Aico host resident engagement day with Poplar HARCA

Aico, the European Market leader in Home Life Safety, have hosted a two-day resident engagement session with Poplar HARCA, discussing the importance of fire safety and walking residents through the basics of alarm testing and maintenance.

Poplar HARCA (Housing and Regeneration Community Association) own and manage over 9,000 homes in East London and, like Aico, place resident engagement at the forefront of safety. The award-winning Association was delighted to partner up with Aico over the two days and invite residents to come and discuss fire safety, provide information on how to test and maintain their alarms and answer any questions they may have.

National Sales Manager for Aico, Daniel Little, alongside Regional Specification Manager for East London, Mark Wood, and HomeLINK’s Product Owner & UX Lead, Amrita Poptani, attended both days on one of Aico’s state-of-the-art Mobile Training and Demonstration Units. They were able to give residents hands on product demonstrations and explain the importance of a monthly test to their life saving devices. Poplar HARCA are set to roll out Environmental Sensors which will monitor Temperature, Humidity and Carbon Dioxide across their housing stock. The Aico team were able to display a live demonstration of the new Resident App, which will support the Environmental Sensors and give residents the ability to monitor things like condensation, damp and mould. Resident packs and goody bags with fire safety literature were provided to ensure attendees had all the information they required to keep their homes safe.

Poplar HARCA’s Compliance Co-Ordinator Clarizza Murray who joined Aico for the resident engagement sessions was delighted with the turn out, commenting “I had the pleasure of working with Aico and HomeLINK for our team’s first in-person resident engagement, Covid safe event this year. We’re proud to be installing ‘Internet of Things’ devices in our homes, and when we demonstrated the app it didn’t take much convincing to get residents interested. It was also a fantastic opportunity to get some really useful community views on our carbon agenda. We’re looking forward to a long-standing relationship with Aico and HomeLINK and making a difference in our residents’ lives.”.

Elizabeth Williams, Assistant Director of Asset Management at Poplar HARCA added “This was a really engaging way to share safety advice and to promote a fresh approach to safer, healthier homes and lower fuel bills. Residents appreciated the opportunity to ask questions and to see new technology for themselves in a fun, informal environment.”

Mark Wood was pleased with the residents response and success of the sessions adding “It was great spending two days with Poplar HARCA on our Mobile Unit. We had a chance to engage with residents over both days and discuss fire safety and the importance of testing the alarms. As Poplar HARCA are beginning to install Environmental Sensors throughout their housing stock, we offered residents a chance to see a live demonstration of our new Resident App and gave residents a chance to sign up to having the sensors fitted in their property. Over the two days, lots of residents signed up, they believe Environmental Sensors are key to having a healthy home.”

For more information on Aico’s Mobile Training and Demonstration Units, please visit: www.aico.co.uk/our-services/mobile-training-demonstration-units