Electrical Contracting News (ECN) July 2017 | Page 54

SPECIAL
FEATURE
HOME AUTOMATION & INTELLIGENT BUILDINGS
MARKET MOVEMENTS
Marie Parry, group marketing director for Scolmore, looks at the growing home
automation market, what is driving growth and the opportunities for contractors.
T
he latest market report
from AMA Research
on Home Automation –
‘Home Automation Market
Report - UK 2017-2021’
describes the market for
home automation products
as a rapidly growing
market that has benefited from the spread
of wireless and App based technologies.
The market is currently considered to
be in the initial growth stage, supported
by a near tripling in growth 2012-16 which
is currently forecast to continue into the
54 | July 2017
medium term, with market value forecast
to nearly double by 2021. Medium term
prospects for home automation remain
positive. Recent growth of intelligent
heating controls is likely to continue into
the medium term, with rapid innovation
likely to be the key driver.
Although home automation systems
have been available in the UK for many
years, it is in recent years they have
expanded from an upper market niche of
luxury homes and specialist projects into a
more mainstream market. This crossover to
the mainstream is a key development that
The growth of
home automation
continues to be
driven by the
rapid advance in
technology.