The Coach House

With its soft edges, uneven rendering and traditional detailing you could be mistaken for thinking that this secluded three bedroom house in London’s Highgate is a period original. Yet closer inspection reveals The Coach House to be brand new development; the inspired product of one interior designer’s ambition to replicate the old and integrate it with the very best that contemporary style and technologies have to offer, including a state-of-the-art, intelligent and energy efficient heating control system from smartkontrols.

Set within its own tropical oasis style garden, the Coach House is a showcase for modern living, housed in a deliberately aged exterior. Designed by homeowner and professional interior designer, Tessa Ashley Miller, the property features an interior which is uncompromisingly contemporary. Her uncluttered, open-plan Eastern style design features clearly zoned areas and clean lines combined with the very latest in home automation technology. An integral element of this technology is the innovative smartkontrols heating control system.

This advanced “smart” approach provides highly advanced, accurate and responsive control of the property’s wet underfloor heating, ensuring that even, controlled warmth is generated at all times maximising comfort. It also allows individual and independent time and temperature control of different areas within the property using easy to operate, strategically-sited zone controllers, mounted on the wall at the same level and no bigger than a standard single gang light switch.

The intelligent smartkontrols system divides The Coach House into nine, fully independent heating zones. Thimble-size temperature sensors are discreetly located in each controlled area. Connected to the system’s zone controllers, these sensors provide accurate temperature readings for each zoned area of the house, allowing the smartkontrols system to determine precisely when the heating system should be activated. Optimum energy efficiency is maintained at all times, with the boiler feeding the underfloor heating system running only on zone demand.

A unique fabric protection feature within the smartkontrols system ensures that when the property is unoccupied, the heating is automatically brought on should the zone temperatures fall below 10'C. This effectively eliminates any problems with dampness and humidity and preventing damage to the building structure and contents.

The smartkontrols system also controls the hot water supply to the property. The majority of plant control modules and zone controllers in the system are hidden from view in the utility room within a compact SmartBox panel located beside the home’s hot water tank and boiler.