Rarely a day goes by without the media reporting on the launch of some new gadget that promises to revolutionise the way we look, talk, walk or work. Many give in to the glorified marketing hype and part with our cash only to find that the gadget fails to deliver what it promised or that it is out of date before we’ve even left the shop. But one area that is really benefiting from the advancement of technology is housebuilding.
Every aspect of the way we heat, light and secure our home can be improved, to genuine benefit, by technology.
A survey conducted by The Alliance and Leicester cited ‘technology’ as the key to a future house boom with installed home ‘entertainment’ regarded as one of the most important future lifestyle trends by homebuyers. Interest in items such as home cinema systems and multi-room audio are growing in tandem with the rising use of broadband and wireless communications technology. There is also a need for security systems to be more advanced, as burglars get more techno-savvy.
As a result, many regard it essential to have a technologically advanced home if they are to reap a healthy future resale value. Some homebuilders are finding themselves having to step up and equip properties with much more ‘intelligent’ systems as standard features in order to satisfy this demand.
So what is intelligent about ‘intelligent wiring’? The benefit of ‘intelligent wiring’ is that it can be fitted throughout a property and control the main functions of heat, sound, light and security all at the touch of one button, and even remotely.
Ceiling, wall and table lights, for example, can be controlled at the flick of a switch, without the need to go round the room turning them on and off individually. Lazy? No. You can pre-programme the system to different mood settings (according to the kind of day you’ve had at the office or who you’re having over for dinner!) and there is even a ‘vacation’ option that automatically replicates the home’s lighting pattern when the owner goes away on holiday – a feature which is much more likely to fool a burglar than a plug-in timer switch. In many of our properties we enable the system so that the lighting patterns, and even the opening and closing of curtains, have the capability of being controlled using a mobile phone.
Clever stuff, especially as latest statistics from the Association of British Insurers show that there were 342,000 claims of domestic theft in 2004, a total loss of £355 million. Its no surprise then that advanced security features are much in demand. Electronic video entry gates are becoming common place as are CCTV cameras which, using the properties wiring system, can be beamed to a TV set, in the same way that Sky and terrestrial TV is, and can be viewed on specified channels without the need for any additional equipment.
Intelligent wiring also has the capability of distributing these TV channels and broadband to any room in the home, enabling Mum, Dad, teenager and tot to all watch their favourite TV channels at the same time or to browse the internet individually.
One of the most popular aspects of intelligent wiring though is ‘piped audio’, where music is distributed throughout the home, usually through concealed wall or floor mounted speakers. This system acts like an i-pod. Providing you have the right equipment, the audio system acts as a hard drive, storing favourite tracks and albums after the first play and making them available for selection without the need to reinstall the CD.
But by ‘technology’ we’re not just talking wires.
Underfloor heating is a prime example of one previously luxury technology which is now becoming more widely used. One of our first developments to feature underfloor heating was Heron’s Brook in Prestbury, a substantial Georgian style country home on the market for £2.5m. 
We chose this method, partly because we wanted to protect the interior styling of the home from unsightly radiators and pipes but also because it offers genuine comfort to the inhabitants, maintaining a constant temperature with none of the dust or ‘cold spots’ generated by radiators. Some sophisticated systems also allow you to determine an individual temperature for each room depending on the personal preference of its occupants.
Another example is unvented pressurised water systems, which guarantee constant water pressure to every outlet in the home, regardless of how many members of the family are showering, watering the garden or washing the car, all at the same time.
Its these kind of ‘gadgets’, which deliver genuine comfort and peace of mind, that I think are worthy of people’s investment in them - and the column inches.
ENDS
