News story: Monitoring housing for better health: apply for funding

Housing in the UK is among the least energy efficient in western Europe. Although houses in England are recommended to be at least 18˚C at all times, many households do not meet this standard, leaving the inhabitants at risk of ill health.

£1.25 million is available through an Innovate UK Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition for projects that can help Leeds and York local councils improve domestic heat and energy monitoring. Funding is provided by the GovTech Catalyst.

Focus on Leeds and York

The competition aims to develop non-intrusive ways to monitor a household’s environmental condition. Successful projects will work with Leeds City Council and the City of York Council, as well as other local organisations and tenants.

Proposed heat and energy monitoring solutions must suit the different types of homes in Leeds and York, including high rise tower blocks, and take into account a variety of tenants.

Projects must:

• provide reporting and predictive modelling
• improve the health and wellbeing of council tenants
• enable tenants to make environmental and lifestyle changes to improve the condition of their home

A 2-phase competition

The competition will comprise 2 phases.

In the first phase, around 5 research and development contracts are expected to be awarded, with projects lasting up to 3 months. A total of £250,000 including VAT has been allocated to this phase.

2 successful applicants from phase 1 will be awarded R&D contracts in the second phase. Up to £500,000 including VAT will be allocated to each contract to develop a prototype and begin field testing. Phase 2 projects can last up to 12 months.

Competition information

• the competition opens on 1 April 2019 and the deadline for registration is at midday on 8 May 2019
• organisations of any size are eligible to apply
• up to £250,000 including VAT is available in this phase
• a briefing event will be held in Leeds on 11 April 2019