Author: russellcoombes

• UK’s most prestigious business award granted for Innovation of Panel Pod product

Leading lighting manufacturer Ansell Lighting has been honoured with the first ever King’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation.

Ansell, based in Warrington, Cheshire, is one of 148 organisations nationally to receive with a prestigious King’s Award for Enterprise and has been recognised for its excellence in the Innovation category for its patented Panel Pod product.

The Panel Pod was created in response to an identified industry need, and converts an LED panel light into an emergency light in less than sixty seconds, without needing a conversion kit or additional ceiling fixture to install.  Emergency lighting is required by British law and workplace health and safety guidance, so if the lights go out in the case of fire or other incident it stays on for up to three hours. *

Since its launch in 2014 almost 400,000 Panel Pods have been sold worldwide.

The King’s Awards for Enterprise was previously known as The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, and the new name reflects His Majesty The King’s desire to continue the legacy of HM Queen Elizabeth II’s, by recognising outstanding UK businesses. The Award programme, now in its 57th year, is the most prestigious business award in the country, with successful businesses able to use the esteemed King’s Awards Emblem for the next five years.

Winners of the award are invited by The King to a reception at Buckingham Palace.

Mark Abbott, Managing Director of Ansell Lighting, said: “Achieving this award, especially in the first year of the King’s Awards, is a great honour and testament to the hard work and dedication of our innovation team and everyone involved in the business.

“The design and creation of the Panel Pod was genuinely transformative for our business and continues to contribute significantly to our ongoing success.  Its launch paved the way for new relationships with wholesalers and contractors who we had never worked with previously. It is a fantastic example of continuous innovation as, over the last eight years, we have continued to re-evaluated its design, making it lighter and more discreet, upgrading the battery to Lithium and now we are working on a reporting capability for it that will be extremely valuable to the building managers using emergency lighting.”

Established in Belfast in 1992 before expanding into mainland UK in 2001, Ansell Lighting is a recognised market leader in the design and manufacture of high-quality luminaires for the commercial, domestic, industrial and architectural markets. Headquartered in Warrington, where it has a state-of-the-art showroom, Ansell operates across Europe, with showrooms in Belfast, Dublin and  Madrid.

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Canadian luxury handmade furniture and lighting brand Gabriel Scott has launched the Luna Kaleido collection, the second chapter in the brand’s best-selling Luna lighting range. The customisable modular series includes two stackable glass lighting fixtures: a horizontal chandelier and a vertical pendant. The mouth-blown glass beads can be ‘strung’ together in any order to create a bespoke glowing piece of jewellery for your home. The lights are available in six new shapes, all named after constellations (Dorado, Lyra, Aras, Cygnus, Orion and Carina). The collection is inspired by a kaleidoscope, which comes from the Greek words for kalos (beautiful), eidos (form), and skopeo (to look at). Like a kaleidoscope, the glass shapes have been designed to offer infinite interpretations of tone, shape and refracted light. When stacked, the lights become a glass mosaic with varying tones and patterns.   Each colour and texture distorts light in a different way. When looking through the glass, the distortion creates magical optical illusions. Soft iridescent colours, including pinks and blues, are fused with clear glass to create a sophisticated colour spectrum. The lights are available with six different surface textures including Smoothed, Gridded, Twisted, Bubbled, Ribbed and Dotted. The enchanting new pendants and chandeliers join Gabriel Scott’s existing Luna series, originally launched in 2019. The Luna series, already popular with architects and interior designers alike, is inspired by a lunar halo and is a glamorous reference to the moon’s diffused light and soft glow. The Luna series is currently available in satin brass, satin nickel, satin copper, satin bronze and black steel. Existing glass options include blue, California pink, yellow, smoked amethyst, smoked bronze and smoked grey.

Federation Square in Melbourne, Victoria, is an arts, culture and public events venue located on the edge of the city’s central business district. It houses a number of different event spaces, including the popular Edge Theatre. As part of a A$20m investment into capital works projects by the Victorian Government, the square’s lighting was recently overhauled to enhance the visitor experience in the evenings.

Arup was appointed to lead on the design element of the major lighting upgrade, with bluebottle supplying and commissioning the lighting technology. Pharos Architectural Controls was specified to deliver solutions that addressed a number of key requirements of the scheme, including dynamic lighting capabilities and the power to programme this lighting using its versatile software.

The majority of the LEDs across the scheme are Color Kinetics, a Philips Signify solution. These have been seamlessly integrated with a Designer LPC 1 (Lighting Playback Controller 1) and a 50-universe Designer LPC X from Pharos, as well as Dynalite solutions for the venue’s functional interior lighting. The luminaires and the control systems work in harmony with bluebottle remote management service (BRMS). Together, they enable dynamic colour changing of the lighting across the main square façade and the atrium, as well as catenary lighting control.

The LPC 50 delivers control across all of the main external areas of Federation Square, while the LPC 1 supports local console bypass in the Edge Theatre.

Designer LPCs from Pharos Architectural Controls are built for 24/7 operation and total reliability, featuring individually controllable and independently running timelines and scenes that allow users to fully customise and pre-programme lighting effects with the freedom of real-time manual overrides, and the versatility of powerful show control and integration features.

The comprehensive management system provides the Federation Square events team with the ability to manage their own event scheduling, including ad hoc lighting control as and when required. Together, the integrated package of Pharos technologies, Dynalite solutions, and BRMS has proven to be a robust yet flexible platform.

The lighting control is delivered through Federation Square’s ICT network, with a dedicated VLAN. Pharos controllers are simultaneously outputting KiNet and Art-Net control protocols.

Tony Symms, Regional Sales Manager at Pharos Architectural Controls, said: “Federation Square is a popular venue and a prime outdoor location in Melbourne, which is highly deserving of the recent investment from the Victorian Government. The new lighting is very theatrical and the changing lighting mirrors the rotational nature of a theatre set, with something new and surprising at every turn. It is wonderful to know that Pharos has played such a crucial part in making this visionary project a reality.”

After 20 years in operation prior to the upgrade, the new lighting scheme has offered the opportunity to reimagine the lit environment of Federation Square. With a diverse programme of events, the introduction of a responsive and adaptable lighting scheme has allowed the lighting to be used to enhance these activities. It also supports wayfinding, while providing a more welcoming and inviting environment for visitors coming to the square during the darker hours.

Project Credits:

Lighting Designers – Arup

Supply and Commissioning – bluebottle

Lighting Control: Pharos Architectural Controls

Lighting Fixture Manufacturer – Color Kinetics

Electrical Contractors – Brolec

As the leading independent project lighting specialist, Atrium will now represent UK based architectural LED lighting manufacturer alphaLED. Atrium have historically represented alphaLED throughout Scotland, but as a natural evolution, based on a successful longstanding collaboration between both companies, this partnership has extended into England and Wales also.

For Atrium, this is the first exclusive partnership with a UK based manufacturer, a strategic decision that strongly aligns with the increasing interest and demands from the specification market, for more environmentally conscious, sustainable, and circular lighting solutions. A mission both companies are highly invested in.

The extension to the existing agreement brings the popular alphaLED brand to the forefront of the design community, with a solid sales infrastructure to support projects.

Mike Wylie, Sales Manager, Atrium commented “We’ve been working with alphaLED for many years, covering the specification sector in Scotland and it is exciting for us to now present alphaLED in England and Wales too. The extended partnership will allow us to offer a very high level of service to our customers through the high quality (product as well as light quality) that has been synonymous with the alphaLED brand, as well as the fast deliveries that can be achieved thanks to their UK production facility.”

Gary Lyon, Director of alphaLED added “We are delighted to have Atrium as an exclusive partner of the alphaLED brand in the UK. With our collective focus on the quality of light, something which is underpinned by our product portfolio, and technology within, we are confident this partnership will best service the market and their projects.”

• Exhibition will feature exclusive new 3D-printed luminaires from textile designer Aleksandra Gaca
• 3D-printed luminaires made with recycled materials reduce carbon emissions, eliminate waste, and contribute to a circular economy
• Signify’s professional and consumer 3D-printed portfolio unites under Philips MyCreation brand

Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, will showcase new additions to its sustainable 3D-printed lighting collection at the world’s leading international design fair, Salone del Mobile. The exhibition will feature an exclusive collaboration with innovative textile designer Aleksandra Gaca, and Signify’s award-winning Coastal Breeze collection, which is made with 100% recycled fishing nets.

 

From April 18 – 23 2023, Salone del Mobile transforms Milan into the epicenter of innovation and design. Signify’s 3D-printed luminaires will be on display at Masterly – Dutch Design in Milano. Visitors can experience a mesmerizing lighting presentation featuring a stunning tree of lights. A special highlight is a new design with exceptional textures and exclusive finishes, from Aleksandra Gaca. Gaca’s innovative woven textiles sit at the intersection of art, design and architecture and match perfectly with the 3D printing technology used to create Philips MyCreation lighting objects.

“As a textile designer, I am really excited about the 3D printing techniques developed by Signify, because they allow me to quickly and easily incorporate my textures into everyday objects within anyone’s reach,” says Aleksandra Gaca. “I also feel really connected to the company’s commitment to sustainability. The Philips MyCreation Coastal Breeze project is a powerful demonstration that the union of design and innovation can give life to a more beautiful world and a more sustainable future.”

 

Three dimensions of sustainability

Signify continues to push the boundaries of sustainable design with its 3D-printed luminaires that reduce emissions, reduce waste, and contribute to a circular economy. All the 3D-printed luminaires are made with at least 55% recycled or bio-circular materials. A reinvented manufacturing process cuts the number of components by up to 40% and eliminates the need for glue, making it much easier to disassemble and recycle parts for repair and refurbishment. Lighter materials create fewer carbon emissions, and since the products are printed on demand, no unsold stock goes to waste.

 

Signify’s award-winning Coastal Breeze collection will be on display at Salone del Mobile. This special collection is made with 100% recycled fishing nets, transforming waste material into beautiful, functional pieces for the home.

 

Philips MyCreation: a hallmark of sustainable design

Signify’s 3D printing enterprise is one of its fastest-growing business units, contributing to the company’s goal to double its circular revenues to 32% by the end of 2025. In 2023, Signify brought together all 3D-printed professional and consumer collections under the Philips MyCreation brand. Philips MyCreation now encompasses Lightolier, Shaper Prentalux from Cooper Lighting Solutions, and Philips Tailored Lighting. This single brand guarantees the quality, design excellence, and sustainability that unites the collections.

 

Salone del Mobile draws over 300,000 visitors per year to experience the best of exclusive design and high-quality products. Signify will be in Sala Donzelli on the first floor of the Dutch Design Pavilion at the Palazzo dei Giuresconsulti.

Stirling Old Bridge, located on the River Forth, is one of the most important crossing points in Scotland.

The present Stirling Bridge was built around the 1500s, yet this historic site has played host to many important moments in history, including the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297 and the Jacobite Rising of 1745.  One of the few and best medieval masonry arch bridges in Scotland, Stirling Old Bridge is one of the most critical river crossings in Scotland and acted as the main crossing point of the River Forth until the early 1800s, dubbed a ‘gateway to the Highlands’.

Electrical Contractors and Installers Forth Electrical Services (FES) appointed LITE to create a new, dynamic, colour-changing design for the lighting on the bridge. LITE provided initial designs and plans and supplied the light fixtures, recommending several solutions from their market-leading portfolio of lighting brands.

LITE also carried out onsite trials with members of Historic Environments Scotland (HES) and local architects in attendance, to ensure the locations of fixtures and lighting levels were correctly and sympathetically placed. The river in this section has a history of flooding, therefore the ground-mounted fittings were required to be IP68 and the main floodlighting was mounted onto columns.

The team created an ideal solution to illuminate this historic monument. The proposal included lighting the four main semi-circular arches of the bridge from new column-mounted fittings, re-using the existing locations of ground-mounted fixtures, and installing up lighters on both the left and right-hand sides of the riverbank. Power was available on either side of the river, but LITE installed new ducting and cabling for the required locations.

Color Kinetics ColorReach Elite 100 RGBW products were selected for cross-lighting, and Studio Due Aria RGBW IP68 products were chosen for ground-mounted lighting, to create a dynamic colour-changing lighting effect, controlled remotely by a Pharos LPC1 controller. DMX connectivity is provided via wireless technology and remote access to the controller is available via a 4G router or SIM card.

The result is an innovative and dynamic lighting solution which brings modern, colour-changing lighting to an area steeped in rich history and traditional architecture. As the archways transition to various colours, the bridge is brought to life and its appearance is enhanced, with the effect appearing particularly striking at night, reflecting in the river.

The modern solution also gives the end user complete control over the colour change to cast dynamic light shows and select programmed colour displays to mark national days and occasions for the public.

Scot Baxter, Project Manager from FES, said: “LITE are a trusted partner who has done incredible work with Historic Environments Scotland in the past, therefore we knew that they were a reliable company to work on this project. They provided an innovative design solution and the kit and fixtures needed, supporting our installation from the get-go and ensuring we had everything we needed and that all was to plan. The effect of the lighting is truly striking and enchanting, and we could not be happier with the result.”

Stirling Old Bridge is the latest project that LITE have completed to enhance a historical Scottish monument. LITE were appointed by Historic Environments Scotland to upgrade the lighting system for Edinburgh Castle and also provided a new dynamic lighting scheme for the floodlighting on The Mound.

Project credits:
Client: Forth Electrical Services
Electrical Contractors: Forth Electrical Services
LED Supplier: Color Kinetics and Studiodue
Control: Pharos LPC

Products used:
Color Kinetics Color Reach Elite 100 RGBW
Studiodue Aria RGBW IP68
Pharos LPC1

Architectural lighting manufacturer Tryka has announced the expansion of its operations in the Middle East, with the opening of new offices in Saudi Arabia.

This expansion comes at an exciting time for Tryka, as the company celebrates an impressive 20 years in the lighting industry. The opening of the Saudi Arabia offices will allow for the growth of the company’s existing Middle East presence, as an addition to its UAE office. The new location will create further support for Tryka’s international clients who are specifying and supplying projects in the region.

Mohammed Saleh, Country Manager – KSA, will be the main point of contact in the region, leading on local operations. Commenting on the expansion, he said: “It’s an incredible opportunity for Tryka to enhance its presence in the area. I am delighted to be part of this new venture, using my familiarity of the region to ensure we are offering support to local lighting agents and distributors, as well as consultants and developers during planning and development.”

“As the brand grows in reputation, we have seen more project demands in the Middle East. Our increased presence and support infrastructure allows us to meet greater client needs, offering on-hand project management and site support during project construction.”

Chris Rolph, Founder of Tryka, added: “As we have reached our 20^th year in the industry, we are thrilled at how our reputation and recognition has grown internationally. We are so proud of our success, acting as trailblazers in architectural lighting and becoming the go-to LED lighting brand for designers and specifiers globally. We have completed projects in every sector, compassing every corner of the globe, and the opening of our new Middle East offices demonstrates our continued development and ability to cater to an international client base.”

The Tryka product range has all required third party safety and performance certificates by accredited, independent laboratories, thus enabling straightforward SASO certification and import certification to Saudi Arabia. This thereby ensures that each and every product exported to the country will comply with all local regulations and standards.

Mohan Kumar, Managing Director of Tryka Middle East, added: “For many years we have met the demands of the Saudi Arabian market, delivering impressive lighting schemes across the region including a number of façade lighting packages within the King Abdullah Financial District and Tamkeen Tower in Riyadh, now shining beacons of the everchanging Saudi landscape.”

“Working closely with international specifiers, our ability to offer tailor-made solutions has been tantamount to our success and the added value of having a local office will prove invaluable in delivering future lighting schemes, particularly as Saudi Arabia enters this new era of modern development.”

Tryka’s Saudi Arabia office is located at Tryka International Ltd, Riyadh, KSA, CR-1010870443.

Brand reinforcement is so important for a company’s identity and strength. JPR were approached to develop and manufacture this custom chandelier to represent the CDP logo.

Throughout this process JPR had to overcome various challenges. The first challenge being the shallow profile depth (25mm x 25mm), and then the diffuser material.

After many iterations JPR were able to manufacture a completely custom profile that met the depth requirement while also providing uniform illumination.

JPR manufactured custom dyes for the profile and custom moulds for the silicone diffuser. The client wanted the profile to have a 50/50 ratio from profile and diffuser as this would provide a 3-sided illumination. Silicone allowed the flexibility required to follow the sharp bends within this striking logo design.

The concept was to produce the structure in an exploded style to create illusion and provide depth to the space.

Positioned in the forefront of the reception area and surrounded by glass architecture, the design gave impact for all visitors with this statement logo design. Reinforcing the companies identity right from arrival.

This particular logo represented challenges with tight radii. Custom samples were created using bespoke mouldings by JPR for proof of concept and client sign off.

Using a bespoke 50/50 ratio of powder coated aluminium housing and RGBW illumination, presented the client with the sleek yet delicate finish they desired.

Unexpected Twist is the re-telling of the Charles Dickens classic, Oliver Twist, by one of the best-loved figures in the children’s book world, Michael Rosen. The book combines two stories in one; Rosen’s story and the Dickens classic that inspired it. In a co-production between The Children’s Theatre Partnership and the Royal & Derngate, Northampton, it has recently been adapted for the stage by award-winning playwright Roy Williams and is currently touring the UK. The lighting designer for the show is Rory Beaton who approached White Light (WL) to supply his lighting fixtures. 

 

Unexpected Twist tells the story of Shona, who, along with her class, is studying the book, Oliver Twist. She’s the new girl in school and finding it hard to stay out of trouble – much like Oliver himself! When she’s given a new phone by a stranger, she begins to suspect there’s something unusual about the new boys she’s met… Describing his role on the show, Rory comments: “My biggest responsibility during Unexpected Twist is being able to create so many of the different locations which feature in the play. We go everywhere from a city underpass to a rock concert to a classroom to a bright sunny vista by the sea in Brighton – so that’s quite a variety for an open set! 

 

He continues: “We also needed to establish a clear differentiation between the modern-day classroom and our Dickensian world; sometimes in a mere split second. Similarly, James Dacre, the Director, is a very visual director so it was great fun to sit pre-rehearsals and plan with both him and Frankie Bradshaw, the Olivier-nominated Set and Costume Designer, about how we create a clear visual language for all the moments throughout the show. These are totally crucial in how we tell our audiences (of varying ages) where we are and what’s going on”. 

Knowing what he needed to achieve both artistically and practically for the show, Rory then approached WL’s Customer Service team to supply his rig. He explains: “The whole rig is actually visible to the audience throughout and this therefore had to be integrated into part of the set design. Frankie created a fantastic grey-scape of a classroom with school wall-bars which I was able to hang several fixtures on. She also helpfully hung three trusses in view of the audience, to help with our modern rock concert scenes. That said, these units also had to be able to light the more emotional and dramatic moments of the play. There’s also the fact that the show was touring to a lot of different venues so we needed a flexible set-up that could easily be rigged in a single day. 

He continues: “With this in mind, I chose MAC Auras for their small profile and flexibility as the wash units and then called upon VL2600s to do the shuttering profile work. They sit nicely in the rig visually as well as provide the punch we need for beamy moments and mean we never need to change a lamp whilst on the 16-week tour. There are also various systems of ColorSource Spots and some MR16 battens thrown into the mix; alongside a significant amount of Pixel Tape built into the set. I used a system of LED Fluorescent tubes overhead to create that sterile classroom feel as well as some two-cell tungsten molefays (or fireflies as they affectionately became known to us) to create our low-glow tungsten Dickensian world. I think when you watch the show, there’s a really clear and exciting difference to those moments, which we spent a long time trying to crack”.