Luminaires from Zumtobel Group have played important roles in three prestigious, high specification office projects in London that have all achieved BREEAM status. For these refurbishments, the office space has been designed to provide everything that is needed for the modern day tenant, including the flexibility to customise everything and upgrade fixtures in the future.
Thorn’s Custom Division designed an extremely efficient lighting scheme for The Charter Building, a 244,000 sq. ft., design-led workspace in Uxbridge that has been designed to bring an entirely new workspace to Uxbridge. The building, once the UK headquarters for Coca Cola, will provide a well-connected home for the modern, discerning occupier that values sustainability, good design and the wellbeing of its workforce. The sheer footprint, along with ceiling heights up to four metres, one-acre floorplates, 5-storey atrium and internal ‘street’ that runs 100m North to South, make it one of the largest spec office developments in London and the South East.
Once the initial design was approved, Thorn provided mock ups of the actual fittings and ensured maximum efficiency was achieved on optics to achieve the required BREEAM status. The final luminaire design was christened ‘Stealth Charter’ and a white finish was chosen.
Thorn’s Custom Division was also involved in the supply of luminaires for the refurbishment of the 15 floor Thames Tower in Reading, which included the provision of custom designed luminaires. Part of the Station Hill Development, Thames Tower was a 1970’s derelict office building and redevelopment was deemed essential to ensure it meets the needs of future occupiers in this up and coming location. The office accommodation is provided on fourteen floors above the street level reception. Panoramic 360 degree glazing and a generous floor-to-ceiling height provides volumes of natural light throughout the day.
Consideration had to be given to energy efficiency, BREEAM, renewables, value and life cycle costs to deliver a cost effective solution to the client.
Thorn provided a variety of shapes and high grade fittings for consideration and then designs were reviewed by the customer. Once approved, mock ups of the actual fittings were produced. Once the initial design shape was approved by the end user, Derry Building Services (DBS) and Thorn then worked closely on optics to ensure that maximum efficiency was achieved in order to achieve the required BREEAM status.
Similar to the bespoke luminaire installed at Uxbridge, the final design christened ‘Stealth Thames’ and a black finish was chosen. Thorn and DBS then worked together to devise a plan of how the layouts would sit in each area.
Zumtobel Lighting supplied a variety of luminaires for the refurbishment of the entrance hall in the prestigious 6 Arlington Street, which has been redesigned and extended. Constructed in the 1920’s, 6 Arlington Street is a corner building opposite The Ritz Hotel with substantial street frontages and a period façade, housing a high end art gallery on the ground floor, offices on the first to fourth floors and residential apartments on the fifth floor.The brief was to create a light, bright reception area while retaining period features like the large fireplace, whilst improving lighting in the stairs. Zumtobel was able to offer the best solution with its Slotlight Infinity suspended fittings, Slotlight Infinity Slim, Perluce LED, RESCLITE HP, Artsign and Ondaria large suspended luminaires.
Zumtobel’s Slotlight Infinity Slim has been installed in the long corridor to provide a continuous vein of light, creating a seamless, continuous-row system without any shadows or overlapping. Part of the versatile Slotlight product family, Slotlight Infinity Slim measures just 45mm across, making it over 30 percent thinner than standard light lines, providing virtually unlimited flexibility. Slotlight Infinity Slim offers a truly integrated, low energy solution with excellent colour rendering of Ra>80, lighting efficiency of up to 92 lm/W and a service life of 50,000 hours. SLOTLIGHT infinity pendant luminaires were also incorporated into the lighting design to provide a three-dimensional element.
Other areas of the refurbishment incorporated Zumtobel’s Artsign and RESCLITE HP to provide the emergency lighting element for the project. Artsign is a compact escape-sign luminaire that boasts a recognition range of 15m and RESCLITE HP is a small-dimensioned emergency luminaire that operates completely independently of general lighting, with an LED power package that functions with minimal energy levels. Improving light quality on the stairs, PERLUCE is a closed lighting system that sets new standards in terms of everyday usability and combines this with a variety of optics, IP50 and IP54 protection and various designs. Many of the luminaires were precisely tailored to the needs of the space and custom finished to harmonise with the character of the building. In particular, Slotlight and Ondaria luminaires were supplied in a burnished bronze finish to enhance the surrounding décor.
Thorn Lighting and Zumtobel Lighting are brands of the Zumtobel Group of companies which also includes acdc, SIMES and REISS. For more information on Zumtobel Lighting and Thorn Lighting’s office lighting products or bespoke service visit www.zumtobel.com or thornlighting.co.uk