Smart heating for the home

Smart heating for your home

With more and more of us getting back to the office, its vital that our homes are ready, warm and inviting for when we get back.

Gone are the days when we had to arrive back home after a hard days work, to find the house cold and miserable. You can now press one button on your phone that will time your heating to come on ready for when you step back through your door. It seems like a futuristic dream that you can control everything in your home by a single button and can be daunting when applying the practice in your own home. We take a look at how easy it is for you to swap to a more energy efficient and comfortable heating choice.

How it works The smart thermostat allows access through your main heating system and controls the temperature through an app or smart device. You can adjust the temperature or air conditioning through your phone; making sure the temperature is regulated throughout the day. You can even set it so it turns off automatically when you leave the house.

Make life easier The product is there to make your life easier. Creating a simpler life in order to maximise how efficient you are throughout the day. On colder mornings, instead of getting up into a freezing house, you can set a timer to make sure it comes on well before you are ready to get up. The Duux Threesixty is a stylish, innovative and affordable ceramic smart heater. The compact model offers the ultimate in personalised heating. Featuring a dynamic built-in fan, it balances power with efficiency to evenly distribute air; warming a 30m²

room twice as fast as conventional heaters. With WIFI connectivity, smart app compatibility and adjustable temperature and ventilation settings, Threesixty features a tip-over safety switch and overheat protection for 24/7 heating. You can even control your radiators through an app on your phone. The Radiator Centre have just extended their popular range of Campa radiators that are not only enery efficient but come in many stylish designs and can be operated remotely via a free app.Perfect for open plan living, this stylish collection is suitable for all rooms of the house and offers designs that can be used to create truly sophisticated interiors. For the smart, connected home, the Campa collection also comes with Open Window Detection for fully automated, intelligent heating without wastage.

Save energy Having an energy efficient product in the home is always a good choice when looking to update your home, and a Smart thermostat controls how efficient you are being with that energy. Its important that we are using the right amount of energy in our homes throughout the year and by controlling the energy we expell we can become more efficient and save the planet!

Increase comfort Temperature control is critical to your comfort, especially with the changing seasons. From one week to the next could see a significant rise or fall in temperature. One of these products is the Gira System 3000. It is able to help UK homeowners prepare for autumn and winter with the launch of its Gira room temperature controller. The Gira System 3000 is designed to be used seamlessly with the exclusive Gira smart home app, which offers market-leading security and data protection, while keeping your homes HVAC how you like it, when you like it.

Compatability When choosing a Smart device, you should make sure that it’s compatable with your current heating system and with any devices connected to your home. For example, there’s no point in choosing an automated heating sysem that doesn’t work with an Amazon Alexa or Google Nest Hub, if that’s how you plan to connect your devices together. Compatible with 95% of all heating systems the tado° Smart Thermostat is easy to install, it connects to the internet and is ready to control your heating smartly in just a few minutes.The expanded Wireless Smart Thermostat V3+ Starter Kits offer unmatched integration and control of all kinds of boilers from any manufacturer. n By Daisy Bennett

Duux Threesixty

The Radiator Centre

Crimestoppers appeals for anonymous information on those harming the West Midlands region's countryside

Charity’s appeal follows new NFU Mutual report revealing highly-organised criminals plaguing rural areas during the pandemic.

The charity Crimestoppers has launched an appeal for anonymous information to help protect hard-pressed rural communities across the wider West Midlands region. It calls on everyone to play their part in stopping rural crime as more of us are visiting the countryside during the pandemic.

Criminal gangs exploit local wildlife, environment and communities in many ways: rural residents often feel unsafe in their own homes; farm owners have to foot the bill for criminal damage; and local businesses in rural areas can see their income and cashflow adversely affected.

Rural crime is repetitive and organised - without information it can’t be tackled – and yet visitors to the West Midlands region, including the counties of Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire can help by being the eyes and ears of these more isolated communities and report anonymously what they see.

In the year to April 2021, Crimestoppers nationally received nearly 2,700 anonymous reports about rural crime. Whilst this is a 14% increase on the year before, it suggests a degree of under-reporting – hence why the charity is launching this awareness-raising campaign to encourage more people to speak up. Last year, our charity passed on over 18,300 anonymous pieces of information given to us from the people across the West Midlands region.

Here are some anonymised examples of information the charity has recently received from across the UK:

• A named man is using aggressive dogs to carry out illegal hunting of deer and game including rabbits. He goes hunting across the fields at named location. • Local tradesmen at (address given) are burying asbestos in earth mounds on the field (as given). They are also dumping and burning rubbish. • Named men all involved in the theft of plant machinery from building sites and farms. They are involved in stealing diggers, caterpillars, bobcats and tractors that do not have trackers on.

They have been doing this for many years. They sell the stolen goods to others including across Europe.

From its latest claims’ statistics issued last week, NFU Mutual estimates that rural theft cost the UK a staggering £43.3m in 2020. Indeed, Shropshire was seventh in the top ten worst affected counties for rural crime, with a cost estimated at £1.3m. know what it is, why it’s a problem and what the public can do to help. The charity’s 4-week local and national campaign is supported by NFU Mutual, RSPCA, Countryside Alliance, NFU, Openreach, FireStoppers, Link, National Wildlife Crime Unit, Environment Agency, CLA and the Angling Trust.

Key themes will focus on wildlife crime, environmental crime and theft, all of which have a detrimental and often crushing affect rural communities.

Initially, the campaign will explore hare coursing, poaching and badger baiting, with advice on how to spot the signs, sharing prevention advice and hearing from organisations who work with the police and other partners to prevent and solve these crimes. The campaign will also share guest content from partners in the police to learn what they’re doing and how your anonymous information can help police investigations.

To report rural crime 100% anonymously, visit the charity’s website Crimestoppers-uk.org and fill in a simple and secure anonymous online form or call their 24/7 UK Contact Centre on freephone 0800 555 111, 365 days of the year. In an emergency, always call 999.

Please note: Computer IP addresses are never traced and no-one will ever know you contacted Crimestoppers. For telephone calls, there is no caller line display, no 1471 facility and the charity has never traced a call. n

New homes for first time buyers in Warwick

L&Q unveils highly anticipated Beauchamp Park development

A new housing development is just a month away from launching in Warwick and with the first release including three bedroom Shared Ownership properties, first time buyers and those who have previously been unable to get onto the property ladder can now buy their first home in one of the country’s most desirable market towns.

L&Q is one of the UK’s leading housing associations and residential developers and its latest development - Beauchamp Park at Gallows Hill – is a new 450 home development which forms part of the 1,600 homes at Warwick Gateway urban expansion, which will also provide a community centre, primary school and country park.

L&Q has a proven track-record of creating thoughtful and considerate neighbourhoods and Beauchamp Park is no exception, the local community and future residents will benefit from a variety of beautiful and scenic public open spaces, footpaths and cycleways, and children’s play areas. The first release of properties includes a selection of three bedroom Shared Ownership homes with prices starting from just £133,875 for a 35% share and a deposit from £6,694*.

L&Q’s Shared Ownership scheme offers a cost-effective way for aspiring homeowners to take the first step, by part-owning and partrenting a property. With the scheme, buyers are only required to pay a deposit on the percentage share they buy, rather than the full value of the home.

At Beauchamp Park, L&Q has paid particular attention to the overall look, feel and design of the development to ensure it’s in keeping with the local area. Homes are architecturally stunning, influenced by the Georgian, Regency and Tudor-style properties typically found in Royal Leamington Spa and Warwick which are characterized by a stylish geometry. Properties are well proportioned and elegant and built in a mix of brick, render and striking metalwork, L&Q has created truly stunning streetscenes that tie in with the local area and mark the gateway to Royal Leamington Spa.

Homes include high-quality specification at no additional cost to the homebuyer, to ensure they have everything they need from the get-go, from white goods to a turfed garden with a shed, so they’re ready to move into as soon as they receive their keys. Beauchamp Park enjoys an enviable setting in one of the country’s most desirable locations and some homes at the development enjoy views of Warwick Castle. The development is in a semi-rural location in the heart of the English Countryside, around two miles from Royal Leamington Spa, with convenient and easy access to the M40 on the doorstep plus a variety of amenities in the scenic, historic market town of Warwick.

Beauchamp Park will cater to a diverse mix of buyers, with a variety of house types with an exclusive collection of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 bedroom houses and apartments available with Help to Buy, Shared Ownership, private sale and Part Exchange to suit needs of every buyer.

Shared Ownership prices start from £133,875 for a 35% share of a three-bedroom house (FMV: £382,500). For more information visit https://bit.ly/Beauchamppark , email beauchamppark@lqgroup.org. uk or call 01789 430 165.

*L&Q Shared Ownership terms and conditions apply. All prices correct at time of going to press. n

Are you fed up with clutter? Do you need more storage space?

Well the answer could literally be under your own roof!

For many home owners, the loft is an underutilised area because it can be difficult and dangerous to reach. Warwick based loft ladder installer Access4Lofts (whose slogan is ‘creating space the easy way’) can change all that, often in less than a day!

Access4Lofts provides a free survey and quote service so you can find out what is achievable with your loft area. The majority of properties have an access hatch to the space in the loft. Access4Lofts create space the easy and affordable way.

They can supply and install a new loft hatch and a safe, sturdy aluminium loft ladder in your home in just one day! That means that your dark and dismal roof space suddenly becomes a useful storage area for all that family clutter. “My experience enables fitting the ladder and converting the access hatch, in double-quick time the space is accessible and I leave no mess behind” explains Wayne Reid, Access4Lofts Warwick.

For extra peace of mind, Access4Lofts is an approved Which? Trusted Trader which means they have been assessed by Which? and passed their stringent checks. For added confidence, they also have full public liability insurance , are DBS checked, and all work carried out comes with a Lifetime Guarantee.

To find out how Access4Lofts can create more space for you and your family or to book a free survey and quote visit www. access4lofts.co.uk/warwick or call 01926 679591.

You can also find them on Facebook @Access4LoftsWarwick.