Fairgrove discovers the future of new homes
East Midlands, [6 October 2006] With major blue chip organisations such as BT dedicating resources to futurologists who predict and develop the gadgets that consumers and businesses may want in the years to come, local new homes developer Fairgrove Homes decided to follow suit last week by holding a focus group evening to find out what local people want from a home of the future.
“We often read reports from inventors about how technology can change our lives. Although some of their ideas do indeed seem innovative, it is not always clear whether they will really take off,” says Steve Midgley, managing director of Fairgrove Homes. “We only have to look at two British inventions – the Sinclair C5 and the Dyson vacuum cleaner – to see how technology can either be a flop or take the market by storm. With these famous inventions in mind, we asked our panel of delegates to consider the technologies they wanted in their home of the future.”
The panel, which comprised both public and private sector workers as well as a retired professional, was representative of the types of consumers typically attracted to new homes.
“Our panel was a cross-section of the technically savvy and the technically cautious,” explains Steve. “Some of the delegates liked gadgets for the sake of having gadgets, whereas others were interested in how such technology could be used as an enabler for modern living. With work-life balance being a hot topic we were keen to see how our delegates would respond to technology that could combine a good home life with maintaining a busy career. The ability to use a laptop and access the Internet in every room of the house impressed some of our delegates. Others liked the indulgence that modern technology offers – enabling home owners to sip champagne from an en-suite bath while watching TV. Others saw having such facilities as an opportunity for children to get to grips with technology from an early age.”
Although some delegates initially thought that a lot of home technology is used only for data communications and television, others pointed out that such technology and gadgetry is perfect for the lives of 21st century families. “One of the features of our high-tech homes in Bramcote is that there are TV and stereo speakers which can be preset throughout the house,” says Steve. “So one of the clear advantages of these systems is that parents don’t have to put up with their children’s loud music!”
Steve adds: “Delegates also thought the technology was very convenient and great for either very busy or very lazy people. They felt it opened the whole house up for living. This marks a change from the past when people reported they only used their dining rooms a handful of times each year.”
The general consensus was that technological homes were best suited to the exclusive end of the market because the cost of gadgets as a percentage of the price of the home would be considerably lower.
Delegates were also asked to provide a wish-list of what they would most like in the home of the future. “Even in the mild English climate, air conditioning was high on the list of desirables,” says Steve. There was also a keen interest in having the ability to communicate with the home remotely. “For some people, the desire for such communication was driven by a wish to boost security,” explains Steve. “For example, some wanted automatic curtains, others wanted a CCTV security system which could be viewed when away from the home. For others, communicating with their home remotely was all about convenience – as one of our panel commented, ‘It would be nice to be able to run a bath or switch the oven on ready for when you got home’.”
A clear message to emerge from the focus group meeting was that not only could consumers see the advantages of the latest technological homes, they would want to keep pushing the boundaries even further in the future. “People want a ‘wow’ factor from technology and don’t want to limit it to something that works in the background,” says Steve.
< Go Back |
