By Ruth MacEachern
Product Manager
Over the past three decades, EnviroVent has been helping social housing providers to deal with issues of condensation and mould, providing turnkey solutions from property survey to installation and servicing.
Since first developing its own PIV (Positive Input Ventilation) units in the 1990s, the company has continued to innovate and respond to the demands of social housing providers and, by the early 2000shad patented its Filterless Extract Fan, which won the Queens Award for innovation. Now known as the Filterless Infinity Fan, this has become the number one choice for social landlords across the UK and has sold over two million units to date.
Expertise in social housing ventilation
As the UK’s market leader in social housing ventilation, EnviroVent draws upon experience gained from years of working in tenants’ homes, to prevent issues of condensation and mould from arising in modern day social housing stock.
These issues remain prevalent given the association of health and wellbeing with indoor air quality, but heighten as legislation mandates tighter building envelopes to achieve decarbonisation typically relating to energy efficient windows, doors and various insulation approaches. EnviroVent is able to provide sustainable, low maintenance ventilation solutions, offering market-leading guarantees and significant life cycle savings.
EnviroVent recognises that social housing providers require an indoor air quality solution, long lasting and future proofed, for both existing housing stock and new build. In response, EnviroVent developed the Lifetime Range® of sustainable ventilation solutions to last the lifespan of the property.
As system design and installation is critical to ensuring effective ventilation, EnviroVent offers a dedicated supply and installation service to social housing providers, via directly employed engineers, which is unique in the market. The company also offers free social housing surveys and accredited training for social housing maintenance teams who wish to carry out their own installation.
Meeting challenges in social housing
Social landlords are being encouraged to build to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Band A – the highest energy efficiency rating. Meeting these increased environmental standards protects households from high energy bills, whilst lowering carbon emissions.
However, change is afoot. After an extended consultation period, the confirmation of the implementation of the interim Future Homes and Building Standard (FHBS). Which, utilising the new Home Energy Model (HEM), sets out ambitious target of reducing levels of carbon in new homes by 75% by 2025. Part of this links to the revision of Approved Document F , including further emphasis on environmental conditions such as acoustics, overheating and indoor air quality.
As the specification of building fabric becomes more stringent and building envelopes become tighter, ventilation specification must also evolve. EnviroVent is positioned closely to all the relevant industry trade associations to influence and understand the compliance needs of the future.
The current housing shortage has seen the Build Social campaign calling for 90,000 social rented homes to be built per year over the next decade in England. The campaign also calls for 7,700 social rented homes a year to be built in Scotland and 4,000 social rented homes a year in Wales. Social housing providers are also under increasing pressure to deliver airtight homes with good indoor air quality, quickly and sustainably.
The portion of overall build relating to Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) versus traditional build is increasing, with volumetric and timber frame style construction preferred to ensure a quick and airtight build. EnviroVent’s experience in providing low carbon, effective ventilation systems for these modular homes is proving invaluable as this building method grows in popularity.
Passivhaus Standard
In recent years and with ever tightening building regulations, EnviroVent has become a key strategic partner to social housing in the development of energy efficient and sustainable ventilation systems for new build social housing.
Increasing numbers of social housing providers are choosing to build to the Passivhaus Standard which is rapidly setting a benchmark for energy-efficient buildings. Scotland have passed a Bill through the Government relating to a Passivhaus or equivalent legislation with conversions ongoing in terms of implementation. EnviroVent’s range of Passivhaus compliant MVHR systems provide optimised ventilation, with a significant improvement in indoor air quality and reduced overall energy consumption.
Innovations
To better meet social housing requirements for data, EnviroVent is constantly innovating within its product range. The latest innovation includes the new Datalogger enhancement to the Filterless Infinity Fan.
The Datalogger enables housing providers to collect data on their ventilation units, such as total running time and periods of increased humidity, so they have more clarity on running costs and energy usage and protect against disrepair cases.
EnviroVent is also constantly innovating in product development and has plans to release a new dMEV (Decentralised Mechanical Extract Ventilation) unit.
A ventilation partner that you can trust
With 30 years’ experience in delivering ventilation solutions to the social housing sector, EnviroVent offers a dedicated service proposition to meet all housing association and local authority requirements. This includes its free design service, which takes the complexity out of ventilation system design and specification.
When it comes to meeting tightened building regulations and lower carbon requirements, social housing providers need a ventilation partner they can trust. EnviroVent has the expertise and capability to be that trusted partner, ensuring social housing providers can meet all requirements for indoor air quality and sustainability over the long term.”
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