Creating Smart Homes

Smart home devices are a fantastic new technology designed to help you live a healthier life in a more energy efficient home. Hopefully, by supporting you to reduce your energy consumption, they should also save you money on your utility bills.

We are beginning to install free smart home devices in our homes. We’re carrying out these installations one block at a time, so you’ll be contacted when your home is due to be fitted with a device.

What does it involve?

A Smart Home is made up of:

A set of environmental sensors positioned in your bathroom, kitchen, hallway and living room
Smart smoke, fire and carbon monoxide alarms
A small SmartLINK Gateway device

The sensors are designed to be discreet, secure, and low maintenance. The batteries will last for around 10 years so we won’t need access to your home to maintain the devices.

An Environmental Sensor and the SmartLINK Gateway

How does it work?

The environmental sensors gather information on the indoor environmental conditions in your home including temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide.
The devices collect the information via the SmartLink Gateway and feed it back to us, as your landlord, as well as to you via the HomeLINK Resident App.
The Resident App gives you insights such as mould risk, energy efficiency, ventilation, excess cold and heat, and indoor air quality – and gives you advice on how to improve the quality of your home.

What are the benefits?

Pinpoint areas where you’re using more energy than you need to, allowing you to cut back to save both money and energy
Keep an eye on humidity levels to reduce condensation and mould
Improve your mental and physical health by following the advice from the Resident App such as ventilating your home
You will be alerted of potential emergencies quickly if your smoke / fire / carbon monoxide alarm is activated
Supporting you to live more sustainably and be kinder to our planet

What do I need to do?

1. After we’ve installed the smart devices in your home, you’ll receive an email with a link to set up the HomeLINK Resident App. We’ll use the email address we have for you on our system so please check this is correct in your MyHARCA account.The email you receive will provide instructions on how to download and sign in to the HomeLINK App.If you don’t receive the email, please check your ‘spam’ folder. If the email isn’t in your ‘spam’, or you don’t have a smartphone to install the app, please contact us on: iot@poplarharca.co.uk
2. Once the app is installed, please enable ‘Push Notifications’ as this will allow you to be notified when there’s a relevant alert or advice about your home. To experience the full benefits of the Smart Home devices you should check the app regularly.
3. Lastly, it’s really important that you don’t remove any of the sensors.

You can learn more about the smart devices and Resident App here:

We hope you enjoy using this new technology to maintain the quality of your home. If you have any other questions, please get in touch with us at iot@poplarharca.co.uk.

Find out more about the Smart Homes project Privacy Notice