Gira Pushbutton Sensor 4: now keeping an eye on air quality too

Indoor air quality is one of those things nobody notices until it's bad. A meeting room that gets stuffy by 10am, a bedroom that never quite airs out overnight, a kids' room that's fine until three people and a dog have been in there for an hour. Gira's answer is to build the monitoring straight into a switch installers are already fitting on the wall: two new additions to the Pushbutton Sensor 4 range come with an integrated air quality sensor, due for release in November 2026.

What the sensor actually measures

The new models carry a VOC sensor, invisibly built into the device, that continuously tracks volatile organic compounds in the room air. From that reading, the sensor calculates an equivalent CO₂ value (eCO₂), which gives a practical, easy to understand indicator of how "used up" the air in a space has become. Alongside it sit calibrated temperature and humidity sensors, plus the option to connect an external sensor where a project needs a reading from somewhere else in the room or a nearby space.

Put together, that's enough data for the system to actually do something useful with it, rather than just log a number nobody looks at.

Two form factors, one platform

The air quality function comes in the two form factors installers already know from the Pushbutton Sensor 4 range. The Pushbutton sensor 4.55 with air quality sensor sits in System 55, so it drops straight into an existing flush mounted setup alongside the rest of a Gira installation. The Pushbutton sensor 4.95 with air quality sensor is a standalone 95 x 95 mm device for projects that call for a larger surface mounted unit. Both take laser inscription or neutral inscription labels, so the button layout can be labelled to match the project rather than relying on generic icons.

Both sit at the top of the range in terms of sensing. Gira describes them as the Komfort level of the family, meaning the expanded sensor package: temperature, humidity, VOC and the external sensor input, rather than just the button functions found on the 4.70 or the display on the 4.55 Plus.

From reading to automated response

Where this gets genuinely useful is on the KNX side. Because the sensor runs on KNX (with Gira One compatibility coming via update), the air quality data doesn't just sit on a display, it can trigger the same kind of automated response a good building automation system is meant to provide. Rising VOC or eCO₂ levels can kick off mechanical ventilation, prompt a window opening alert if the room has one, or feed into broader room climate optimisation logic alongside temperature and humidity. The pushbutton sensor itself still handles the everyday jobs, lighting, shading, room temperature and scene control, so nothing is lost by adding the air quality function on top.

Why it's worth speccing

For a lot of projects, air quality monitoring has meant a separate sensor, a separate cable run and a separate spot on the wall. Building it into a device that's already part of the switch plate removes that extra step, and for clients who care about wellbeing and concentration in the spaces they use every day, it's an easy feature to explain: the system notices when the air needs freshening up and does something about it automatically, instead of waiting for someone to notice the room feels stale.

If you're speccing a project where indoor air quality is on the client's radar, or just want to know how the new Comfort sensors fit into an existing Gira or KNX installation, get in touch with us and we can talk through the options.