Key to cut vehicle miles and costs

Many in social housing have not cut car mileage and thousands of miles are being travelled to pick up and return keys, a questionnaire reveals.

Half of the respondents said they had not reduced the amount of car miles travelled for work in the last five years. Some also said individuals in their organisation were each travelling 2,600 vehicle miles and spending 39 to 65 days a year picking up property keys.

However despite the investment in time, 92% reported that no comprehensive records were being kept of those who enter empty properties raising safety and contractor invoicing issues.

The survey was carried out between September and October by the leading

magazine for the social housing Inside Housing on behalf of 24/7 property and people protection business SitexOrbis. The aim was to gauge how current key-handling practice could be made to be greener while costing less by adopting electronically managed access key systems, known as eMAKS for short.

One key can be programmed remotely to work in up to 6,000 locks so that trips to fetch and return thousands of keys are no longer necessary, saving vehicle miles, time and money. Access reports are also provided for individual properties and keys reported lost are immediately de-programmed.

Director Mark Cosh said: “eMAKS is a new technology that benefits the environment by reducing emissions while delivering genuine cost-savings. We saw it as a direct response to what customers said they wanted when we surveyed them in 2008. Its timing is pertinent now that all organisations are looking for ways to reduce cost while at the same time improving service.”

Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing partnering manager John Whittington won the survey’s draw – a £500 donation to the charity of his choice which is to go to Trauma Team Huddersfield and Cancer Research.

www.sitexorbis.com/emaks t08000 830 850

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For more information contact Jan Comer at Aurora PR, m 07970 258 023, t 020 8287 1124, f 020 8286 2556, jancomer@aurorapr.co.uk or Debansu Das, at SitexOrbis 01895 465500, debansu.das@sitexorbis.com

About SitexOrbis: SitexOrbis is the new name for Orbis Property Protection, following a move to unite the group’s Orbis and Sitex operations in Europe under one brand name. The name changed in the UK on 31 March 2009 when SitexOrbis Limited became the legal name of the former Orbis Property Protection Limited. In the UK the company provides 24/7 protection for some 50,000 properties and 10,000 lone workers. One-key-fits-all locks technology eMAKS was introduced by the company at Harrogate this year (2009) together with Mould Eradication, Communal Access Doors and Infection Control Vaporisation which gets rid of all known pathogens including MRSA, Swine Flu and Norovirus.

The group generates a combined turnover of in excess of £40 million and employs more than 600 people. www.sitexorbis.com

Inside Housing is published by Ocean Media Group Ltd and is the leading magazine for the social housing sector. The magazine is read by housing professionals in housing associations, local authorities and across the private sector. It has a weekly circulation of 26,343 (ABC average net circulation July 2008 - June 2009) and a total readership approaching 100,000.