Articles and whitepapers

Growing the Automated Blinds and Window Décor Market (1/1/2007)

By Peter Nias, Intelli-Blinds

The UK blinds and window décor market has yet to prepare for the home technology boom. The idea of the smart home was suggested by Microsoft founder Bill Gates during the 1990's, but generally was perceived as a plaything of the wealthy. While the smart home seems to be a valuable and convenient concept, there has yet to be widespread consumer demand for retrofit of such systems. Retrofit has the problem of how and where to place power and signal cabling, so it is the new-build market that will lead the demand since cables and infrastructure can be plastered-in and hidden by the internal decoration.

The 90's would not have appreciated the political and social changes that would now accelerate the practicality of the integrated home. Demand is now driven by the need for energy conservation that pervades many policies as well as the consumer agenda, and also by the explosion of home entertainment. The 'integrated' or 'smart' home can make a big contribution to energy saving and simultaneously give the 'cool' consumer their distributed audio, video-on-demand and information retrieval.

Some property developers and interior designers involved with both individual homes and multi-occupancy apartments have an eye on capitalising on a premium that can apply if they pre-install ALL the necessary cabling - even if it is not ultimately fully used - that will allow both data and power supply to move around so that devices and utilities can respond almost without user intervention.

In the U.S. 47 million homes will have networking capability by 2009 and Europe will not be far behind. Factors such as pervasive Internet access, home network growth, introduction of HDTV, cheap mass data storage and a 'must have' consumer mentality are driving consumer awareness at all levels. In the UK, the rapid take-up of broadband has moved the technology market up yet another gear.

The increasing grey consumer with substantial disposable income coupled with the older housing stock needing a makeover, is bound to increase demand for home automation and the lifestyle advantages it can bring. Home-technology-integration companies are responding to this by offering integration of various home subsystems, but one essential element, namely window and glazing décor, is lagging behind.

Automated roman blinds

Yet this element should be seen as essential, since it has a direct influence on solar control (solar energy input) and energy conservation (heat loss), as well as on visual amenity (privacy and view) for the consumer. In addition, on the security side, the idea of simulated occupancy coupled with entry control and surveillance is not fully achieved without having blinds and curtains to operate.

Product choice

It is now possible to motorise any type of window blinds, those most familiar are roller blinds, vertical blinds and slatted venetians. Others are pleated, roman shades, sliding panels and traditional curtains. There are also external products such as awnings, internal/external tilting slat systems and external roller blinds. The latest techno advance is putting venetian and pleated blinds inside sealed units and having the movement powered by induction motors so no wires pass into the hermetic seal. If expense is no object, then even glass switching from transparent to opaque blue can be installed onto a smart home network!

Automated rollerblinds in bathroom

These all operate with small motors built into the headrails or roller tubes, and much in the home can use 24V low voltage, thus being compact and safe to use even in wet areas. For the bigger areas and heavier curtains, 240V is used.

The key factor is getting the infrastructure correct at first fix stage; anything afterwards is a compromise. Motors need power, and it necessary for installers to appreciate the difference between 24V DC switching and 240V switching and that motors with 'electronics built in' are not ideal for installing on primary wire-based backbone networks such as EIB, Lutron, Crestron, C-bus and so on. These electronic motors just add another layer of control that increases cost and can get in the way of using the programmable functions of the main network. The blinds industry has no problem with supplying simple motors with reliable limit switches and, for the majority of end users, at more than acceptable noise levels.

Market acceptance

Many retailers of soft furnishings, curtains and blinds seem reluctant to embrace electric tracks, blinds and the technology partly because it has inherent technical aspects such as the new part P regulations, PAT certification and knowledge of how to install onto existing or proposed smart home networks. To achieve any sort of customer satisfaction then, a co-ordinated approach is essential with the building contractor, system integrator, electrician and certainly not least the client if it is a private construction. All this must be started at the first fix stage!

The solutions to this problem is for manufacturers to work with retailers as partners to give property developers and interior designers the expertise to get the infrastructure specification correct and to enable the retailer to offer a range of motorised window décor.

Planning

At first concept, property acquisition or planning stage, property developers and self-build owners will evaluate what basic network to install for heating, lighting and security control. On top of this will be distribution of video, audio, telecomms and computer data, and finally, the control of day-to-day environment and visual impact such as blinds and curtains. But is that how it should be? On large glazed areas for example, consider the effect of solar shading blinds on the air conditioning budget and how it should interact with the heating system.

Window décor suppliers should not be the 'tail-end Charlie' of the supply chain, but should be there to offer data using modern software modelling, and be able to advise what cable to put where and which blinds to consider long before the plasterer and decorator arrive. Intelli-blinds for example, is offering such services, and by partnering with quality soft furnishing and curtain retailers, can give the technical support to their expertise in textiles and fabrics.

Conclusion

Technologies such as ZigBee allow blinds, curtains, temperature differential, time of day, sunlight, glare, colour, mood, occupancy and individuals' preferences to interact to a fine-tuned state that the end user will be unaware of, other than a feeling of well-being and comfort. While the basic benefits of automated blinds and window décor include energy saving, fewer faded carpets and furniture, as well as enhanced security from simulated occupancy, it is this customer satisfaction factor that will add extra value to the property's selling price.

Peter Nias is the Managing Director of Intelli-Blinds. Intelli-Blinds is a trading name of Roman Blinds Ltd which has many years' experience of bespoke blind/curtain manufacture and install.

www.intelli-blinds.com