Awards Sponsor Q&A: Control4

Who are Control4?

Control4 is one of the leading brands in the smart home technology space, offering a reliable and intuitive platform that is designed to seamlessly connects lighting, shading, audio, video, climate control, security and other systems in the home for easy and reliable control by the client. 

For interior designers, Control4 provides the perfect partner to enhance the beauty and functionality of a space with technology that complements, rather than competes with, their design vision.
Whether they’re working on a modern, contemporary interior or a heritage renovation, the Control4 platform is designed to be discreet, elegant, and fully customisable. Our platform ensures that every element within the smart home system works in harmony, delivering effortless control and a polished, luxurious experience for your clients.

Control4 supports a network of certified professionals. These home technology integration experts collaborate closely with designers to bring smart living to life. They handle the design, installation, and programming of systems, ensuring that technology is thoughtfully integrated into projects, and supporting you throughout on project management and workflow.

With Control4, you gain a trusted partner who understands the importance of aesthetics, usability, and client satisfaction.  We can help transform homes into intelligent, responsive environments that elevate interior design and delight clients.

How do Control4 integrators work with interior designers?

Control4 integrators are certified smart home professionals who bring elegant and discretely designed integrated technology systems into your client’s home. These experts work closely with interior designers to ensure that technology complements the aesthetic and functional goals of a space. 

To help designers experience the possibilities first hand, many Control4 integrators operate Control4 Certified Showrooms, interactive spaces where designers and their clients can explore smart home solutions in a beautifully curated environment. These showrooms are a valuable resource for collaboration, inspiration, and education, allowing designers to see how technology can elevate their projects.

At the BIID Awards, we are proud to be joined by several of our leading UK professional integration partners: Hestia Smart Living, IndigoZest, Majik House, Rock Technology, SCCI, Smartworks and The AV Lounge. Each of these companies brings deep expertise and a passion for working with designers to deliver effortlessly elegant solutions. Control4 and its customers are here to support the designer’s vision and help deliver exceptional results.
 

What do these collaborations look like? 

We have a wealth of inspiring case studies to share with BIID members, but here are just a few standout examples:

SCCI recently designed a system on the Control4 platform to blend seamlessly with the arts and crafts inspired interior at the renovated Arding & Hobbs building in Clapham Junction, London. Working closely with commercial operator x+why, SCCI has transformed the upper floors of the building into a vibrant, multi-use co-working hub while preserving its interior charm and elegance. SCCI’s approach has ensured that technology enhances the user experience and well-being, supporting the building’s new role as a modern community destination while maintaining its arts and crafts aesthetic and heritage features.

In the North-West, Control4 customer Majik House has recently helped deliver a solution that perfectly satisfies both the client’s requirements and the clean, contemporary lines of the luxury interior at a home in Lytham. Majik House designed and installed a Control4 whole-home automation system that brings together lighting, blinds, security, and audio-visual technologies onto the Control4 platform for supreme discretion and ease of use.  

Meanwhile, Hestia Smart Living has worked closely with the design team on the Waterbank development of six luxury homes in Prestbury, Cheshire to provide tailored and easily scalable technology packages for homebuyers. Again, the emphasis here is on easy to understand and operate solutions that are integrated onto the Control4 platform and fit beautifully into each property’s living space.

What is your best advice for interior designers working with Control4 integrators?

In a recent talk which we hosted between Control4 integrator, IndigoZest, and BIID Registered Interior Designer, Rina Patel of Vastu Interiors, we heard great advice explaining how integrators and designers can partner together on projects. 

The most successful collaborations start early, ideally at the very beginning of a project. Rina made a good point that technology is now as fundamental a consideration for the design of the home as the joinery, electrics or plumbing. So, it’s vitally important to allocate time, space and budget for smart systems from the outset. Early involvement allows both designer and integrator to shape design-led solutions that are elegant, reliable, and simple to use for the client.

Designers act as the bridge between client aspirations and technical delivery. Empathy between the Control4 integrator and the designer is also key. Rina and IndigoZest both agreed that it’s so important for both parties to understand the client’s lifestyle, how they use each room, and their long-term needs. This helps avoid issues with over- or under-specifying systems and ensures the home evolves with its occupants.

Demonstration and education are also powerful tools. Seeing and experiencing Control4 in a showroom can help designers and clients fully appreciate the benefits of a unified, simple-to-use system. There is so much that technology can do and experiencing it in person can really fire a designer’s imagination on what is possible.   

How can BIID members broaden their understanding?

BIID members can deepen their knowledge in several impactful ways. Firstly, learning from Control4 CPD sessions can prove invaluable. These sessions provide hands-on demonstrations and real-world case studies, helping designers see how technology can be elegantly and seamlessly incorporated into their projects. Further details on our CPDs for interior designers can be found here.

We would also recommend actively engaging with our network of Control4 certified integrators. Conversations with these experts offer practical insights into what works, what challenges to anticipate, and how to achieve solutions that are both reliable and simple to use. These relationships also help designers stay up to date with the latest innovations and best practices.

Finally, collaboration is key. By working closely with integrators from the earliest stages of a project, designers can ensure that technology enhances, rather than disrupts, their vision. Open communication, empathy, and teamwork lead to solutions that are beautifully integrated, functional, and tailored to the client’s lifestyle. We all share the common goal of a satisfied client – one who will happily recommend the services of both integrator and designer to their friends’ network and will also work with us again on other projects many years into the future.

More information is available at www.control4.com.