Inside Richard Branson's Automated Caribbean Home
By CE Pro Editors
Sir Richard Branson's home on Necker Island offered great views and electronics.

With its beautiful beaches and 74-acres of private property, Necker Island in the Caribbean would be considered to be paradise by many, including Sir Richard Branson.

Branson, owner of Virgin Atlantic Airlines, Virgin Records and 400 other companies, decked out his island home with top-of-the-line electronics to help create the ultimate luxury experience.



The install wasn't all smooth sailing for the crew from Think Simple Limited. While the open space in the three-room (or, more accurately, three small buildings) house offers incredible views, power outages on the island, lightning, and the highly corrosive salty air posed challenges. “The Caribbean environment is very harsh,” said Think Simple Limited partner Rusty Henderson.

With the natural elements in mind, exposed surfaces and all connections were marinised to keep them free from the salty air. A series of uninterruptible power supplies, which use batteries to filter the power and make sure it’s perfectly consistent, was also installed. Whenever possible, copper cable was used to transport audio, video and Internet signals via non-conducive fiber optics.

Think Simple installed two Crestron control processors and tied them into a movie player, DVD player, two LED displays (one in the bedroom and one in the kitchen), a multi-zone sound system with three iPod docks and a 55” SunBrite weather-proof TV for the Temple Room. Branson can choose a movie or TV station, queue up music from his iPod or play a DVD.

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