“An old castle with classic wiring: each room had one switch for one light,” observed Qbus representative Thomas during his visit to the De Herten Castle Estate in Oostkamp. The new owner wanted to transform the castle, dating back to 1907, into a business center — with, of course, the necessary modern comforts. One of the key requests was to modernize the lighting control while preserving the original look and feel of the historic building.
That old castle is now a fully renovated business center with automated lighting control. The smart switches in each room can be configured according to the tenant's needs: if they only rent one office, the switch controls just that office. If they rent multiple adjacent offices, that same switch becomes the central control for all of them. The user management feature in the Qbus App also proved valuable: the business center manager can give each tenant access to the part of the Qbus Control App that allows them to control the lighting in their own units via smartphone or PC.
From old, traditional wiring to automated lighting control.
This project clearly demonstrated the future-proof benefits of Qbus. Since its completion in 2016, the Qbus App has evolved — and now the De Herten site can use the new Qbus Control App, without changing any modules, without any extra subscriptions, but with all the new features the app offers.
Qbus also provided motion and light sensors for the common areas. These were integrated into the ceiling, eliminating the need for wall switches and helping preserve the architectural integrity of the castle.
The automated lighting control increases both comfort and energy savings by preventing unnecessary lighting. The built-in astronomical clock ensures that the outdoor lighting automatically switches on a few minutes before sunset. And when no one is present in the offices, the “All Off” button switches off all interior lights instantly — while keeping the parking and driveway lights on for 15 more minutes.
