Transition Derby

Hats off to Derby City Council for the courage of having the first Smart Homes project in the country for so many houses, twenty five in all, on Elton Road. There was an open day on Monday and there was about ten of us there to be shown around and hear Neil Spence-Jones of OpenHub explain all about the project.

This project only just happened, as the funding became available and the Technology Board courageously agreed to invest it in this Elton Road project, as there was just enough time to fit it all in and was at the right place for all the cables and wires still to be fitted in behind ceilings and walls.

Certainly these Code 5, three story houses need to be seen to be understood, as they look quite normal when you consider they are 21^st century homes and the design being the norm for modern housing but they are very different to the other council houses on the other side of the road. They are sort of castellated with a diagonal footprint but apart from the external design, for which they have already won an award, the inside looks normal apart from the large compact box that sits in a small cupboard alongside the broom cupboard.

This box hides all the complicated wizardry and electronic bits ensures the different zones are at the required temperature, the occupancy in the rooms, checking that there is no flooding, turns the lights on and off, controls the boiler and is able to send signals down the optical cable to the control centre.

Quite amazing for a council house to have what appears to be normal modern rocker light switches on the outside but on the inside have lots of electronics that allow the lights to be switched off remotely by mobile.

One of the huge advantages for the Derby City Council and OpenHub for all the communication and measurement is that lots of data can be measured on how people and families interact with all this new technology and which bits work better than others, so that some historical data can be built up to inform improved design in the future.

These house are well worth a visit to see what the future holds for us, although the cost at £4,500 is a long term investment. Congratulations to the Derby City Council for having the courage to go out on a limb and demonstrate that somebody needs to show the way.

©William Barron

Creating insight

May 11^th 2011