BeaLTS Licht & Leuchten says that it is particularly proud of its role in Glasgow’s most glamorous lighting project. LTS Licht & Leuchten has been a member of the Swedish Fagerhult Group since 2010 and thus belongs, like 11 other subsidiaries, to Europe’s third-largest luminaire manufacturer. Since then, LTS Licht & Leuchten and Fagerhult Lighting – from the UK – has worked closely together in the premium luminaire sector. They have realised unique projects together, like this innovative office building in the largest city of Scotland.
177 Bothwell Street is Glasgow’s largest office building and the third largest office property sale in the United Kingdom outside of London.
The development includes electric car charge bays, contactless technology across the site, and 318 cycle storage points. It even has a rooftop patio with Scotland’s first rooftop running track around it.
The 315,000ft² property will be occupied by the likes of BNP Paribas, Transport Scotland, Virgin Money, AECOM and CBRE. Supported by a ‘green loan’, the developers committed to achieving the highest environmental standards, with a EPC rating of ‘A’ (sub 8 score) and BREEAM ‘Excellent’ standard.
In addition, 177 Bothwell Street is the first commercial development in Scotland to commit to the new SmartScore accreditation for smart buildings, having also received a Platinum Wiredscore rating. This benchmark identifies best-in-class smart buildings that deliver an exceptional user experience, drive cost efficiency, meet high standards of sustainability and are fully future-proof.
Excelling in efficiency
Fagerhult’s involvement with the project started four years ago when the developers HFD, together with consultants Atelier 10, were briefed on their ambition that the building should be ‘energy efficient and smart’.
The aim of maximising energy efficiency required the latest in smart technology. A big contributor to that goal is the smart lighting installed at Bothwell Street, developed and installed by Fagerhult Lighting.
In its previous incarnation as The Albany Hotel, the premises had standard lighting with emergency monitoring. Now a brand-new construction of a 13-storey building with three acres of glass, it features smart LED lighting with remote control, app connectivity, and Organic Response.
Organic Response works as a wireless solution that requires no wired communication like a dali system. It can be quickly installed in an existing location that has been refurbished or renovated for a potential tenant and it is straightforward to install lighting management from the box.
This blend of cutting-edge innovative systems takes the building’s lighting to another level.
Technology like no other
LTS Licht & Leuchten and Fagerhult Lighting manufactured the luminaires for a dynamic SAS330 ceiling grid across the building per the client’s requirements; balancing capability, future proofing, design and functionality. Manufacturers are often known to put an attachment infill piece on the luminaire to enable it to fit into a nonstandard lay in ceiling grid. Instead, LTS and Fagerhult made a bespoke solution.
LTS and Fagerhult made the entire bespoke fitting in its factories, which came complete with a 500mm flex and a plug. This tailored, manufactured solution was far easier to install, a mere matter of unboxing, offering up and plugging in, which reduces site waste and install time of installing plugs and cutting cable.
With an entirely Fagerhult-manufactured fitting, the installation was not only quicker, as there is less likelihood of things going wrong, but the unit is much easier to replace for any future requirements.
All luminaires at Bothwell Street are endowed with a Constant Light Level (CLO) that maintains L100 throughout its life. A high L-number is significant as it is the basis for the maintenance factor when designing a lighting scheme. Since CLO increases the maintenance factor, it improves optimisation and sustainability and leads to requiring less luminaries than a fixture with a lower L number (L90/L80).
The entire enterprise involved 25 variants of linear luminaires called Lichtkanal from LTS Licht & Leuchten, all of which are configurable, as is Fagerhult’s standard. Fagerhult Lighting visited their colleagues in Germany to ensure the spacing and pitching on the LEDs were perfect to the nearest millimetre, essential for delivering a homogenous light output. Almost 2,200m of premium Lichtkanal were planned and installed in close cooperation in this unique office project.
This renovation was achieved at the height of Corona lockdown. It is a testament to the seamless cooperation of all involved with the design team that the project was swiftly completed. Many employees went the extra mile in their customer service and demonstrated acute lateral thinking to overcome extra logistical hurdles caused by the pandemic.
All fittings blend seamlessly into the environment, achieved by receiving a SAS330 ceiling tile and colour matching it with the custom luminaire. Only then could engineers be satisfied that the chosen colour for the fittings would integrate with their surroundings.
The result at 177 Bothwell Street is end-to-end innovative LED lighting, built at an impressive pace despite the logistical difficulties of the pandemic lockdown. It proved critical to ensuring the control aspect and light type went together, involving hours of consultation between developers and engineers.