The ruins of Newark Priory in meadows beside the River Wey near Pyrford. Photo: Datatrack, CC BY-SA 3.0Planning a new build or rebuild? Start with the cables
When a house is being built or gutted, you have one chance to get the infrastructure right cheaply. Cable routes, equipment rack space, speaker back boxes and lighting circuits cost little on a drawing and a great deal after plastering. That is why we like to be involved at drawing stage, when a speaker position or a network point is a line on a plan, working with your architect, builder and electrician rather than arriving at second fix.
A typical new build brief for us in this area looks like:
- A wired Control4 system running lighting, heating, blinds, music, cameras and door entry from one app and wall keypads.
- A structured network with wired access points in every zone, garden included, built on our data and Wi-Fi networks approach.
- A central rack in a plant room or cupboard, labelled and documented so the house is easy to support for years.
- A cinema or media room planned into the layout, rather than squeezed into a spare room later.
We also run RIBA and BIID accredited CPD sessions on home technology for architects and designers, so we are used to working inside a professional project team.
From our Weybridge projectHow do you decide on the cinema room?
Through design, not a catalogue. Our home cinema design process works out seating distances, screen size and speaker positions for the actual room, and produces 3D visuals before anything is ordered. The most comfortable viewing angle sits between 33 and 40 degrees, and that arithmetic decides the screen size. Our nearest published cinema is about 3 miles away: a basement cinema with a bar in Weybridge, built around a 126 inch screen with the front speakers behind it, overhead Atmos channels, and lighting scenes that switch the room between film night and match day.
From our Weybridge projectConservation areas in West Byfleet and Pyrford
Woking Borough Council has 27 conservation areas. In West Byfleet they include Old Avenue, recognised for its substantial family homes in large gardens, the Birchwood Road and Station Road area, Station Approach, and Byfleet Corner and Rosemount Parade in the village centre. In Pyrford, there is a conservation area around St Nicholas Church. Our work is mostly inside the house, but external cameras, speakers and outbuildings in a conservation area or the Green Belt may need permission, so check with Woking's planning team first.
Our demonstration cinema in Walton-on-ThamesWhat do neighbours say?
A few miles west, a Chobham family used us for their network and music: "We recently worked with Adam and the Art of Integration team to upgrade the WiFi and Sonos system in our home in Chobham." (Daniel Eld, Google review)
West Byfleet is about 6 miles from our showroom. Book a showroom visit to see Control4 and the demonstration cinema, or book a free design consultation and bring your drawings.
