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Partnership marks the way forward for smart home and intelligent building technology in the UK (6/8/2007)

The UK smart home and intelligent building technology market is on the brink of a revolution, with three-fold growth predicted by 2012. But achieving this growth demands greater education and communication between all of the parties with an interest in making the technology work, including manufacturers, end users, property developers, installers and specifiers.

This was one of the main findings of a panel discussion hosted by ABB at the London Building Centre on 7th June. Members of five interested parties representing system integrators, electrical contractors, end users, manufacturers and the industry association came together to discuss the topic: 'What will make smart home and intelligent building technology take off in the UK?'.

The composition of the panel reflected the type of organisations that need to work together in order to bring about positive change for smart home and intelligent building technology in the UK.

The main question facing the panel was what needs to be done to grow the UK market in intelligent installation systems, which today is valued at £100m but is expected to grow to an estimated £250m by 2012. Intelligent installation systems form the hub around which all lighting, home entertainment, security and telecoms, for example, are connected. Despite being well-established in continental Europe, the UK intelligent installation system market is yet to enjoy similar success in either domestic or commercial projects.

Darren Burford, Managing Director of Andromeda Telematics, a system integrator specialising in intelligent building control applications, attributes much of the blame for the technology's slow start in the UK to confusion over what 'smart technology' actually is.

"The main problem is that there so many vendors in the market offering a wide range of so-called 'smart devices'," says Burford. "Consequently, if you asked 10 people what smart control is, you would get 10 different answers. The mature commercial BMS market, for example, generally only considers main plant and HVAC field control to some degree using traditional control strategies. The residential sector mainly considers smart buildings as ones with high-end AV systems. In both cases, smart control means much more than this.

"Simply defined, the technology is about creating an intelligent building that thinks for you. Whether it be controlling lighting, heating or ventilation levels or creating a mood for a room with automatically controlled lighting and music, the technology should be able to improve your environment without you even noticing."

The other problem in promoting and selling the technology has been the proliferation of organisations and outlets involved with the technology.

"With so many manufacturers and suppliers of the technology each pushing their own agendas, the waters have become muddied when it comes to communicating the benefits of smart home and intelligent building technology to end users," adds Burford. "To date, no-one has really taken a strong lead in the UK market and attempted to set down a de facto definition of the technology."

One organisation actively involved in setting down such a definition is the Konnex Association, of which Burford is also UK Vice-President. The Konnex Association promotes the KNX standard, an open platform system for home and building controls that guarantees multi-vendor interoperability.

"One of the main challenges in the market today is that many smart devices and control systems aren't compatible with one another, which makes them both difficult to use and upgrade.

"One example is the British Library, which originally installed a proprietary smart building control system. The Library was left with a system which it couldn't upgrade and for which there was no support. To solve the problem, the Library opted for a KNX system. Using this technology has given the building's operators the flexibility to upgrade to meet changing requirements. It has also provided protection against the risk of using a single-source manufacturer, as the system will work with any KNX-certified product even if it's from another supplier."

As a manufacturer of KNX-certified intelligent building controls, ABB Limited is well placed to take advantage of the growing market in the UK. Already one of the leading global players in smart home and intelligent building technology, ABB has created a strategy for the UK market which involves promoting the technology on three key selling points, namely lifestyle, energy efficiency and security.

"Selling the technology to the residential and commercial markets requires two very different approaches," says James Haigh, General Manager of ABB's low voltage products business in the UK. "For those involved in the residential sector, the technology is largely about lifestyle considerations, in terms of making life easier and optimising the appeal of the home through integrated control of lighting, heating and AV. However, this sector is also becoming increasingly concerned about security and energy efficiency, which are two areas in which the technology can also bring major benefits.

For the commercial sector, the main advantage of the technology is the ability to save energy. In a commercial office, for example, lighting alone can account for 45% of the energy bill. This can be drastically cut by using intelligent building controls to automatically control lighting levels, with options such as turning lights off when no-one is present or having specific modes for different times of the day."

At the current time, ABB estimates that the UK market for smart home and intelligent building technology is roughly divided into residential and commercial, with both sectors set for large potential growth. "Flagship projects such as Heathrow Terminal 5 have attracted the attention not only of other commercial users but also the UK Government, which has made energy efficiency one of its main priorities," says Haigh.

To help support its smart home and intelligent building technology drive in the UK, ABB has created a dedicated team responsible for identifying opportunities and fostering relationships with key decision makers including architects, developers and specifiers. To help make the technology more widely available, the team will also provide support for contractors, a group which has long criticised manufacturers for a lack of guidance and information when it comes to installing smart building control technology.

"When we first started out, there was very little support available from manufacturers," says Hanif Khan of Ohms and Watts, a specialist installer of smart building controls. "However, over the past three years, manufacturers such as ABB have started to make a big effort to provide help and support."

Ohms and Watts is one of just a few electrical installers in the UK to have seized the business opportunities of smart home and intelligent building technology. The company's engineers are certified installers of KNX technology, having attended training courses run and accredited by the Konnex Association.

"The UK's electrical contractors have tended to ignore smart building controls and instead do things in the same way as they have been done for over 40 years," says Khan. "With so few people still qualified to install smart building controls, these contractors are missing out on a huge competitive opportunity.

Not only that, but they are failing to pass on potential time and cost savings to their customers that can result from installing smart, as opposed to conventional, building control technology. In conventional electrical installations, for example, you need to have separate installers to handle the control of lighting, plumbing and ventilation. With smart building controls, just one person can carry out all the work to combine these various elements. This could pave the way for a new breed of electro-technical professional."

Ohms and Watts is a good illustration of why it pays for organisations involved in smart building control technology to work together. As a trained specialist, the company provides an invaluable channel to market for ABB, which has frequently worked with Ohms and Watts on several of its projects. Not only is it able to perform the necessary installation work, but it can also bring the skills needed to convince customers about the benefits of the technology. One example is Mentmore Homes's prestigious luxury housing project at Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire. Owned by Brian Peck, Mentmore Homes included smart building controls to control lighting and heating functions in each of the nine houses on the site, with additional cabling also installed for AV if required.

In this project, Ohms and Watts spent time at the outset convincing Brian Peck about the possibilities of the system.

"When you first talk to someone about smart technology, it takes a long time to convince people that the technology is good and that it's not a stumbling block but an asset," says Khan. "We initially just did one room when convincing Brian to use smart building technology. He was so sold by the benefits that he then adopted it room by room. After we'd done all the work, we took three clients to Brian's project and showed them what could be done, which resulted in orders for four houses out of just one visit."

"Making smart building control technology more successful is definitely about education and showing people what's possible," agrees Peck. "The technology now forms a key tool for Mentmore Homes in differentiating our offering from that of our competitors. Whereas most building developers sell you the house you see, we can effectively offer our customers an augmented home experience by giving them a smart-enabled house which they can tailor to their own needs."

Concluding the discussion, Alan North, 2006/7 President of the Electrical Contractors Association (ECA) and Managing Director of AS North Ltd, also pointed to the need for education in ensuring that smart building control technology has a future in the UK.

"At the end of the day, people will be convinced by what they see and the ease with which they can get it installed and adapted to their needs," says North. "In short, this will require manufacturers to better promote the possibilities of smart technology and to foster stronger partnerships with other key parties including distributors and contractors, property developers and system integrators. There also needs to be greater education amongst electrical contractors, who have a very real opportunity to transform the way they do business by embracing the technology."

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