Timing of the delivery

The O&M manual is often delivered to residents during the handover induction, which usually takes place on the day that tenants receive the keys to their new home. For example, Karen remembers being given a ‘welcome pack […..] literally as we moved in’. Housing officer Janet explains that the main purpose of the induction is to enable the residents to make ‘informed decisions about what to do and who to contact’ if there is a problem or emergency. Because potential residents were found to be more interested in taking measurements or photos of the dwelling, a checklist was introduced, by the RSL, to ensure that all the required topics were discussed at the viewing and sign up stage (Figure 57).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it appears that as residents view a flat they are more concerned with imagining their future lives there, rather than listening to practical information or being told the rules. At Case A, housing officer Helen suspects that during the handover induction ‘people are

166 As discussed in 5.4.2, several of the residents were unaware of the presence of the MEV unit for several years and the RSL were unaware of the maintenance requirement until revisiting the properties as part of the Green Doctor initiative.

167 At Case B, the New Homes manual mentions leaving windows ‘slightly ajar’ but this is in relation to drying out a new property and not day-to-day ventilation. At Case C, the manual mentions windows as the location of trickle vents and, later, as a potential location for the formation of condensation. However, the actual act of opening and closing windows is not referred to.

going round thinking “will my yellow carpet fit in this room?” And someone’s going “ble ble ble ble” about the ventilation system’. Janet sympathises with the residents saying ‘I’d be the same

“I just want my keys. I want to move in and I want to be left alone [laughs] just to get on with my life really’’’. This may explain why Sarah felt that she was ‘rushed through’ the induction with her housing officer and ‘didn’t quite absorb it’.

Janet describes the process which she goes through with each new tenant. When potential tenants view a new property they are shown the utility meters, and told about ‘bin days’, ‘what they’re allowed to do in the communal areas’ and the terms of their ‘probationary tenancies’.¹⁶⁸ Following the initial viewings, the tenants visit the office to ‘sign up’. Here, they are shown a DVD about the RSL and then the housing officer explains the keys.¹⁶⁹ They then view the flat together again, this time with the ‘handover checklist’ and the ‘occupiers’ inspection form’

(Figure 57). It is at this point that the O&M manual is presented to the new tenant, alongside the aforementioned New Homes Manual. However, although Janet personally hands over the manual, she is unsure how useful this really is:

‘I just hand it to them, yeah. I don’t know if they ever read it to be honest [laughs] especially as they’re more interesting in just moving in and getting the keys.’

This description demonstrates how the timing of the handover, on the day people move in, is not conducive to enabling residents to learn about their ventilation system. At this time, the O&M manual may get lost amongst the excitement and stress of moving home as well as within the other paperwork which constitutes this handover arrangement. This suggests a need to give more manageable information, at appropriate times, so that residents are not overwhelmed by the process.

168 The requirement of this tenancy is that the housing officer visits the resident in their property after one month, six months and nine months before awarding a full contract.

169 The keys comply with ‘Secure by Design’ and therefore require specialist replacement if they are lost.

Figure 57: Handover Checklist (left) and Occupiers Inspection Form (right) at Case B

Personal circumstances may also inhibit an individual’s ability to benefit from handover procedures. For example, when asked about the manual, Steve replies that ‘I can’t remember properly because, not being rude, just before I come here my life was a disaster’. A series of unfortunate incidents, including the death of this father and the break-up of his relationship (‘my other half had an internet affair, nicked all my money, left me twenty-seven pence [….] she used my bank card and everything’) meant that when he was moving home his ‘head was only just clearing’ and his priority was ‘trying to sort my life out’ rather than studying the technical documentation provided at handover. Compounded with his dyslexia, it is unlikely that Steve’s understanding of ventilation was enhanced by his experience of the handover.

The current configuration of the handover, in terms of its composition, content and the timing of its delivery, does not appear to be conducive to recruiting practitioners to practices which would enable them to perform ventilation in an efficient way. When residents do read the manual they often find it too brief and lacking in practical information. At the same time, some residents express a preference for a shorter document; these two issues are contradictory and may be hard to reconcile. For example, Anthony explains that he read the manual ‘religiously’ because he was trying to work out how to increase the temperature of water in the bath taps. This example indicates that the resident referred to the manual when he wanted to troubleshoot a specific problem, which he was unable to do. However, based on this incident, the manual’s use as a tool for learning about how to incorporate a new technology into one’s lifestyle remains questionable; Anthony shares the same thought when he says that despite the manual being

‘as comprehensive as anything else I’ve previously seen before, […..] I don’t think you look at

them until you’ve got a problem. That’s probably the issue’. The examples discussed above suggest that the O&M manual alone cannot be relied upon to provide an appropriate induction to the new ventilation system.

As a building nears completion, several things occur simultaneously, not only on paper, as contracts are signed, certificates issued and payments made, but also in terms of the physical arrangement of a building’s components, which continue to evolve as services are commissioned, defects rectified and furniture installed. Handover is also a busy period for the RSL and design team. As Douglas notes, ‘they’ve got a million and one things to think about as they’re coming up to handover […..]. The quality of the resident manual is not always top of their list’. Owing to financial pressures, the RSL is trying to get people into their homes as quickly as possible; as Martin puts it ‘they’re in the next day’.

As people move in, their living practices collide with the physical fabric of the architecture, whose arrangement is particularly fluid at this time. For example, laundry activities which involve drying clothes inside release additional moisture into the air and may hinder drying out. A low energy building’s fabric may be take longer to dry out than traditional construction, because of its airtightness and reduced permeability. Contractor Martin explains how even though they use dehumidifiers and open the windows when they can, ‘it’s a slow process basically and it’s not completed by the time people move in’. Alternatively, windows may be left open and the heating switched on, which wastes energy. During handover the spatial, technical and the social are intertwined in a tight web of practices and arrangements. Untangling this bundle may offer opportunities to improve the handover experience to help residents use the ventilation as intended.