The findings and extracted positive and negative aspects found through the empirical research provided the information to establish user and organisational requirements. A potential for bias was considered in the empirical research with landlords, in case of the organisation not wanting to be represented in a negative way. It is noted that landlords interviewed were found to be open in their responses as much about failures as successes, thus lessons learned can be extracted and heeded as trustworthy information.
It is clear from the research that heat pump technology is currently a beneficial option for properties in rural, off-gas areas as an alternative to solid fuel, oil or storage heaters. The heat pump technology provides a cleaner, more manageable system that has the potential to provide better thermal comfort and save the tenants money and deal with fuel poverty. Currently, heat pumps do not make such a suitable alternative to gas central heating systems. Although there are energy security concerns around gas supply, current costs in the UK mean that heat pumps do not have such a cost-saving benefit against gas systems and the energy efficiency of modern gas central heating is much better than the alternative fossil fuel systems of coal or oil.
While age did not seem to play a significant factor in how landlords approach and educate tenants about the heat pump installations, it was clear that older people were a target population for having a heat pump installed. This is because heat pumps provide a cleaner, less laborious option for heating than solid fuel. The findings from tenants did not highlight any significant differences between the
experiences of the installation service between tenants over 65 years old and under 65 years old. Health related issues reported which affected their experience and preferences of warmth from the heating system were more prevalent amongst older participants.
On reflection of the findings from both landlords and tenants, installations carried out during the winter period cause a negative experience. It was ascertained through this investigation that the process of putting a heat pump into a property
164 involves removing the heating system in-situ and the installation of the heat pump takes from several days to a couple of weeks. This means that the tenant’s home is without heating for a period of time. Furthermore, once the heat pump has been installed, it takes a few days to fully heat the fabric of the property and run
effectively. During the winter period, this makes a home cold to live in while having a heat pump retrofitted if remaining in the home during the installation, as is
common practise.
Landlords provided alternative heating during this time by distributing oil burners or electric heaters, but this is not entirely adequate for a planned, non-emergency situation. Also evident in the data with both landlords and tenants was the potential for unexpected problems and delays during installation. This cannot be predicted but should be considered before commencing installations and factored into the timing of them, as it would exacerbate problems of no heating during the
wintertime. Whilst this lends towards a recommendation that installations should not be carried out during winter, it is recognised through the data that installation opportunities are currently heavily reliant on the availability of funding; therefore, this has implications for funding providers and the timescale of which they offer grants and schemes.
The heavy dependence on funding on the ability to install heat pumps into social housing properties means that the timing and opportunity to carry out installations is not always at the landlord’s discretion. This emphasises the need for successful uptake from tenants at the time of it being offered to them. The research indicated some tenants refused at first but later wanted a heat pump installed, after seeing the success of them in neighbours’ properties, yet with funding no longer available they were unable to then have one installed.
Community information events appeared to be a successful approach for landlords to inform tenants about the heat pump systems, in their opinion. This type of approach enables a discussion between the landlord and tenants and tenants talking to each other in an informal, informative environment. It was evident that tenants influence each other’s opinions and usage of heat pumps; therefore, community
165 events may assist in wider-scale promotion and acceptance of the technology, particularly with timing being critical, as outlined above, relating to funding availability. An event such as this would be less demanding on resources by
addressing many tenants together rather than individually and present opportunities for practical demonstrations or greater question and answer discussions that may surface and iron out more issues at an earlier stage. However, it does not allow for obtaining perspective of individual contexts and needs. Therefore, a community event cannot be in place of a home visit to ascertain suitability and other factors concerning the property and tenant but is added value to the service for further information.
Control of the system, or lack of, is potentially the most important finding from the research where tenants have difficulties, which impacts their ability to use the system effectively and with confidence. However, it is not listed as the top key issue in the tenant findings section. What surfaced in the research was that the
information provided affected this issue; the lack of understandable written information to assist tenants with using the controls created or exacerbated the problem. Therefore, information provision emerged as the most important issue to address from the research findings. Because this was a precedential issue from both the landlords and tenants interviewed, the case was presented for information materials to be the priority focus of the continuing research.
Whilst written information materials emerged as the primary user requirement to address, other themes which emerged most consistently in the research related to issues concerning communication. This broader topic encompassed several of the themes identified in the research and touchpoints across the service. Therefore, aspects of communication were also addressed in the continuing research as the intention was to recommend measures which would improve the holistic service.
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