Mark and Debbi, bought a plot of land in Hertfordshire three years ago to build a new family home on. Their previous home did not have an integrated system so the new house gave them an opportunity to explore new ideas and create a truly modern interior with the convenience of an all encompassing integrated audio visual solution.
They approached Smartcomm who designed a system that would complement the family’s lifestyle, be fun, easy to use and would blend discretely with the rest of the interior. The property features Crestron control throughout, giving full accecss to the entire system from various user interfaces around the house, allowing the family to choose what to turn on/off and when. Crestron’s intercom audio and video distribution makes light work of the signals received from BPT’s door entry system; guests at the door can be seen and heard on various touch panels and display screens around the house – a must have feature for properties of this size.
Security is further enhanced by seven Vandal Resistant colour cameras with dome low lux fixed lenses have been discretely installed in carefully selected positions around the house. The cameras cover the whole of the property and grounds with the option to upgrade them to PTZ (Pan Tilt Zoom) in the future. The CCTV images can be viewed (via RF) on all TV’s and selected touch panels. The system also includes a 500GB networked hard drive allowing remote viewing.
The iLight lighting system consists of ninety six channels of dimmable lighting and twenty 0-10v channels of LED dimming inside the house, with a further eight channels of switched lighting for the exterior lighting and water features. Lighting scenes can be controlled either via user interfaces or local keypads. PIR motion sensors were used in three W/C’s and in the garage so the lights automatically switch on when movement is detected. The exterior lights automatically turn on at a preset time each evening and automatically turn off in the morning, this happens regardless of whether the family is at home or not, adding an additional security feature.
Multi-room audio can be heard via Polk’s RC60i 6.5” in-ceiling speakers through the gym, playroom, breakfast room, dining room, drawing room, study, master bedroom, master en suite, bedrooms 2, 3, 4, 5 & corresponding en suites, family bathroom and the garage. Audio sources include DAB radio, local iPod (via Crestron iPod docking stations in selected rooms), distributed iPod (from the family room) and distributed Sky+.
