Smarten up

Developments in consumer technology and programming Smarten up standards mean home automation By David Adams is now becoming a reality

You know how it is with technology: turn your back for a minute, and when you look again there’s a whole new generation of devices on the market. While smartphone, tablet, TV and computer technologies have been evolving over the past few years, so too have smart home and off ice technologies, including advanced, yet increasingly aff ordable, systems that can be controlled over the internet through tablets or smartphones.

Fewer smart home or off ice installations now require extensive, customised programming, making them easier and cheaper to install. Widespread adoption of the KNX (ISO/IEC 14543-3) standard for home and building control data has made integration between diff erent smart technologies more straightforward, including home entertainment, lighting, heating, air conditioning, security and fire alarm systems; as well as smart control of white goods, kitchen or garden gadgets, windows and blinds.

These advances also make it easier to monitor and manage energy use eff iciently, with heating, cooling or lighting technologies reacting to the presence of people in a room or a part of the building, or to changes in temperature or external light levels.

Awareness of smart home technologies is now much greater among developers, the construction industry and the wider public. Wendy Griff iths, executive director at the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (CEDIA), says: “When I first started CEDIA 14 years ago, the strategy was to drive awareness of integrated home technology as a profession and work through architects and interior designers, because consumer awareness was limited,” she says. “But now consumers are often driving their architect and interior designer to wake up to this sector.”

Remote control

One major diff erence over the past five years has been the rise of tablets, smartphones and apps to control heating or lighting systems. These technologies allow consumers to remotely reconfigure lighting, heating and home entertainment, as well as monitor and control security cameras.

The upshot of all this is that a growing number of electrical contractors are making good money out of installing and maintaining many of these technologies and the wired and wireless infrastructures that support them. One point of entry for contractors and for

homeowners of more modest means is user-friendly heating controls that can ‘learn’ about a household’s routine and adjust the heating schedule appropriately. These home networks depend on a strong electrical/data cabling infrastructure – a clear point of entry for electrical contractors.

Taking action

One contractor working in these markets is EML Installations, a small company based in south-west London. Current projects include seven luxury apartments in Mayfair, where home automation based on KNX backbone systems is providing smart heating, lighting, home entertainment and home off ice facilities for the new tenants.

But EML also works with technologies such as Control4 home automation control systems and Comelit IP-based technologies, which make home automation more aff ordable for customers of more modest means, says operations director Mark Bamford.

A combination of these technologies can enable integrated home security and lighting control systems within an apartment block at a much lower price than was possible before. “The door-entry panel allows you to monitor daily consumption of the building, to turn lights on and off and see who’s at the door, from anywhere in the world,” Bamford explains. He says that a few years ago this type of system would have cost £10,000 to £15,000; now the cost is around £2,500 per apartment.

Another contractor, Randburg Electrical, works on residential, commercial and industrial projects. The company was founded 10 years ago by director Dan Brazier and his business partner Adrian Cherry. Home automation has become more important to the business as the technology has become more accessible for a wider range of consumers, says Brazier.

Stefan Knight, managing director of another London-based contractor, JSJ, also believes the potential size of the home automation market is growing as the technology becomes less expensive. He says that if someone is buying a property that needs rewiring at a cost of £3,000, it is not unreasonable to suggest they spend £5,000 to create a smart home wiring infrastructure.

Finally, there is the drive to save energy, perhaps for environmental reasons, certainly to reduce costs. off ice is unoccupied. If you are building a new off ice, or doing anything with an existing off ice building that is going through building controls, you must build to that standard.

“This is a fantastic opportunity; it isn’t a threat,” he adds. “It’s almost a new frontier for many electrical contractors. If you are doing an integrated off ice you need those skills.” Contractors will also have more opportunities to set up maintenance contracts, he adds.

But this type of work won’t suit everyone. “Some electricians struggle to get to grips with how things work, because it’s more electronics and IT, than electrical,” says JSJ’s Knight. “But it is perfectly possible for an electrician to do it with training.” CEDIA off ers courses to help contractors move into this area and you can access training related to specific types of systems or equipment, often off ered free by manufacturers.

If smart home and smart off ice technologies do become more mainstream, it will be worth electrical contractors getting involved. As Buddle puts it: “If they don’t grasp this opportunity, someone else will.”

Case study: Konextions

One electrical contractor already seeing the benefi t of smart home technologies is Konextions, based in Surrey. Director Ian Myles began his career as a dockyards apprentice in 1987 and set up Konextions in 2003 as a one-stop-shop, to help clients avoid problems associated with multi-contractor projects. > A residential renovation project Konextions recently worked on in Rome. The home automation system was integrated with the lighting, audio/visual systems, HVAC, video entry, CCTV and security system

Today the company works mainly on high-end residential projects. “We take the shell of a house and we’ll do all the electrical lighting, heating, AV, HVAC automation, multi-room audio, cinemas, security, fi re alarms – everything,” Myles explains.

The whole process is becoming more straightforward because there are now many more user-friendly products available that don’t require as much programming work. “Things have become easier with KNX, using systems such as Control4,” he says. “Lots of it is now controlled by IP, so it’s about commissioning and setting up, rather than hardcore programming.”

Recent projects include a three-storey house in Cobham, Surrey, which will include a home cinema, full heating controls via iPad, six zones of HD TV, 10 zones of audio and a full Lutron lighting system.

Off ice eff iciencies

The same trend is also visible in the smart off ices sector. “The smart devices going into off ice buildings are really about energy eff iciency and saving money,” says Simon Buddle, education director at CEDIA and technical director at smart home specialist SMC. He says presence detection technologies are becoming more common in off ices and are often now integrated with heating and ventilation controls.

The BS EN 15232 standard for the energy performance of buildings has also encouraged uptake. “That leads to a requirement for more integrated systems in the off ice,” says Buddle. “Lighting, heating and ventilation systems need to talk to each other and have some kind of presence detection so that they are not used when the

‘This is a fantastic opportunity; it isn’t a threat. It’s a new frontier for many electrical contractors’