What’s next in the world of home technology? And a look inside one of the region’s most high tech homes

for gadgets dps (Image: Archant)

The Meadows, East Carleton is for sale with Savills and is a superb contemporary house was built with a biomass heating system installed to heat the house. This which includes underfloor heating, together with supplementary solar panels on the roof and all lighting, heating and blinds controlled remotely via iPad or similar devices.

On the ground floor there is an entrance hall with an open plan designer kitchen/living area, a dining room, games room, utility and wet room with five bedrooms upstairs and outside, a large swimming pool, hard tennis court, stable yard and mature gardens and paddocks.

for gadgets dps (Image: Archant)

So what next...

We may now be used to the idea of technology in the home to put our heating, lighting and music on or monitor our energy efficiency – but how about buying a house using a virtual reality headset or a security system which sprays the criminal with an indelible marker?

The way we live is, without doubt, being transformed with technology – a decade ago, it was underfloor heating and flat screen TVs.

for gadgets dps (Image: Archant)

Now houses are being built with much of the infrastructure needed for the automated 'smart' lifestyle whereby our residence actually adapts to us and not vice-versa.

The most popular tech currently in demand, if you ask gadget expert Kris Gamble (see his column, left) is to do with controlling heating and lighting as well as being able to check on our own homes via internet connected cameras.

If you're away, you can literally look in on your home while soaking the rays on a beach thousands of miles away – providing you have wi-fi, of course.

for gadgets dps (Image: Archant)

Many of us simply rely on a friendly neighbour to keep watch and hope for the best.

However, home security is big business though in the gadget world and burglar alarms in the future will be able to identify intruders in your home and even address them by their own name.

By 2025 burglars could also find themselves being sprayed by indelible chemical markers as they break into properties and if they manage to take off with your valuables, low-flying overhead drones launched from your own roof will follow the criminals as they get away until the police intervene.

Gail Hunter, a spokesperson for ADT, alarm and security system experts, which has an office on Intwood Road, Cringleford, said: 'People today feel more uneasy in their own homes than ever before. Technology is already evolving to help give homeowners peace of mind and more control of their home security, and over the next few decades this will continue to advance.'

According to ADT's Future of Home Security report, physical doors and window locks will be replaced with electronic entry systems, including biometric access, or access control, meaning that the humble key could become a thing of the past.

Video doorbells linking to smart phones, allowing owners to talk to visitors and let them in, even if they are not at home are already readily available.

Face recognition will also feature prominently in security systems, with cameras able to recognise friends and family and inform owners of their arrival through smartphone alerts.

Burglar alarms and motion detectors will also be very different to today, with systems installed inside homes able to emit a low frequency sound or high intensity strobe lightening to disorientate intruders and force them to leave empty-handed.

Meanwhile, smart 'polymers' on fences would trigger alarms by detecting pressure from anyone trying to climb over, while smart water pistols in gardens could mark any intruders with hard-to-remove chemical markers, easily enabling police to later identify the culprits.

The study also predicts that by 2025 most homes will have security drones fitted to rooftops, which home security companies will be able to action and control once an alarm is triggered.

Meanwhile, huge advancements are being made in technology to help people actually buy a home.

Virtual reality headsets are now being used to help people buy 'off plan' –I know a local developer who is looking at this to give potential buyers the chance to 'walk around' a house or development before it is even built.

This technology is being drilled down to also be able to offer the user the ability to look through a window and see the view or whether there are buildings nearby and haptic technology is being developed which is the science of touch enabling you to see your own hands in the virtual world, open doors and cupboards and even feel water from a tap.