A friend recently posted a picture on Facebook which showed Britain's first computer being delivered to a council office in England. In 1957, Norwich City Council took delivery of an Elliot 405 computer, it was used to process payrolls, perform accountancy duties and stock control. Sixty years of UK business computing has evolved so much that we now find ourselves in a cloud based, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) era.
The Elliot 405 being delivered in 1957
In UK homes, computers and processors have been used to manage centralised services such as lighting control, heating and ventilation, air-conditioning, audio & visual and security systems. Typically these systems take up an enormous amount of space in a home. Small store rooms, plant rooms and valuable cupboard spaces can often be filled with equipment racks, wiring panels and electrical enclosures. For a 5 bedroom plus sized home it's quite common for the technology installer to commandeer several square metres of space.
Huge Smart Home installation in luxury home
At Customised we understand the need for this amount of equipment in the very complicated and technically advanced luxury homes. It's unavoidable in homes that have dozens of rooms requiring hidden technology, the control gear has to go somewhere.
In 2017, Customised are turning their attention to smaller, less complicated, every person homes. We're realistic and know that the average 3 bedroom house or 2 bedroom apartment does not have space for equipment racks and plant rooms. You have areas already reserved for technology, there is a boiler and heating controls location, designated spaces in rooms for a TV, a small area for a doorbell at the front door, light fittings and light switches are already in traditional places; we can't have a centralised lighting control system and finally you have your thermostats in their positions. Unless you are doing a major refurbishment in the home these locations are fixed and we have to work with where they are. Customised are experts at using the existing wiring in your home to install smart devices.
Key devices in the home can be made smart by Customised, here are our favourites:
Philips Hue white and colour changing light bulbs.
Sonos wireless multi room music system.
Amazon Echo voice controlled home assistant.
Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide detector.
Customised can't change the way homes are built or wired
We know that UK homeowners want to live smarter, technology plays a big part in our lives and adding smart home technology can bring greater pleasure, security and efficiency to our living spaces. The biggest stumbling block for homeowners is not knowing which tech is right for their home. There is a real lack of information on smart home products and the biggest problem is knowing what tech works with what. We don't want thirteen apps to control our home, ideally just one, maybe two and no more than three. Customised can help with this.
Book a free consultation with us, we're here to help you create a more efficient and easy to control home with connected technology.
Kris Gamble - Customised Technical Director