Riegens Lighting has developed a special version of its Concido Pendant luminaire for the main entrance area and the perfumery counters of the recently rebuilt John Lewis Store in Cambridge. Working closely with Barry Ayling, the lighting design manager for John Lewis, Riegens came up with a practical, yet stylish solution that would meet all of the requirements of the scheme. 
The original Robert Sayle store had occupied the site in the centre of Cambridge for over 100 years and the new John Lewis has been built on the old store’s footprint. The Cambridge store is part of a major expansion by John Lewis, whose 69,000 permanent staff members are Partners who own the 26 highly successful John Lewis department stores across Britain.
Riegens were asked to look at several areas that were problematic for lighting, including an area with a high ceiling. The chosen solution uses specially adapted Concido Pendant luminaires; Concido is an architectural downlight with an illuminated matt blasted opal glass top section. It was decided that this product was ideal for the entrance and would also complement and illuminate the counters in the perfumery. The specification required the multi-directional elements above the counters to be 3 x 35W adjustable Brightspot eyeball fittings with a straightforward 70W CDM-T metal halide downlight suspended in the entrance. The opal glass top section is illuminated with a single 57W TC-TEL fluorescent lamp.
Riegens design team adapted the standard Concido Pendant with the inclusion of heat dissipating fins between the lower housing and the decorative glass to expel the increased levels of heat generated. Ten of the pendant luminaires have been suspended from the first floor bulkhead overlooking the entrance and the design of the fitting allows for total adjustment of the lighting over an area with a high ceiling that would have been hard to achieve any other way.
Barry Ayling commented: “We needed a solution that would not only look decorative, but also functional. A standard product would not achieve both. Working with Riegens, the standard product was modified to suit our needs. Riegens were able to incorporate the latest lamp technology into its luminaire to provide display lighting for our perfumery department. As a company Riegens was very enthusiastic at all design stages through to the production of the final product”.Â