Making Housing Better

Healthy Homes Hub

Welcome to Making Housing Better, the podcast from the Healthy Homes Hub which each week dives into a topic on the question of healthy homes so we can all improve our knowledge and learn how we can each contribute to making housing better. We're a membership body driving collaboration for healthier living environments, a knowledge resource helping housing providers deliver healthy homes as well as being a voice to articulate the benefit and value of good health in the home. Join us and let’s make housing better, together!

  1. When Drones Reveal What EPCs Cannot

    6 DAYS AGO

    When Drones Reveal What EPCs Cannot

    How independent thermal verification is exposing the gap between modelled retrofit assumptions and real-world outcomes in social housing. Hosted by Jenny Danson, CEO and Co-Founder, Healthy Homes Hub. Guests: Richard Ellis, Director of Sustainability, Peabody; Lucy Lyons, Co-founder and CEO, Kestrix. Peabody and Kestrix have completed one of the first independent retrofit verification trials in the sector, using drone thermography to confirm what actually happened to homes after works were done, not what modelling predicted. The results raise important questions about how housing providers plan, procure and evidence retrofit investment. At a glance • The retrofit sector still operates largely on trust and assumptions. Modelling is around 80% accurate, and that gap is widely accepted as normal, yet it drives wrong priorities, wasted spend and residents whose expectations do not match what was delivered. • Kestrix correctly identified the retrofit measures installed across a sample of Peabody homes through before and after data collection and analysis alone, confirming both what had been done and how well it was performing. Scanning thousands of homes in the time it would take to manually assess a handful, the same process also surfaced thermal bridging issues on 45% of properties that no existing model would have caught. • Showing residents a thermal image of their own home, with the heat leaking out in red, opened doors that letters and leaflets never could.

    41 min
  2. The story of HousingAI - Why, What is it, What it can do for you

    28 APR

    The story of HousingAI - Why, What is it, What it can do for you

    An enlightening discussion about the development of HousingAI, the present state of AI adoption in social housing, and what a purpose-built, sector-specific platform offers that consumer tools cannot. Shadow AI is already embedded in social housing organisations, and the question for housing providers is no longer whether to act on AI governance, but how urgently. -The risks from Shadow AI: staff using ChatGPT and Copilot without governance, context or data protection cover. -Three major regulations land in October 2026: Awaab’s Law, STAIRs and the Competence and Conduct Standard. -The real opportunity is augmentation: a practitioner with two weeks' experience accessing the same knowledge as someone with thirty years

    47 min
  3. Play, Policy and Neighbourhood Design

    20 APR

    Play, Policy and Neighbourhood Design

    How housing providers shape the social and physical environments that either enable or restrict children’s everyday play, and why this matters for long term health, equity and community cohesion. Everyday free play is a public health intervention, not a nuisance issue. “No ball games” culture often reflects policy and design choices, not risk reality. Housing providers influence children’s wellbeing through estate management, complaints handling and spatial design. Children’s play is not a lifestyle extra. It is fundamental infrastructure for physical health, mental wellbeing and community connection.

    44 min
  4. Can Warm Rents Eliminate Fuel Poverty?

    14 APR

    Can Warm Rents Eliminate Fuel Poverty?

    Too many social housing residents are living through winter in homes as cold as 10 to 12°C. The WHO recommends a minimum of 18°C. Half a million socially rented households in the UK are currently in fuel poverty. This episode asks a simple but powerful question: what if we stopped paying for the consequences and started funding the cause? Jenny Danson, Chief Executive Officer of Healthy Homes Hub, speaks with Alex Willey, Project Director at Healthy Homes Hub, about the Warm Rents programme and why this winter matters.

    28 min
  5. The Communities Redefining How We Live Together

    12 APR

    The Communities Redefining How We Live Together

    Why social infrastructure matters as much as the buildings we design Savannah Fishel shares insights from 54 intergenerational communal living communities across the US and Australia, showing how housing can act as social infrastructure. These communities thrive not because they avoid tension, but because they design for belonging: shared walkways, communal laundries, gardens and everyday bump-ins that build trust over time. Savannah explains the 7 P’s of conflict that show up repeatedly in communal living: • Pets • Parenting • Power & privilege • Partners • Possessions & privacy • Purpose & principles • Participation Successful communities navigate these openly, building resilience rather than letting issues escalate in silence.

    46 min
  6. Are Healthy Homes Being Suffocated by Dumb Air?

    29 MAR

    Are Healthy Homes Being Suffocated by Dumb Air?

    Why intelligent ventilation and energy control must sit at the heart of decarbonisation if homes are to be both affordable and healthy. -Airtight retrofit can increase damp and air quality risks if ventilation is not responsive. -Smart control of heating, hot water and tariffs can cut bills while protecting health. -Connected data enables earlier, proactive intervention by housing providers. In this episode, Jenny Danson, Chief Executive of Healthy Homes Hub, speaks with Dr Pete Armstrong, CEO / CTO and Co-Founder of Mixergy, about the risks of treating heating, hot water and ventilation as separate retrofit upgrades. Spun out of University of Oxford, Mixergy’s technology turns hot water cylinders into connected energy assets, optimising off peak tariffs, renewable generation and storage. But the conversation moves beyond energy efficiency alone.

    34 min
  7. Preventing Falls Through Early Intervention

    24 MAR

    Preventing Falls Through Early Intervention

    A practical discussion on how social housing providers can reduce avoidable injury, protect independence and ease system pressure through proactive home safety conversations. • 69 per cent reduction in reported falls through structured, personalised home visits. • Prevention works best when environmental risks and personal factors are tackled together. • Falls prevention underpins independence, reduces system pressure and strengthens housing strategy. Drawing on a pilot with Trent and Dove, Jules Robinson, Falls Prevention Lead at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), outlines a simple home visit model that achieved a 69 per cent reduction in reported falls.

    35 min
  8. Seeing Damp Before It Appears

    16 MAR

    Seeing Damp Before It Appears

    How better data, better surveys and smarter analysis can shift damp and mould from crisis response to prevention. In this episode of Making Housing Better, Jenny Danson, CEO and Co-founder of Healthy Homes Hub, is joined by Professor David Glew, Director of Leeds Sustainability Institute, and Dr Adam Hardy, Research Fellow at Leeds Beckett University, to unpack what is really happening with damp and mould in UK homes. The conversation cuts through assumption and focuses on evidence. They explore why damp and mould surveys vary so widely in quality, often relying on individual judgement rather than consistent methods, and why that creates real risk for landlords and residents alike. Drawing on PhD research with Places for People, Adam explains how existing housing data, including EPCs and repair records, can be used with machine learning to predict damp risk before it becomes visible, without relying solely on sensors.

    53 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Welcome to Making Housing Better, the podcast from the Healthy Homes Hub which each week dives into a topic on the question of healthy homes so we can all improve our knowledge and learn how we can each contribute to making housing better. We're a membership body driving collaboration for healthier living environments, a knowledge resource helping housing providers deliver healthy homes as well as being a voice to articulate the benefit and value of good health in the home. Join us and let’s make housing better, together!

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