Longton

Pads of the future run by iPads

The New Zealand Herald 5:30 AM Monday 22 Oct,2012 By Amelia Wade

Turning on the lights, changing the television channel, controlling the heating and opening the blinds with the swipe of a finger is the future of living.

And the super hi-tech apartments controlled by an iPad are tipped to be just years away from reality in New Zealand.

A 12-storey apartment block of 54 units in Sydney's Mascot, called Futra, which went on sale last week, incorporates the Apple product as an essential element.

Most of the functionality of the iApartments is driven through the use of an iPad, which has three docking stations set up throughout each unit.

With a brush of a finger and the touch of a few buttons you can have music playing while you read a recipe off the iPad dock on the kitchen bench. Residents can even pre-programme a favourite piece of music to begin playing when they arrive home.

As well as being a gadget geek's dream, the apartments are also energy saving and have a lifestyle monitor so inhabitants can keep track of their power use.

Steven Yu, the managing director of Longton, which built Futra, said professional people, in particular, wanted the resources to be as productive at home as they were at the office.

He said such people had said they would be prepared to pay for the latest technology.

Charles Cooper, Auckland managing director of Colliers International, which is selling the Sydney apartments in Australia, said Aucklanders were yet to see super high-tech apartment buildings constructed in the city.

It was certain that such developments would take place in the future in response to demand, he said.

"People are moving quickly towards the use of smartphones and tablets, so it will become standard for new residential complexes in New Zealand to incorporate a much higher degree of electronic sophistication."

As technology becomes more affordable and with larger residential developments able to achieve better economies of scale, the affordability issue will dissipate, making high-tech living more accessible, according to Mr Cooper.

"There has been a lull in apartment construction in Auckland but in the next phase of building over the next few years, developers will begin to incorporate high-tech features into new apartments.

"This is what the next generation of inner-city residents will increasingly demand."

Apartment prices
22 iStudios (72sq m to 95sq m) from $625,400 to $802,000
15 one-bedroom iApartments (92sq m to 110sq m) from $733,200 to $871,000
15 two-bedroom iApartments (133sq m to 190sq m) from $820,900 to $1,153,000
2 three-bedroom iPenthouses (158sq m and 178sq m) $1,090,400 and $1,134,200.