Case Study - Great Newport Street | Integration of a KNX system in a heritage building

Colyer is a heritage building in the heart of London on Great Newport Street and the project was to renovate the building into 14 premium apartments with different layouts and a large penthouse located on the top floor. The goal was to bring the lighting, heating, cooling and metering into one simple and easy to use system, something a KNX system made possible.

The main challenge was to manage the build and commissioning of different apartment layouts to a high-quality standard within strict time constraints. Another challenge was to create a system for two different types of resident, those that enjoy technology and those who have no interest in it. 

Lighting system with configured scenes 

All apartments were equipped with a DALI lighting system and relevant gateways to the KNX system, allowing for both programming of the DALI lights and control from the KNX system. The lighting design was two fold, downlights for main lighting and LED strips as feature lighting. Moreover, the lighting was configured as a mixture of scenes along with individual control and also the possibility for the eventual owner to over-write the scenes with their own preferences.

Combined heating and cooling 

Heating and cooling was also taken care of by the KNX system. Wet underfloor heating was installed throughout, with additional KNX sensors to ensure the wooden floors would not overheat. The bathrooms included warm walls, mirror demisters and MVHR, which were all controlled by a mixture of timers and PIRs. The installed Mitsubishi air conditioning system is fully integrated with KNX including a requested feature to be able to disable the cooling during the night. As the heating and cooling system work over the same KNX system, energy wastage can be prevented as the systems don’t act against each another. 

Simple control 

The residents can control all functions easily with a combined thermostat and keypad in every room, whereas a touch screen located in a central location within the apartment is used for the more advanced functions such as setting up timers, changing existing lighting scenes, monitoring energy usage and controlling the lighting throughout the whole apartment. Since the KNX system is also connected to the Internet, all functions can be controlled remotely allowing Hughes Electra to support the residents with configuration and support. 

The benefits 

Thanks to KNX, multiple systems for heating, cooling and lighting can be brought together onto one system reducing the complexity of the system. This ensures the system is simple to use, no matter if the residents are interested in technology or not. 

Using KNX also gives the buyer easy access to future upgrades of the system such as adding in remote access, changing the wall panels and regrouping of lighting in large living areas. The nature of KNX means all of these upgrades can be applied without any disruptive works on the apartment, making further customisation of the apartments simple. KNX ensures a perfect solution for all parties - buyer, residents and the management company. 

Hughes Electra’s experience in off-site commissioning and panel building were critical for the success of the project as it ensured minimal time on site, allowing the strict timeline to be kept.

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The project was implemented by Hughes Electra Ltd