City Road Crestron Upgrade

Crestron Upgrade at the Canaletto Tower, London

This apartment in the Canaletto Tower on City Road, London already had a developer-installed Crestron system controlling lighting, audio distribution and intercom throughout. The system was inflexible and unintuitive in daily use, so the owners called Custom Controls to unlock what it was actually capable of. Rather than stripping it out, we reprogrammed the existing hardware and added targeted upgrades where they made a real difference. This Crestron upgrade shows the difference between a competently installed system and a properly programmed one, in how it looks and feels in everyday life.

Crestron Lighting Upgrades

The most pressing upgrade was the lighting system. We reprogrammed the existing Crestron lighting hardware to allow scene-setting from in-wall touchpanels and roaming iPads, and reconfigured the keypads to work intuitively. A simple slider screen on each touchpanel controls every lighting channel in the room; once levels are correct the scene is saved for instant recall from a keypad button. Each button corresponds to a different activity — reading, TV viewing, entertaining — for every room. Crestron blind controllers were added to allow easy control of the Silent Gliss electric blinds throughout the property, so blinds and lighting now respond together from the same keypads and touchpanels.

As with every Crestron programme we write, the interface was designed around the client’s daily routine rather than around the hardware list. The rest of the project covered audio and video, the living room surround system, climate control and WiFi. Each is linked to the matching service page below.

Audio Video Upgrades

The existing audio system could only receive Bluetooth input and gave no clear indication of which rooms were active. We upgraded to an Autonomic MMS digital audio server, streaming internet radio, Spotify and iTunes without additional devices, and reprogrammed the interface to allow easy room ganging for parties. A Crestron Digital Media system centralises Sky Q and Apple TV, distributing both at full 4K to the master bedroom and living room. Upgraded Origin Acoustics in-ceiling speakers throughout the apartment improve both music quality and TV audio.

Living Room Cinema

The living room has a full surround sound system: a Leon soundbar under a 65″ Samsung TV, Origin ceiling speakers, a Leon 8″ subwoofer and an Anthem AVR handling surround decoding and ARC room correction. ARC measures the room at several listening positions and corrects every channel, so the system performs consistently across the sofa. The living room equipment sits in a custom Italian-built unit with a sliding door, so the room is completely clean when the system is off. The TV can also hinge towards the kitchen for casual viewing.

HVAC Integration

The original HVAC program was only partially commissioned and difficult to use in practice. Our reprogramming delivers simple setpoint control from touchpanels or iPads for day-to-day use, with advanced setup pages for detailed configuration. Practical automations include the master bathroom towel rail activating with the lights for a warm towel after every shower — the kind of detail that distinguishes a properly finished smart home from an unfinished one.

The Result

A Crestron system that was frustrating to use has been transformed into one that is invisible in the best possible way: it simply works, every time, exactly as the clients need it to. Taking over existing Crestron systems installed by other companies is one of our most common London service requests, and this project shows what that work delivers. If your Crestron system has never been properly configured, the same approach applies.

Frequently Asked Questions — Canaletto Tower Crestron Upgrade

What was upgraded in this Canaletto Tower apartment?
The developer-installed Crestron system was reprogrammed for lighting scenes, blinds and HVAC, and the audio was upgraded to an Autonomic MMS server with Origin Acoustics ceiling speakers.

How are lighting scenes set and recalled?
A slider screen on each touchpanel sets every lighting channel in a room, and the scene is then saved for instant recall from a keypad button.

What does the living room surround system include?
A Leon soundbar under a 65″ Samsung TV, Origin ceiling speakers, a Leon 8″ subwoofer and an Anthem AVR with ARC room correction.

Can Custom Controls take over a Crestron system installed by another company?
Yes. We audit the existing installation, diagnose faults, reprogramme to our standard and upgrade hardware where needed.

Crestron Home Automation → · Crestron Programming → · Multi-Room Audio → · Crestron Installer London → · London Office → · Smart Home Installer London →

Project Gallery

The images show the living room at the Canaletto Tower apartment, where the bespoke Italian-built media cabinet houses the Samsung TV and the surround sound equipment. With the sliding door closed the cabinet reads as furniture, and the room shows no sign of the AV system it contains. The final image shows the TV hinged towards the kitchen for casual viewing, all under Crestron control.