Session overview

What if you could understand the real energy performance of hundreds of homes without stepping inside a single one?

Social landlords are under growing pressure to decarbonise homes, improve EPC performance, tackle fuel poverty, and make every retrofit pound count. But there’s a problem. Many retrofit decisions still rely on EPCs that can be years out of date, desktop assumptions, or costly in-home surveys that simply don’t scale.

What if there was another way?

In this live DIN case study, we’ll hear from Places for People and climate-tech innovator Kestrix, who are using thermal drones and AI to build a completely new picture of housing performance without entering a single home.

By combining drone imagery, thermal imaging and machine learning, Kestrix creates 3D heat-loss models of homes, quantifies where energy is escaping, and projects real-world energy costs and retrofit opportunities at portfolio scale.

Places for People has already used the technology across more than 700 homes, helping test whether AI-powered thermal mapping could provide a faster, smarter and more scalable alternative to traditional EPC-led decision-making. Kestrix describes its ambition as becoming the “Google Maps of heat loss” helping landlords prioritise retrofit investment using measured building performance rather than assumptions.

This session will explore what happens when housing providers move beyond estimates and begin measuring what homes are actually doing in the real world.

Key takeaways

In this session we’ll explore:

• Are EPCs still fit for planning multi-million-pound retrofit programmes?
• Could drone-based thermal surveys replace or enhance traditional stock surveys?
• How quickly can landlords build a real-world heat-loss map across an entire portfolio?
• Can AI help target the homes that need intervention first — and avoid wasted investment?
• What did Places for People learn from scanning 700 homes at scale?

This is a chance to see how AI, imaging and data can come together to support smarter retrofit planning, sharper investment decisions and better resident outcomes.

About the speakers

James Stevens, Solutions Architect at Places for People
James has been leading Places for People’s work with Kestrix, exploring how AI and thermal drone technology can support smarter retrofit planning, sharper investment decisions, and better outcomes for residents.

Duncan Forrow, Head of Business Development at Kestrix
Duncan works with housing providers to apply Kestrix’s AI-powered heat-loss mapping technology across large portfolios turning thermal imagery into actionable retrofit intelligence.

Who should attend?

This session is ideal for social housing leaders working across:

• Asset management, property, and sustainability
• Data, digital, and innovation
• Surveying, stock condition, and building performance
• Executive teams shaping future property strategy

Particularly relevant for those exploring how AI, data and survey innovation can support smarter investment and retrofit decisions at scale.