Philips Dynalite has supplied an energy-saving lighting control system for the luxury Scarlet eco-hotel in Cornwall. The design by Philips Dynalite Dimension dealer, Lightmaster-Direct, embraces best environmental practices to yield a lighting scheme in harmony with the surroundings (using just 3.36 watts per square metre) and providing guests with an unparalleled ambience and sense of opulence.
According to the Development Director for the Scarlet Hotel, Simon Baldwin, the lighting system reflects the pioneering approach to environmental sustainability that is the hallmark of the hotel’s design. “Lighting is very important within a hotel, and the energy used to maintain lighting is something that has been overlooked for a long time,” he said. “The Scarlet has been designed to maximise the use of natural light as much as possible, and this has driven the development of the lighting system itself.”
Energy-saving fluorescent and LED luminaires, along with multipurpose sensors, are integral elements of the lighting design. “All the lighting is either fluorescent or LED, and the Scarlet is probably unique in this respect. The design is also challenging the expectation that hotel lights need to be on all the time, making extensive use of multipurpose sensors to ensure lights are turned off when not required. Lightmaster-Direct has helped us achieve a lighting design that delivers both the environmental and architectural outcome we were seeking.”
Lightmaster-Direct designed, engineered and commissioned the innovative lighting system to meet stringent environmental, functional and architectural criteria. Integral to the overall design, many of the hotel’s light fittings were custom-designed and built by Lightmaster-Direct to meet these exacting standards.
“The design brief called for an integrated lighting control system to provide pre-set lighting scenes in all public areas and mood lighting to bedrooms – all controlled by a combination of wall-controls, remote controls and motion sensors,” said Lightmaster Design Director, Richard Nock. “A Philips Dynalite solution was the obvious choice to meet this specification. Its controllers are without question the best on the market for fluorescent and LED lighting, and the Philips Dynalite solution-set remains our preferred lighting control system to work with, due to its performance, reliability and versatility.”
The Scarlet’s fluorescent and LED circuits are controlled by a combination of Philips Dynalite relay and ballast controllers. Philips Dynalite universal sensors help ensure that lighting only activates when areas are occupied and when ambient light levels fall below a threshold level. The backbone to the Scarlet’s lighting control system is provided by Philips Dynalite’s sophisticated peer-to-peer communications serial bus network, DyNet.
Two Philips Dynalite touch-screen control panels allow the lighting moods of the public areas to be set by the hotel staff. Revolution 2 user-interface wall panels permit local user control for some public areas and all the guest rooms. There are two engraved and backlit Revolution 2 wall panels in each guest room – one by the entrance and one by the bed – and these have been designed to be intuitive and simple to operate. Guests can match their mood from a choice of seven lighting scenes carefully created by the design team which include ambient, bright, relax, bath, night, balcony, and all off.
In spite of the architectural and mood lighting results achieved, considerable energy savings have been realised. “Where a conventional hotel typically achieves lighting efficacy of 10 watts per square metre, the design brief for the Scarlet called for 8 watts per square metre,” said Nock. “However, the finished system achieved a staggering internal lighting efficacy of just 3.36 watts per square metre – representing just 34% of the energy use of a conventional design. We have also achieved significant energy savings with the garden lighting. Using discreet 1 watt LED fittings, a subtle and beautiful garden lighting design has been achieved using less than 100 watts in total.”
“The goal of this project was to build a unique and opulent hotel in a beautiful location, and to achieve performance at the cutting edge of environmental sustainability,” said Baldwin. “While these goals are often considered mutually exclusive, the Scarlet proves that you don’t have to sacrifice luxury to achieve high levels of energy efficiency. Scarlet really is the new green!”