Archangel and Bield Housing and Care: case study

Archangel

The challenge

Retirement housing providers face a familiar combination of pressures: rising operational costs, a strengthening regulatory expectation that homes are safe and energy-efficient, and a need to identify and respond to issues affecting tenants earlier than reactive models allow. Bield Housing and Care wanted to test whether a sensor-based monitoring approach could deliver measurable benefits in tenant safety and operational efficiency at one of its retirement developments, and whether the model would generate a return on investment robust enough to justify wider rollout.

What we did

We worked with Bield Housing and Care and the Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre (DHI) on a six-month project at Langvout Court in Biggar, South Lanarkshire. The project, entitled Evaluating care delivery in rural settings, was funded by the UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) as part of the Glasgow City Region 5G Smart and Connected Places Programme. Sensors were placed around communal spaces and ten individual properties to monitor conditions, including temperature, humidity and motion. Data was relayed in real time to Archangel’s ambient assisted living platform via the Angelnet resilient connectivity network, with automated 24/7 monitoring used to proactively address any potential issues affecting tenants’ living conditions. The data was available to all stakeholders through the Archangel platform. The project was independently evaluated by Edinburgh-based digital technology consultancy FarrPoint.

The outcome

The FarrPoint report demonstrated five areas of measurable impact: reduced utility costs, reduced maintenance costs, reduced manual checks, improved tenant safety and improved regulatory compliance. The project delivered an annual £7,670 saving in heating costs and an annual £2,825 saving in maintenance costs at Langvout Court, with a return on investment within the first year. FarrPoint estimated that, if applied across all of Scotland’s retirement housing developments, the model could deliver an annual saving of £18.5 million.

Gavin Wright, Head of Property Management at Bield, said: “This project demonstrates how thoughtful innovation can support older people to live independently, safely and with dignity. The smart technology we trialled at Langvout Court has brought clear cost savings and improved safety. As a result, we’re now exploring how this approach can be rolled out across our wider estate.”