KBzine: the original kitchen and bathroom industry e-news - since 2002
28th January 2021

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NEW Smart shower products catapault Aqualisa out to the front of the smart shower market

The recent launch of the new Aqualisa Smart Quartz Collection of showers shows that Aqualisa is firmly in the driving seat for innovative shower technology in the UK.

The bathroom and wet room are fast becoming an integral part of today's smart home, with intelligent technology that not only makes possible exceptional control and ease of use, but also is unrivalled for reliability and easy installation.

The new Aqualisa Smart Quartz Collection 'ticks' all these boxes, with intuitive control, stunning good looks and an unsurpassed level of personalisation and convenience.

The established Quartz name, universally respected by the shower trade, has been retained for this exciting new 'headliner' range. This evolution of the original Quartz digital shower creates a new generation of showers with an exceptional level of connectivity, including breakthrough voice activation, added to its established and renowned performance quality.

Quartz was launched back in 2001 and has since become the best-selling shower in its category. The product story for this exceptional product has seen a number of style developments over the past 20 years. The latest chapter sees advanced smart technology adopting the iconic Quartz name to provide state of the art showering via a mobile app that brings Aqualisa fully into the emerging smart home environment.

Quartz technology has stood every test of time over the past 19 years, consistently delivering the same high-performance showering experience. Adding connectivity pushes the boundaries of smart technology and takes showering to new experiential levels. The next big thing for showering here in the UK has long been to establish Wi-Fi connection, app technology and voice activation as an integral part of the showering experience - all things that come as standard with the new Smart Quartz Collection from Aqualisa.

App technology allows the WiFi to control the smart digital shower via WiFi, connecting through residential WiFi networks to the Aqualisa Smart Valve (ASV) using safe and secure best practice for IoT/Connected devices. It utilises the simplest on-boarding techniques possible to establish secure and robust connection with the ASV via WiFi. Aqualisa says the voice activation and personalisation will make these new showers stand out against the competition; they integrate with established smart home eco-systems via voice control - using Alexa.

The range consists of Quartz Blue, the introduction to the smart showering revolution for the new Collection, Quartz Classic, an already proven best seller now with added smart technology, and top of the range Quartz Touch, which offers the most personal showering experience yet and to which devotees of the smart home will aspire. Every member of the family can activate their own personal shower requirement - created and saved on the App for the perfect, consistently repeated showering experience.

For installers, the new Smart Quartz Collection is a great proposition for new build, self-build or renovation projects, principally because the unique Aqualisa Smart Valve - the brains of the new smart collection - can be located up to 10 metres away from the shower itself, providing unbelievable flexibility in installation. Installers will find this new product range easy to sell, impressing their customers with the benefits of connectivity - voice activation being a major unique selling point.

"'Alexa turn my shower on' will quickly become a familiar command in homes with a new Aqualisa Smart Quartz Collection shower," says Aqualisa CEO, Colin Sykes. "The Quartz excellence established from the early 2000s has now reached new heights and will offer homeowners the most sophisticated showering experience available.

"Despite the advent of the smart home and the arrival of a myriad of smart products, the suggestion, even five years ago, that showers would take this huge step into the world of smart technology would have been difficult to imagine. Thanks to Aqualisa, this is now a reality. It seems the most natural development for them to take, but we're delighted it's us introducing this technology to the UK and Ireland."

The Building Services Research and Information Association reports that the value of the UK's smart home solutions market, which includes installation, servicing and maintenance work, has grown by more than three times in value over the last five years. With a current market valuation of £400m, the Association cited demand for HVAC and control products as key factors behind the anticipated market growth.

The research concludes: "In countries like the UK, anyone connected with the residential housing market needs to be aware of the implications of the smart home revolution. Consumers may not necessarily be expecting a fully configured smart home, but they are likely to want a home that is flexible enough for them to make it as smart as they want it to be without undue cost or effort."

Specifically relating to the UK shower equipment market, AMA research suggests that despite a challenging economic climate, longer term prospects are more positive. The report reinforces the digital growth forecast by saying that 'flexibility, durability, and ease of use will be key influences in a shift towards higher value products.

For example, while the digital shower category is set to grow at a steady rate, the greater use of smart technology in the home is now expected to create a new Smart category that has the potential to grow at an even faster rate. This growth will come from both new shower installations and bathroom refurbishments, when a shower upgrade is part of the package.

57% of UK homes now own some sort of smart device. Clearly, smart tech is no longer just for gadget lovers. Homeowners are beginning to realise that technical updates are making homes cheaper and more efficient to run than ever before. Even those who have traditionally been reluctant to invest in technology in the home are starting to spend their money on smart products if it clearly makes sense from a financial or common-sense point of view. Smart technology can reduce energy consumption, save money and offer unprecedented levels of security and convenience. It's really happening and companies in these sectors - like Aqualisa - are responding with innovative solutions that just a few years ago might have seemed at best fanciful.
www.aqualisa.co.uk

30th March 2020