Hi-tech homes in Marylebone: luxury townhouses in cobbled mews for sale at Oldbury Place

Designer townhouses on the former workshop site of London's oldest lock manufacturer, Bramah UK, will be a novel buy for history lovers looking for security while they swan off on holiday.

Back in the 18th century, Bramah invented the world's first "burglarproof" lock. The new homes, meanwhile, called Oldbury Place, created behind the company's handsome original brick exterior in a cobbled Marylebone mews, have the latest home automation.

Each room has a discreet digital screen connected to a mobile phone or other computer device allowing owners to receive alerts when someone — be they cleaner, tradesman or uninvited guest — enters the house. Or, for example, if the garage door is left open.

So you can relax, fully able to keep an eye on your home from your sunbed on the French Riviera, or from your dinner table at Chiltern Firehouse.

The property's alarm system has a central locking option that automatically starts surveillance cameras and securely shuts all doors and windows. There is remote control of blinds, lighting and heating, too.

Interiors by architects Stiff + Trevillion, known for fashionable restaurant design, feature blackened-steel staircases with inlaid oak treads, Crittall-frame doors, marble and limestone bathrooms and sleek bespoke joinery.

One of the houses includes a self-contained apartment for a nanny or relative. Prices from £5.65 million. Call Savills on 020 8012 9125.