Home Horizon

Social landlords need to know which of their homes are most at risk of overheating before the next heatwave, not after it. From November 2026, Awaab's Law extends to excess heat. At the same time, investment, refurbishment and improvement budgets are limited, and they have to go where they will do most good. And when a heatwave is forecast, they need to know where to act first. Sensors show what happens inside the homes that have them; they cannot rank the homes that do not.

We combine satellite thermal and optical data with open building records to rank every home in your stock by heat risk, including the homes with no sensors in them. Indoor sensors in a sample of homes check the ranking against what happens inside.

Over the course of the project, Home Horizon is working to give social landlords:

• A heat-risk ranking of every home in their stock, built from free satellite data and open building records, to help target investment, refurbishment and improvement programmes.

• Support for heatwave planning: the ranking used alongside weather and seasonal outlooks, to help decide where to focus checks and support when hot weather is coming.

• A clear evidence record for each home: its place in the ranking and the main reasons behind it.

• Awaab's Law.

  From 30 November 2026, excess heat is one of the hazards social landlords must investigate and make safe, within set timescales, once they are aware of it. Home Horizon is designed to show where to look first, so the homes most at risk can be checked before a heatwave, not during one.

• The Safety and Quality Standard.

  The Regulator of Social Housing expects an accurate, up to date and evidenced understanding of the condition of their homes, and investment plans informed by it. Home Horizon is designed to add heat risk to that picture for every home, between physical surveys.

• PAS 2035.

  Retrofit designs must include measures to inhibit overheating. Home Horizon is designed to show which homes already run hot, so retrofit coordinators can plan for it from the start.

Home Horizon informs these decisions. It does not replace an inspection, a stock condition survey or a retrofit assessment.

Satellites see the surfaces of roofs and streets, not the inside of homes. So Home Horizon ranks homes by relative risk rather than giving indoor temperatures, and this winter we are calibrating it against real indoor readings from sensors in homes. Summer 2027 is the full test. We will set our measures of success in advance and publish the results openly, whatever they show.

Social landlords, from housing associations to council landlords: the asset and investment teams who plan refurbishment and improvement programmes; the housing and operations teams who plan visits and interventions when a heatwave is forecast; and the teams responsible for residents' safety and for meeting Awaab's Law.

We are inviting a small number of social landlords to join Home Horizon as early support partners ahead of summer 2027. Early support partners see a free ranking of their own homes and help us sharpen it by telling us where it is wrong. Interested in following the project, or in what it could do for your stock? We would love to hear from you.