Warm house, soft music, by internet:

Controlling 7 remote cottages from central Leeds

The client, who lives in central Leeds, has seven away-from-it-all holiday-let cottages in various parts of the UK and Europe. Because of the difficulty of visiting them all regularly, and as they are all unoccupied at certain times of the year, the owner wanted to keep an eye on his assets for obvious security reasons. He also wanted to provide guests with a warm welcome, without anyone actually having to be there to greet them. 

The answer was to integrate internet-based external cctv, heat, light and entertainment systems into each of the properties and to network these with the client’s computer in Leeds. This allows the owner to check the properties visually and to manage the heating and lighting via a simple web-page interface.

The zoned heating systems installed in all the houses allow individual room temperatures to be changed, either remotely by the owner from his Yorkshire home, or by the guests. Additionally, when nobody is in residence, electronic weather stations sited on the exterior of each property activate the heating if the weather suddenly turns cold, thus avoiding frost damage or burst pipes.

To create the right atmosphere before a guest arrives, the system permits the owner, by simply scheduling the arrival in Outlook, to switch on the heating remotely, ensuring a plentiful supply of hot water and even to turn on some relaxing music. We’re still working on a way to make the champagne pop its cork as the guest walks through the door!

* Clever Association’s Directors have over 25 years’ collective experience – and an exceptional track record – of customised electronic control systems design and implementation. Collectively, they have been personally responsible for all the projects detailed in these case studies.