Original article featured in Velvet magazine October 2011. Photography courtesy of Baulogic.

CCTV systems that can be controlled remotely by your iphone and houses turn the heating up just before you arrive home. This might sound like Sci-Fi but it’s the future of home technology. Victoria Harrison of Angel + Blume finds out more.

Home automation is a rapidly growing field of interior design and one that appeals to the inner James Bond in us all. In order to find out more I quizzed Mark Gedrych of Baulogic, a building intelligence company based in Cambridge, to find out which gadgets we will all be desiring in the future.

First things first, what are the main trends in home technology? According to Mark, the main trend at the moment is data networking. ‘Linking all of your home technology devices to a wired and wireless network allows them to share and access information like never before’ he explains. ‘With the right equipment you can stream music into every room of your home from the internet or listen to radio stations from anywhere in the world. The backbone of our business is lighting control and multi-room audio.’

But how exactly does remote home control work? ‘Once all of your home technology is connected to the data network, it’s a simple matter to extend its reach beyond the walls of the house to the internet.’ Mark continues. ‘You can then access your systems via your iPad, iPhone or browser. We have a customer who can monitor the status of their holiday home in France, including the intruder alarm, CCTV and heating system, over the internet, and turn on the heating remotely just before travelling to the house for a winter break, ensuring it’s nice and cosy on arrival!’

With all these Bond style gadgets is energy use increased? ‘With energy prices going through the roof, energy efficiency is a massive consideration for us all.’ Mark acknowledges ‘and a smart home is an efficient home. Even using conventional sources of heat, an intelligent lighting and heating system can reduce your energy consumption by automatically turning off lights, reducing the temperature in unused rooms and automatically closing curtains and shutters to reduce thermal losses. When combined with alternative energy sources, an intelligent home can make best use of the energy that is available at any time from Britain’s ever-changing weather.’

So, with all of this available, I asked Mark which piece of home technology he would choose to have in his own home. ‘I have a mood-based lighting control system in my apartment that allows me to set the lighting levels to suit my activity – whether that’s watching TV, reading a book, eating dinner or having a party – all from the press of a single button’ he admits ‘and to my shame I’m not very good at turning lights off, so I have a goodbye switch at the front door that ensures they’re all off when I leave! I would love to have a dedicated home cinema room, but my apartment is too small so I have to make do with a large screen entertainment system that blends into my living room and can be hidden away from sight when not in use.’

And finally, do you have any ideas about the way that home technology is going to develop in the future? ‘It’s a rapidly changing field,’ Mark explains ‘and predictions are hard to make. We recommend implementing a flexible high-technology backbone in your home that can adapt as new technologies arrive. I long for the day when I can speak to my home and ask it to turn down the lights and start playing the latest episode of Strictly Come Dancing (joke) without me needing to search high and low for the remote control.’