The smartest of smart homes
IT’S the butler for the 21st Century – the home that opens its own front door, turns on the lights, greets you with your favourite music and keeps unwanted visitors at bay. It can draw the curtains, have a hot meal waiting for you and even run the bath to your precise requirements.
Smart homes are on the rise, equipped with systems and appliances that create a welcoming, safe and fully automated sanctuary. All you need is a smartphone to make it all work.
Most smart homes are top-end, but forward-looking developers at the affordable end of the market are also jumping on board.
Ian Silverstein is so proud of the £75,000 of tech he has installed at Home House, the spectacular fourbedroom, four-bathroom home he commissioned from an architect in 2014, he has created a website to outline its capabilities (iansilverstein.wixsite.com/homehouse).
‘It was not my first smart home – I’ve installed the best technology available in previous homes for both myself and clients,’ says the designer, who lives on the rural estate between St Albans and Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire.
He is at pains to point out he is not into gadgets for their own sake: ‘So much home tech is not very userfriendly; I picked only devices guaranteed to give me a more convenient and efficient home.’
Take the smoke alarms – they perform the potentially life-saving task of identifying the presence of carbon monoxide as well as smoke: ‘These alarms talk to you, instead of emitting a shrill sound,’ he says of the Nest sensors, which are smart enough to tell the difference between dangerous smoke and harmless steam. They also test their own batteries once a month and send a text when replacements are needed.
From wherever he happens to be in the world, Ian can control all his devices from an iPhone, including the sophisticated entry system.
‘I can let the delivery man through the electric gates and follow him up the driveway via CCTV, and t ext guests who might arrive before I get home a 15- minute entry code to let themselves in,’ he says proudly.
For internal security, Ian chose a system with all the discretion of Downton Abbey’s Carson.
He says: ‘It recognises me when I enter and respects my privacy by looking away when I’m in the house. But if an intruder gets in, it will rotate its cameras towards them, having already called the police.’
But although he has also installed a wireless lighting system that can create four different moods in each room, Ian thinks that electrically operated blinds and curtains are a home tech idea too far: ‘I don’t want an excuse to sit on the couch and do absolutely nothing – and I’m quite happy to run my own bath!’
Ian is now planning to move to North London, and is researching homes that are suitable for smart living innovations.
‘Even if I don’t commission a new build this time, I’ll want to put in place al l t he t ech which can improve the way I live,’ he says.