Over the last 18 months, our surveying teams have spent increasing amounts of time assessing emergency call systems across residential developments, particularly in later living and supported housing schemes.
What has become clear very quickly is that many organisations are still trying to understand the scale of analogue dependency sitting quietly across their portfolios.
In some buildings, emergency call systems installed decades ago are still operating day to day without obvious issues. In others, concerns only begin to surface after intermittent faults, connectivity problems or resident reports that parts of the system are no longer functioning reliably.
The challenge is that these systems are largely invisible until something goes wrong.
For residents, however, they are anything but invisible.
In many residential developments, particularly later living schemes, emergency call systems provide a direct route to assistance during an emergency. They form part of the everyday reassurance residents rely on, even if most people rarely think about the infrastructure behind them.
That is why the UK’s move towards fully digital landline services is becoming such an important issue for the residential sector.
By January 2027, landline telephone services in the UK are expected to move to a fully digital network. While the transition has been discussed for years, many building owners and managing agents are only now starting to assess what that means operationally across their buildings.
And in practice, the challenge is often more complicated and can be more expensive than expected.
The Risk Isn’t Always Obvious
One of the difficulties with analogue dependency is that buildings can appear to be functioning normally right up until the point where there is a failure, disruption or attempted use during an emergency.
Unlike more visible building issues, emergency call systems tend to sit quietly in the background. Unless they are tested, reviewed or upgraded proactively, organisations may not fully understand where vulnerabilities exist.
Through our surveying work, we are increasingly seeing organisations trying to establish:
- Which buildings still rely on analogue connectivity.
- Which systems may require further investigation or upgrade.
- How emergency call infrastructure interacts with wider building systems.
- What realistic timescales for delivery may look like across occupied residential environments.
- What is the cost associated with the changes required.
For many property professionals, this is not simply becoming a technology conversation. It is becoming an operational and resident safety issue.
Why This Is Becoming Harder to Ignore
One of the biggest pressures facing the sector is uncertainty.
While the overall direction of travel is clear, there is no simple national sequence showing exactly when individual areas or services will transition. That makes long-term planning difficult, particularly for organisations managing larger or more complex residential portfolios.
At the same time, awareness across the industry is increasing.
As more organisations begin assessing their exposure and moving towards programmes of work, demand on specialist contractors and suppliers is also likely to increase. That creates another challenge for building owners and managing agents who may already be balancing competing compliance priorities, operational pressures and resident expectations.
What we are seeing now is that organisations which start early generally retain more control over planning, procurement and delivery. Those waiting for a trigger point or obvious failure may ultimately face fewer options and greater programme pressure.
More Than a Simple Upgrade
Another common misconception is that emergency communication upgrades are straightforward like-for-like replacements.
In reality, these projects often involve much broader operational considerations, particularly in occupied residential buildings.
Emergency call systems may connect across apartments, communal areas, lift emergency phones and wider building infrastructure. Access arrangements, resident communication, continuity of service and coordination across multiple stakeholders can all become important parts of delivery.
In some cases, organisations are also introducing temporary bridging arrangements to maintain connectivity while longer-term plans are developed. While these may help reduce short-term operational risk, they are rarely viewed as permanent solutions.
The wider challenge for many organisations is understanding the scale of coordination required before delivery programmes begin.
The Window to Prepare Is Narrowing
Right now, many organisations still have an opportunity to assess their buildings, understand where analogue dependency exists and plan ahead in a structured way.
But that window is narrowing.
As awareness across the sector grows, delivery programmes are likely to become more complex, contractor demand will increase, and timelines may tighten further.
For building owners and managing agents, the organisations likely to retain the most control will be the ones that understand their exposure early and begin planning before urgent action is forced upon them.
Because with emergency call systems, the worst time to discover there is a problem is the moment somebody needs to use them.
To help building owners and managing agents understand the potential impact of the UK’s move to digital landline services, Innovus has produced a practical guide exploring the questions organisations should now be asking across their residential portfolios.
About the Author:
Clare Parker is Director of Group Surveying at Innovus. With more than 30 years’ experience spanning finance, commercial property and construction, Clare has built and led high-performing teams delivering complex surveying and operational projects across residential environments. Her background includes building surveying and valuation within commercial property, alongside extensive experience in complex projects and multidisciplinary environments.
Clare is recognised for her practical, problem-solving approach and her ability to translate complex challenges into clear, workable solutions. Her experience also includes financial project management across major energy and infrastructure programmes, shaping outcomes in high-value and technically demanding settings.
