Case study
The southern hemisphere
comes to Surrey
This 8.5 million pound home took its inspiration from South Africa and Australia.
Unique Buildings used Carlo Gavazzi's Smart-Home technology to help bring warmth and security to a new Southern Hemisphere-style home in one of England's most exclusive post codes.
Ravinder Sandhu of Unique Buildings explains: the company has been running for about seven years in the automation field, with work ranging from domestic to commercial projects.
“I work closely with an outfit called IPPEC and we do all the heating controls for their commercial applications and some domestic dwellings. We use the Carlo Gavazzi Smart House System, which takes care of the heating controls for the boiler controls and all the needed actuators, pumps, valves and other heating components.”
The developer of the Highclere project approached IPPEC for the heating and, from a meeting with ourselves, was interested in having the Smart House system installed, as he liked all the commercial applications that it was used in and the functionality that it gave.
When South Africa made a home in the exclusive St George's Hill area of Surrey, it was never going to be a 1930's mock Tudor, with Africa and Australia providing the inspiration for this £8.5 million property.
Explains Johan: “It blends the styles of Africa and my wife's native Australia yet would be warm, comfortable and secure, despite the British climate.”
In the Highclere property, the Smart Home system controls all the lighting, garden lighting, curtain controls, irrigation, heating, security and swimming pool controls.
When we installed the fire alarm system, we also included a smart house relay that switches all the lights on in the event of an alarm to assist the occupants in finding safety.
Ravinder explains: movement via flush mounted PIR located on the ceiling, and on/off lighting depending on ambient light levels, is achieved by a Lux sensor fixed to the outside of the building. These sensors also double as the house's security system.
The Smart House two-wire bus communicates between components and also supplies them with power, which allowed the team to deliver a quicker installation, lower complexity and cleaner lines. It keeps the control devices separated from the AC lines that distribute power throughout the lighting and heating circuits.
Ravinder explains: “Many of the components were expensive for the functionality they provide and many need third-party products to make the system complete. The Smart House provides the answer to all these problems and is easy to install.”
Security and remote control
In addition to heating and light, the Smart House system is connected to the house's intruder detectors. The house lights flash when there is a security breach, as well as sounding the alarm. Flashing at one-second intervals is said to be psychologically distracting and makes it extremely difficult for an intruder to search for valuable keys, jewellery and information such as credit card details.
The house can be monitored from outside. An alarm sounds in each room to persuade the intruder to leave. Naturally, the Police can be notified automatically, along with keyholders and other designated people.
As a businessman constantly on the move, Johan says he finds it especially useful to be able to receive alerts by SMS: “Text messages from the security system wherever I am in the world, any time of day or night.” Dialling into the Smart House can be programmed in, and the system will call each number in turn until the message has been successfully delivered.
The commissioning process can also be done by the installer without the need for expensive programmers.
“The Smart House two-wire bus communicates between components and also supplies them with power, which allowed the team to deliver a quicker installation, lower complexity and cleaner lines.”
Gavazzi smartflexible and easy to expand, the system can be extended to virtually any of the house's systems. It can be linked to detectors in the utility room, enabling the water for washing machines to be shut off if a leak occurs. Curtains can open and close automatically at the end of each day and can be included in lighting scenarios. Detectors can alert residents to dangerous fires and faulty appliances. The system could also manage the inside swimming pool.
Cinema: all aspects of the system can be controlled and viewed locally on wall mounted touch screens and highcontrols or remotely via the Internet and mobile phone. Ravinder is such a fan of the Smart Home system that he has it installed in his own house, which he uses as a showhome. He always future-proofs his projects; new functionality can be added without the need for pulling in any more cables.
Doing it all
Ravinder explains: “Systemline audio system installed throughout with touchscreens and a 5.1 system. The only really tricky problem with the install came when the client wanted to use the audio touch-screens to also control his lighting. Our partners helped with resolving this problem by developing new software, and because of their help, the Smart House system can now integrate with other multisystems like Opus.”
The essential kit
- 1 Smart House Master Generator
- 3 Slave Bus Expansion Modules
- 1 GSM Module
- 7 8/1 0w Traic Relay (under-
- 14 8/16A Relay Module (lighting relays)
- 6 2/230W Dimmer Relays
- 4 Curtains
- 8 Flush PIR Sensors
- 42 4 port Biscuit Modules (Light Switches)
- 16 Fuga Temperature Displays (digital Thermostats)
- 1 Outdoor LUX Sensor
- 1 Outdoor Temperature Sensor
- 2 4in Alarm Input Module
