CATHERINE KNOWLES

News Editor

HousingAI has launched an artificial intelligence knowledge platform for England’s social housing sector, developed with Healthy Homes Hub.

The service is aimed at housing professionals seeking guidance on regulation and best practice when making operational and strategic decisions. According to its developers, it draws on validated housing-specific sources and provides references with each response.

The launch comes as housing providers face tighter scrutiny and rising expectations around compliance, evidence and accountability. The sector is also dealing with changes linked to Awaab’s Law, updated consumer standards and a more proactive inspection regime.

Sector focus

The product was built specifically for social housing rather than adapted from a general-purpose consumer tool. It does not use open internet data to generate answers and is intended to help users interpret fragmented regulation, guidance and established practice more consistently.

Housing law firm Anthony Collins is acting as legal partner to the platform, a role intended to support the accuracy of its interpretation of regulatory material.

The technology is hosted on UK-based AWS cloud infrastructure. It has been designed to meet housing sector requirements on data security and governance, does not use customer data to train underlying models and is not intended for use with personal resident data.

Its backers say the service can be used for policy review, preparation for inspections and IDA work, board reporting, regulatory summaries, drafting and resident communications. It is also designed to work alongside existing systems without requiring complex integration.

Leadership view

Phil Shelton set out the rationale for the launch.

“Housing providers are dealing with increasing regulatory complexity, while expectations around evidence and accountability continue to rise.

“HousingAI has been built to give teams a practical way to navigate that. It brings together regulation, guidance and best practice into something people can actually use, whether that’s reviewing a policy, preparing for inspection or sense-checking a decision.

“The focus has always been on making this work in the reality of housing, not just in theory, so it’s something teams can rely on when it matters most,” said Phil Shelton, chief executive of HousingAI.

HousingAI said the platform was shaped with input from housing providers and sector specialists. An independent advisory group has also been set up, bringing together senior figures from housing, legal, data and cyber security backgrounds to test and validate the service as regulation evolves.

That emphasis on assurance reflects a wider challenge for landlords and housing teams. Many organisations already have formal policies in place, but the harder task is often applying complex, overlapping rules consistently in day-to-day decisions, particularly where resident welfare and regulatory risk are involved.

Jenny Danson described trust as a central issue in the platform’s development.

“From the outset, this has been about building something the sector can trust and see benefit from.

“By developing HousingAI alongside housing providers, and grounding it in validated regulatory and legal expertise, we’ve focused on making sure the answers it provides are both reliable and relevant to real-world decisions.

“As expectations on the sector continue to rise, having that kind of trusted, consistent reference point will become increasingly important, which is why we’re excited to be officially launching HousingAI to the market,” said Jenny Danson, chief executive of Healthy Homes Hub.

The launch adds to a growing number of attempts to apply artificial intelligence tools to regulated sectors, where staff need fast access to rules, guidance and precedent. In social housing, that challenge is sharpened by the need to show that decisions can be traced back to clear sources and justified to boards, inspectors and residents.

HousingAI said every response includes source references so users can show how a decision aligns with current requirements.

CATHERINE KNOWLES

News Editor

AVK has launched modular PowerPods for data centre operators, aimed at hyperscale facilities and AI infrastructure.

The product combines several parts of a site’s electrical system into a single transportable unit. PowerPods bring together uninterruptible power supplies, engines, switchgear, controls, enclosures and transformers in a pre-engineered package that arrives ready to connect.

The launch expands AVK’s offer in a market where operators are under pressure to bring new computing capacity online quickly. Demand for large data centres has grown alongside cloud services and AI workloads, increasing the focus on securing and installing power equipment without delaying construction schedules.

Instead of sourcing separate elements from multiple suppliers, customers can buy a more integrated setup from a single provider. AVK says this is intended to reduce project complexity and disruption during deployment.

Integrated offer

AVK has built its business around critical power systems, including UPS, standby power, prime power, controls and service. With PowerPods, it is extending that position by offering a consolidated route from power generation to distribution and ongoing support.

The product is designed as a modular block that can be adapted to different applications. Units can be supplied in bespoke configurations for individual customer requirements while retaining a standardised format that is easier to transport and install than assembling every component on site.

That blend of standardisation and customisation has become more relevant as operators expand existing campuses as well as build new ones. Modular infrastructure can help data centre owners phase investment, add capacity in stages and align electrical build-out more closely with server deployment.

PowerPods are also technology-agnostic, so customers are not tied to a single configuration. In a market where energy strategies differ between operators, that flexibility may appeal to large customers balancing resilience, space constraints and procurement risk across multiple sites.

Market pressure

Power infrastructure has become a critical issue for the data centre industry, particularly in large facilities built for AI computing. These sites often require substantial electrical capacity, backup systems and carefully integrated controls, and delays in one part of the supply chain can affect the wider project.

Operators are increasingly looking for ways to shorten deployment times by moving more engineering and assembly work off site. Pre-packaged electrical systems are one response, reducing the amount of installation work required once equipment reaches a data centre location.

PowerPods are available for deployment now, with an emphasis on short lead times. That matters in a sector where developers often face long waits for key electrical equipment and grid-related components.

AVK says its experience in critical power informed the design of the new units, drawing on more than 36 years in UPS. That remains central to data centre resilience by protecting systems from power interruptions and supporting continuity while backup generation starts.

Executive view

Ben Pritchard, chief executive of AVK, said the launch reflects the company’s ambition to offer a full power solution for large data centres.

“The launch of the AVK PowerPods reinforces our position as one of the few businesses capable of designing, delivering and supporting the entire data centre power ecosystem – at scale, with true flexibility and with the engineering depth that critical infrastructure demands. Large data centres need partners who genuinely understand the full energy picture and we now own the full power train.”

He said the product also strengthens AVK’s wider market proposition.

“PowerPods complete our proposition to the market. They bring together our extensive critical power expertise with our technology-agnostic model to deliver a complete power train solution that makes us a reliable, long-term energy partner for data centre operators. With our ready-to-deploy PowerPods model, we are perfectly positioned to support the next wave of hyperscale data centres and AI infrastructure.”

The launch reflects a broader shift in the data centre supply chain towards packaged systems and closer integration between equipment design, delivery and maintenance. As operators seek faster routes to new capacity, suppliers that can combine multiple parts of the electrical chain into a single deployable unit are trying to capture a larger share of project spending.

For AVK, the significance of PowerPods lies not only in a new product line but in how it presents itself to customers. Rather than focusing on individual components, the company is positioning itself around the full electrical train for large-scale data centre sites, from generation and backup to distribution and service.

Each PowerPod arrives as a transportable unit ready to connect and deploy.

SHANNON WILLIAMS

News Editor

The UK Government has released its Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2026, prompting criticism from security specialists and legal experts who say progress remains limited.

The annual survey tracks the frequency and impact of cyber incidents across organisations of different sizes and sectors. It also examines how businesses and charities approach risk management, staff training and supply chain security.

Initial industry reaction points to what many describe as stagnation in key measures of preparedness, with phishing, supplier vulnerabilities and the position of smaller firms emerging as particular concerns.

Tom Kidwell, co-founder of security firm Ecliptic Dynamics and a former British Army and UK Government intelligence specialist, said the 2026 results suggest too few lessons have been learned from recent attacks on well-known consumer brands.

“After years of headline-grabbing cyber attacks, this survey feels depressingly familiar. Breach levels haven’t shifted, preparedness hasn’t improved, and despite all the noise around breaches causing serious damage to major brands like Marks and Spencer and the Co-Op, too many organisations are still failing to act. Talking about cyber security clearly isn’t the same as doing anything meaningful about it. Too many companies are still in the mindset that ‘it won’t happen to me.'”

Phishing remains the most commonly reported form of attack in the government study. Security practitioners argue that attackers are using increasingly sophisticated and targeted methods, often supported by artificial intelligence tools.

For Kidwell, the survey exposes a disconnect between the scale of the phishing threat and current investment in staff awareness programmes.

“What really stands out is phishing. It continues to dominate, and it’s becoming smarter, more targeted and more damaging thanks to advances in AI, yet the Government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey shows that staff training levels remain considerably low. When fewer than one in five organisations train their people, it’s no surprise attackers keep walking straight through the front door,” he said.

Experts also single out supply chain exposure. The survey shows relatively low levels of structured risk assessment of immediate suppliers, despite a series of high-profile disruptions.

“The same applies to supply chain attacks. Despite Jaguar Land Rover hitting the headlines last year with one of the most significant supply chain attacks, amounting to almost £500m in losses, a measly 15% of companies review risks associated with their immediate suppliers. This is creating a glaring blind spot, one that attackers are increasingly exploiting,” Kidwell said.

Smaller organisations appear to be under particular pressure. The latest figures suggest some modest gains in basic security practices recorded in previous years have not been sustained.

“Small businesses are the biggest concern. Last year’s modest improvements in basic cyber hygiene have gone into reverse, with fewer risk assessments, fewer policies and weaker continuity planning. Companies appear to be abandoning the bare minimum required to keep their businesses secure,” Kidwell said.

Government awareness efforts receive some recognition from specialists, but they argue that publicity and campaigns have yet to translate into sustained improvements in resilience.

“Government campaigns such as the Cyber Aware campaign are being recognised a little more, which is encouraging, but awareness alone is clearly not building resilience. Until cyber risk is treated as a practical business issue, and not a compliance tick-box exercise, these numbers in the annual Cyber Breaches Survey won’t change,” Kidwell said.

He also questioned the wider response from law enforcement and government agencies to rising levels of cyber crime, arguing that better organisational defences must be matched by stronger efforts to disrupt the groups behind attacks.

“While awareness is clearly important and businesses need to play their role, a question to ask is how is the Government tackling this wave of crime? With such prevalence of the activity, what is being done to disrupt the actors conducting it? Defensive and preventative actions can only go so far, upstream disruption is required alongside this,” Kidwell said.

Legal specialists view the survey as further evidence of a gap between the severity of cyber risk and the way many boards approach the issue. They also point to nation-state threats and the complexity of global vendor networks as added pressures on governance.

Ross McKean, co-chair of the UK Data Protection and Cyber Response Practise at DLA Piper, said:

“While some welcome progress has been made, today’s figures show a persistent gap between the potential existential nature of cyber threats and board-level engagement, especially across smaller businesses. With nation state threat actors increasingly targeting Western organisations and global supply chains becoming ever more interconnected, there is a pressing urgency to close this gap, including by ensuring businesses consistently identify, assess and prepare for vulnerabilities across their third-party vendor networks and take steps to defend against new technologies such as AI which potentially render current vulnerability patching practices redundant.”

McKean argued that boards should incorporate cyber considerations into broader resilience planning and crisis management, with clear priorities for keeping critical functions running after an incident.

“As a first step, all organisations, no matter their size, should have a clear picture of their ‘minimum viable business’ and urgently establish tested and effective workarounds that allow them to keep going should primary systems be offline. Fundamentally cyber risk is a business resilience, board level consideration,” McKean said.