Services
What we actually issue.
Five appointments, each with a defined output. We are not a manufacturer and we sell nothing: every drawing below is written so that the person who commissions the building owns the decision.
Appointments
Five ways to bring us in.
Architectural Lighting Design
Full interior and exterior lighting design from concept through to focus, for buildings where the night view is part of the brief.
We work in section and on site rather than from a fitting catalogue, setting illuminance, luminance ratios and colour before any product is named. Every scheme is calculated, mocked up at full scale on the real material, and re-aimed after the building is occupied.
- Lighting plot, sections and schedule
- Photometric calculations in Relux and Dialux evo
- Full-scale mock-up and focus sessions
- Commissioning and aiming report
Facade and Urban Lighting
Exterior schemes for landmarks, bridges and public space, designed against obtrusive light limits from the first sketch rather than defended afterwards.
We establish the environmental zone, upward light ratio and window luminance limits before deciding where a single fitting goes, which is the only way to keep a scheme intact through consent. Night surveys, viewpoint analysis and trial rigs are part of the base service, not an extra.
- Night survey and viewpoint study
- Obtrusive light assessment to ILP and CIE 150
- Trial rig and viewpoint photography
- Curfew and seasonal control regime
Daylight and Circadian Strategy
Daylight modelling and tunable white strategy for workplaces, galleries and care environments, tied to measured outcomes rather than marketing claims.
We model climate-based daylight availability first and design electric light to complete it, which usually means less installed load and fewer control zones than expected. Where a circadian case is made we set it against melanopic EDI targets at the eye and verify it on site.
- Climate-based daylight modelling
- Melanopic EDI targets at eye position
- Tunable white curve and zoning strategy
- Post-occupancy measurement report
Controls, Programming and Commissioning
Control architecture, scene programming and on-site commissioning, including the projects where somebody else drew the lighting.
Most schemes that disappoint were designed well and commissioned badly, so we treat the control layer as a design output with its own drawings and its own sign-off. We write the scene list, program it on site at night, and hand over documentation the operator can actually use.
- Control topology and zoning drawings
- Scene list and fade time schedule
- On-site programming and witness testing
- Operator handbook and re-lamp schedule
Lighting Masterplans and Heritage Consent
City and campus scale masterplans, and the heritage casework that has to accompany any intervention on a protected structure.
A masterplan that cannot be enforced is a picture book, so ours are written as testable standards with hierarchy, colour palette, maximum levels and fixing rules for every asset class. On listed fabric we prepare the consent package and attend the committee ourselves.
- Hierarchy, colour and level standards
- Fixing and reversibility strategy for listed fabric
- Heritage impact statement and consent pack
- Phasing plan and capital cost bands
Method
Brief to commissioning.
Brief and Night Survey
We walk the site after dark before we draw anything, with a meter and a camera. Existing levels, spill from neighbours, sightlines, the surfaces that actually take light and the ones that will never work are all recorded. The brief that comes out of that walk is usually not the brief we were given.
Concept and First Test
Concept is set in section and in reference imagery, never in a fitting schedule. Within weeks we put a trial rig on the real material at the real distance, because a limestone sample under a desk lamp tells you nothing about a facade at thirty metres on a wet night.
Developed Design
Calculations, luminance studies and coordination with structure, acoustics and services. Every position is resolved against how it will be reached for maintenance, and every heritage fixing against how it will be removed. This is where the scheme either becomes buildable or quietly stops being affordable.
Technical Design and Tender
Full plot, schedule, control topology and specification issued for tender, with performance written so that alternatives can be judged rather than simply refused. We review every submitted equivalent against measured photometry, not against a marketing sheet, and we say no in writing when it is warranted.
Focus and Commissioning
We aim every fitting ourselves, at night, on ladders and in cherry pickers. Scenes are programmed on site with the operator present, witness tested, and recorded in an aiming report. We return within twelve months to re-aim what has drifted and to measure what was promised.
Before you appoint
The four questions we are always asked.
- Do you supply or sell the luminaires you specify?
- No. We take no commission, discount or rebate from any manufacturer, and we hold no distribution agreements. That independence is the whole basis of the advice, and it is why we are able to reject a proposed equivalent on measured photometry rather than on preference.
- At what stage should we appoint a lighting designer?
- Before the facade material is fixed and before the ceiling is coordinated. Appointing at concept costs a fraction of appointing at technical design, because the positions that make a scheme work are structural decisions. On heritage work, appoint before the consent application is drafted.
- Can you work on a building that is already lit?
- Most of our work is relighting. We begin with a night survey and measured baseline, so the case for change is evidence rather than opinion, and we retain what already works. Roughly half of our relighting projects reuse existing positions, containment or fixings.
- How do you charge, and what does a scheme cost?
- Percentage of lighting construction value on larger projects, fixed fee on defined scopes, and a day rate for surveys, expert witness and focus support. Mock-ups, night shifts and travel are identified separately at the outset so nothing appears as a surprise later.
Next
Bring us in early.
The cheapest lighting decisions are the ones made while the drawings are still soft. Tell us what you are building.