Healthier homes on the horizon thanks to business team-up

Two of the Lancashire’s leading organisations in creating healthier homes and buildings have teamed up – with Sustainable Investments Ltd (SI) making a strategic investment in smart building technology organisation IoT Horizon.

SI – which is headquartered in Skelmersdale and includes retrofit  decarbonisation contractor Sustainable Building Services (SBS) and energy retrofit service provider and consultancy Sustainable Energy Services (SES) – has acquired a 76% stake in family-owned, Rawtenstall-based IoT Horizon.

The move solidifies a partnership founded on the organisations’ shared commitments and vision to creating healthier, warmer, and well-maintained buildings and living spaces.

IoT Horizon helps its clients to collect data and gain insights on their buildings, people, processes, and assets to make better and more-informed decisions, including the use of AI for advanced insights, monitoring, evaluation, to create healthier spaces to be in, while also identifying opportunities to improve energy and cost efficiencies. Collected by smart sensors, this data is captured via industry-leading digital Neronis® platform on elements like heat, humidity and air quality, vital in enhancing comfort, health and safety within buildings, while also driving significant reductions in energy consumption.

IoT Horizon’s expertise – solidified over the past seven years – in larger building management has already proven adaptable for residential applications, making it a natural fit with SI’s housing focus and adding to its now 150-strong team.

Derek Horrocks, owner and chair at Sustainable Investments Ltd, said: “There are real synergies between our two businesses, with a shared vision for delivering real and positive social impact on society. Both being headquartered from the North West but operating nationally just goes to illustrate the leading expertise coming out of the region that’s making a difference to people UK-wide.

“This investment is a purpose-led one, and our onward partnership is all about encouraging growth and innovation that directly improves and transforms lives – in this case delivering warmer, drier, healthier, and cheaper to heat buildings and homes.

"Founder Deyrick, Niamh and the wider IoT Horizon team have been doing fantastic things over the past seven years in the smart building space, all informed by Deyrick’s previous experience working for household names like Hewlett Packard.

“Combining IoT Horizon’s data-led approach to everything from occupancy to energy consumption through to air quality with our own specialism in delivering housing decarbonisation works will mean we’re able to accelerate delivery at scale. The team also brings with them excellent experience from working on Innovate UK funded projects and being members of Make UK.

“That means we can go even further – creating greater social impact together than separately.

"Our partnership will advance that shared mission and commitment to delivering measurable impact through reliable, data-informed solutions that enable people to live in homes that are not only energy efficient but are healthier and more comfortable for millions of people around the country.”

SIs investment represents a collaborative approach, with the current management team retaining 24% ownership and continuing to lead day-to-day operations alongside managing director Niamh Allen.

This will provide business continuity and leadership for existing client networks, and continuing to lead the field in smart buildings in the North West, including success on the Liverpool Tech Climbers list and an ever-growing prominent position in Lancashire’s technology scene.

Deyrick Allen, founder of IoT Horizon, said: “Our work over recent years has really examined air quality and tackling ‘sick building syndrome’. This focus has only been solidified in recent years with high profile media stories around the impact of such things on people’s health.

“If there is one thing we want to do, it’s to play our part in ensuring healthy buildings, and being able to work within SI to apply what we do in the housing decarbonisation space is a way we can make transformational difference to real situations and people.

"While our services will really help the likes of registered providers of social housing in measuring operational and energy efficiencies, the real crux is their residents feeling the positive impact – from improved comfort and health to reduced energy usage.

“The ethical alignment of our businesses is what makes this such a significant moment for everyone involved, and having the backing of SI is only going to help us make our vision a reality in a faster fashion.

"We will be continuing to work with clients across other areas as well, and they will see no changes day-to-day in how we are already working with them. This is simply an exciting next step to scale up and make an even bigger difference to people around the country.”

The new chapter will see IoT Horizon rebranded as Sustainable Smart Technologies, bringing its new name and visual identity in line with other SI businesses.