Moving into the penthouse level at One Canada Square, Canary Wharf means the heavily oversubscribed University College London School of Management can enrol more students and attract world-leading business teachers. Specified by Buro Happold in conjunction with Nicholas Hare Architects, the Zumtobel Group lighting brands Zumtobel and Thorn have provided a customised lighting scheme to transform the redesigned office space into a vibrant education facility.

 

One Canada Square is an iconic skyscraper in Canary Wharf, London. At 770 ft and 50 storeys, it is the third tallest building in the United Kingdom. On a clear day, if you look out from Level 50, you will be treated to unparalleled views across London, taking in sporting landmarks such as Wembley Stadium, The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, The Den, and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Focussing on innovation, technology, analytics, and entrepreneurship, the University College London School of Management (UCL SoM) established itself on Level 38 of the building back in 2016, right in the heart of London and the epicentre of finance and business in the UK. However, with growing student numbers, it required more space. Hence the decision to expand to Level 50.

The new facility positions the UCL School of Management as an international business school whose world-leading research, faculty, and teaching facilities rival those of other top-ranked international business schools. of the likes of the London Business School, Oxbridge, Harvard, Stanford, and MIT.

The new space was designed by architects Nicholas Hare in collaboration with the School’s former Director, Bert De Reyck. The design was inspired by start-up workspaces and academic and corporate environments, designed to encourage active collaboration and communication between students and faculty.

Level 50 had an existing office fit-out which included a mixture of open-plan and cellular offices. Designers implemented an innovative re-use of existing components to significantly reduce the project’s embodied carbon.

The refurbished space provides a range of teaching and collaborative spaces, doubling the size of the facilities available. The includes a traditional ‘Harvard-style’ lecture theatre with a 108-student capacity, a Student Hub, multiple group and individual study spaces and a flexible executive style suite with panoramic views across the city. It gives students and faculty choices about how they work and adaptive facilities to suit their needs.

 

A product for all locations

Impressed with the breath of the Zumtobel Group portfolio, integrated consulting engineers Buro Happold London and Nicholas Hare Architects specified a combination of Zumtobel and Thorn lighting products to support the design vision for Level 50. Tony Dendy, Key Account Manager (London Specification) at Zumtobel Group says, “Our SLOTLIGHT infinity is a flexible and suitable system which covered all the various areas, ceiling types, and shapes required to meet the client brief to a high-quality finish. We worked with Buro Happold to help design and configure the products required and, importantly, achieve the lighting requirements.”

Light lines flush with the ceiling

Central to the lighting design was the Zumtobel SLOTLIGHT infinity, which achieved perfect uniform lines of light without a cover frame. SLOTLIGHT infinity has been designed from scratch as a continuous light line for flush mounting with the ceiling. The luminaire’s linear construction is continued in a precisely defined shadow gap. Problems with the formation of cracks are now a thing of the past, as the luminaire is technically and thermally separated from the ceiling by a mounting frame. The result is a high-grade lighting solution meticulously integrated into the interior design, which appears as a fully consistent light line.

The SLOTLIGHT infinity family, including recessed, suspended, and direct/indirect versions, have been used throughout the circulation areas, seminar rooms, communal Street, reception, and Social Hub.

Based on performance, style, and efficiency, luminaires from Thorn lighting support the scheme, including Omega Pro in the offices and meeting rooms, Voyager Star emergency lights in the street and circulation areas, and Aquaforce Pro in the plant rooms.

 

The light line can be perfectly adjusted to the room

The project wasn’t without its challenges Tony explains, “Some challenges we had to overcome were that we needed some precise non-standard angles of the SLOTLIGHT infinity. Due to the long runs, if they had been just a fraction out, it would have been accentuated along the run and therefore ruin the installation. Furthermore, there were some special Slotlight Infinity square sizes, adapted to fit around the columns in the communal street for a precise finish and to work with the wooden ceiling slats. Another special was in the metal ceiling tiles where lengths were non-standard, our Slotlight Infinity Technical product was specified but because there was a limited ceiling void depth that included other services above, we could not use the standard wire suspensions for the installation and therefore another solution was found using rear mounted brackets (subject to weight) normally designed for other ceiling types.”

The Zumtobel project team worked hard to overcome these challenges with custom and modified solutions to meet all the requirements. They also provided detailed installation lists to help the onsite team.

The lighting scheme meets the desired aesthetical design while providing excellent light to facilitate good communication and learning. All the lighting is DALI and is connected to the school’s lighting control system; dimming control was vital due to the glass building facade.

The project has transformed the tired former corporate office space into a vibrant education facility for post-graduates and enabled UCL School of Management to continue to foster relationships with leading business and financial organisations.

 

Sarah Knox, Senior Facilities and Operations Administrator, UCL School of Management comments, “Across our new floor we installed a variety of stylish light lines to meet our brief and focus on smart design and sustainable materials, ensuring we created the right experience in each space to manifest sustainable, welcoming premises. The quality lighting supports the collaborative learning and working environment we have developed and enhances the wellbeing of staff and students while at work or taking a break. Our state of the art, well-designed space helps us attract truly talented individuals to establish ourselves as a global business school whose world-leading post-graduate teaching and research facilities allow us to continue to be one of the top-ranked business schools in the UK.”

 

The project was verified SKA Gold, the highest qualification in the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors building sustainability evaluation scheme.

 

CLICK HERE for further information on the featured products

 

or CLICK HERE to visit Thorn Lighting

 

by Nelo Neves, Ledvance Managing Director, UK and Ireland.

Lighting is integral to creating a comfortable and energising space for learning. Installations in education facilities should not just encourage an activating environment, but reduce energy and maintenance costs at the same time. At LEDVANCE, we are always looking ahead to design a product portfolio that lends itself to both the current and future needs of educational establishments.
The most recent regulation to impact on lighting in education is the amendment to the RoHS directive. This amendment launched a ban on bringing to market T5 and T8 fluorescent lamps and compact fluorescent lamps with plug-in bases (CFLni). When considering alternative lighting options, this change marks the perfect opportunity for schools to ‘make the switch’ to LED lighting and automated systems. LEDVANCE offers a range of LED retrofit and conversion options to support this change and ensure facilities managers are keeping in line with the regulations. However, there’s a number of additional benefits that educational spaces can secure with an LED upgrade.

Human centric lighting HCL
When considering the benefits of automated lighting systems to their spaces, facilities managers will generally note convenience and cost benefits. However, these systems can have an additional positive impact on wellbeing and productivity, as automated systems provide the valuable opportunity to adapt lighting to the circadian rhythms of students and staff.
The circadian rhythm is our 24-hour body clock that governs natural cycles of activity and rest by managing hormone levels. Humans are known to be heavily influenced by variations in natural light throughout the course of the day. A human oriented lighting concept uses smart controllable LED lighting systems to simulate the characteristics of natural daylight, combining the visual and non-visual biological effects of light through changing colour temperatures and illuminance levels.

Artificial light that synchronises with our circadian rhythms is proven to make us happier, healthier and more productive. It has been scientifically proven that spaces which use human centric lighting systems increase student wellbeing, concentration and performance during the day, improve the quality of sleep at night, and helps reduce sickness. Therefore, an automated lighting system with HCL programming will not only illuminate a school facility, but support the wellbeing of everyone within it, including students and staff.

The education sector is particularly well suited for the use of HCL because lessons in most educational institutions start at similar times in the morning. The room layout, the incidence of light, the arrangement of the furniture and the students’ and teachers’ lines of vision are usually also very similar – which makes conditions virtually ideal for a wide-ranging use of HCL.

Light management systems
To take full advantage of HCL lighting, facilities managers need to install IoT-controlled systems that adapt to students’ circadian rhythms. Whether controlled using Bluetooth, Zigbee or an app solution, IoT lighting solutions are a welcome alternative to touching shared surfaces after the pandemic, as well as a reliable means of reducing costs and saving energy in an education facility.
LEDVANCE’s own IoT system, VIVARES, makes adapting an existing school building to automated lighting very simple. Commissioning is done through the VIVARES portal with the support of QR codes. The system is configured and commissioned on site after installation of the components, using the VIVARES DALI commissioning app. The self-explanatory user guide makes commissioning extremely quick and easy – thanks to predefined rooms and situations via drag and drop. The system is ideal for modernising existing buildings where rewiring is often not an option, for example when a building is listed or has no suspended ceilings. LEDVANCE offers the necessary components and a well-assorted selection of compatible LED luminaires which allow the system to provide energy-saving lighting in existing buildings, ranging from small lighting projects to complete floor solutions. One such product is the Panel Comfort 600 with UGR<19. Besides offering CRI90 and up to 122 lm/W. This is a high-performance panel that offers impressive versatility due to its selectable CCT and power steps on its driver. Even after commissioning, expanding a LEDVANCE luminaires system with additional components is a simple task. Monitoring the health of the system is just as easy thanks to cloud services.

Conclusion
Just as schools must equip their students for the challenges of the future, facilities managers must adopt lighting solutions that are ready to embrace the latest innovations. When it comes to the lighting for education, let LEDVANCE teach you a thing or two!

www.ledvance.co.uk

A school in Falkirk relies on a substantial 6.2 metres high moveable wall to divide the main hall into two separate areas at different times of the day. Unfortunately, recent damage to the roller housing had caused one of the panels to become stuck, disrupting the day-to-day implementation of the school timetable.

A call to the Scottish service team at nationwide partitioning experts, Style, quickly had moveable wall technicians on site who were able to safely lower the panel, remove and repair the damaged part before reconstructing the wall at minimal cost.

Style’s fully employed team of specialist engineers is highly trained and able to offer service and repair of almost any moveable wall system.

“At over 6 metres high, this was a very sizeable moveable wall which is why it was so important to have trained and accredited moveable wall technicians carrying out the repair,” said Angela McGowan, sales and service manager at Style Scotland.

“Our in-house team of engineers has comprehensive health and safety training, including CSCS, PASMA, asbestos awareness, manual handling and risk assessments.”

The Style team at the Falkirk school first used a chain hoist to carefully drop the stuck panel to the ground.

They then opened-up the access to the roller housing, removed the damaged part and sent it to a metal specialist to be straightened, saving money by not having to order new parts or, worse still, replace a whole section of the moveable wall.

The panel was then reconstructed, the roller changed, and the panel reinstated to the track, enabling the moveable wall to operate smoothly once again.

“Our technicians will always carry out a thorough assessment when determining the best approach to repairing a damaged moveable wall. On this occasion, it was decided that the bent part could be repaired rather than replaced saving the school money.”

Style is the UK’s leading moveable, partitioning and folding wall specialist offering a complete solution from new installations through to service, upgrades and repair.

 

TO FIND OUT MORE

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE STYLE PARTITIONS WEBSITE

OR CLICK HERE TO EMAIL STYLE PARTITIONS

OR TELEPHONE STYLE ON 01202 874044

 

 

Sloping ceilings at a Plymouth primary school feature Zentia products.

A new school for a new community in Plymouth has relied on ceiling solutions by leading UK manufacturer Zentia for delivering both form and function.
Some 1,200m2 of Zentia’s Perla OP 0.95 Tegular 600mm x 600mm tiles, which were the first mineral tile in the world to win Cradle to Cradle status, feature in the classrooms, offices, stores and communal areas at state-of-the-art Morley Meadows primary school.

Part of Persimmon Homes’ Saltram Meadows development in Plymstock, the £5.8 million primary school also features Zentia’s 100% humidity resistant Hydroboard 600mm x 600mm tiles with Prelude 24 non-corrosive grid in the kitchen, showers, toilets and changing areas.

Designed by Stride Treglown architects, and delivered by main contractor Halsall Construction, the two-form entry school accommodates 420 pupils, with part of it able to be cordoned off so it can be used by other community groups out of hours.

Specialist sub-contractor Vizion Interiors had a team of up to 10 on site for eight months, installing a total of 1,650m2 of the Zentia products on ceilings, that in the main part, unusually, sloped to degrees of 35® to mimic the sloping roof.

 

For form, the Perla OP 0.95 tile features a smooth, low-gloss monolithic visual with best-in-class fully painted edges for additional aesthetics as well as durability. The tile also features high light reflectance (up to 86%) to reduce reliance on artificial light and Class A acoustic performance to sound absorption 0.95aw.

For function, as well as its Cradle to Cradle certification, Perla OP 0.95 also provides optimum indoor air quality (due to ultra-low A+ VOC emissions) and is manufactured from up to 64% recycled content and fully recyclable.

Hydroboard also features Class A acoustic performance to sound absorption 0.95aw and light reflectance of 82%.

Vizion Interiors’ contracts manager Andy West said: “The Zentia products were already specified but we would have put them forward regardless because they are superior products which are more readily available, and we have a fantastic working relationship with the area sales manager”.

 

www.zentia.com/en-gb