with Coastline Housing in Cornwall to install 1,000 sensors in almost 300 of its homes.

These devices collect data on air temperature, relative humidity and air quality, measured by tiny particles in the air (as well as any potentially harmful gases). They can also gather information about energy and water use.

For five years from 2017, the busy sensors collected data every five minutes. The result: unique, real-time data that gives an extraordinary picture of internal air quality. It’s also a valuable insight into how sensor monitoring can be a viable way to create healthy homes for residents.

What the sensor data tells us

 Using this sensor data, the Smartline researchers have:

·        Shown that digital technology can provide a window into conditions inside the home. This helps organisations like housing associations to identify issues affecting the building fabric, and target support for residents – just as the Marmot Review recommended.

·        Developed a new model that identifies the growth of mould in the home. Used alongside the sensors, this model will help householders and housing associations predict and prevent  mould growth.

·        Discovered that common household cleaning products can increase the risk of asthma. Smartline is advocating better labelling of these products, while advising people to ventilate their homes while using them.

·        Highlighted the overlapping issues of fuel poverty, mobility and mental health. Smartline is recommending a more flexible approach to definitions of fuel poverty that take health into account, because some people are more susceptible to cold and many fuel-poor households also have very limited mobility.

 Developing a dashboard for responsive monitoring

If the sensor data is to be useful, it has to be easy to use. Smartline, Coastline and the project participants worked together to co-design two data dashboards, one for Coastline and one for residents. They wanted to find out if it could help householders manage their home environment, while flagging potential issues to the Coastline team.

With traffic light colour-coding and a menu of viewing options, the dashboard allows Coastline to easily spot anything out of the ordinary – and take action. By picking up issues early, they can be much more proactive in the support they provide to householders, and address problems before they become more serious.

 What happens next?

The Smartline team have been sharing their findings more widely. The aim is to work with the UK Data Service to make the (anonymous) data available to other researchers. This dataset is one of the biggest of its kind that we know of, making it a rich and unique resource for future research.

Further reading: https://www.health.org.uk/publications/reports/the-marmot-review-10-years-on