When you walk into a commercial building, you may notice a colour scheme, a carefully curated selection of avant-garde furniture, some wall art or on-brand signage. The chances are, though, that the lighting isn’t the first thing you spotted – in fact you may not have thought about it at all. However, you will probably have immediately absorbed the atmosphere of the space. Is it calming, buzzy or welcoming? Perhaps it feels gloomy and depressing, or so bright that you wish you’d brought your sunglasses.
How a space is lit is one of the most important considerations when planning a refurbishment or refit. The right lighting can have a surprisingly big effect on the people who are working in the area.
Conversely, poor lighting can be extremely detrimental to employees and even cause a downturn in morale and productivity. Fluorescent lighting, the sale of which was banned in the UK in 2023, has an imperceptible flicker which has been shown to disrupt sleep patterns and increase the likelihood of sleep-related health issues. It can even cause epileptic fits. Working in poorly lit conditions can make workers feel drowsy, cause eye strain, tiredness, blurred vision, headaches, and even vitamin deficiencies, and is likely to lead to an increase in errors. Lighting which is too bright is also far from ideal, as it can produce a glare which makes using computer screens uncomfortable and can also contribute to headaches and eye discomfort.
Clearly, getting the lighting right is extremely important. With the many options available these days for workplace illumination, there’s a perfect solution to create the right atmosphere for every type of environment; this is where mood lighting comes in.
Mood lighting creates or enhances a particular atmosphere within a space. It’s a versatile approach which carefully specifies the strategic placement, intensity and colour of the lighting and is designed to promote a particular state of mind.
Mood lighting should be carefully curated to maximise productivity and enhance wellbeing. Areas and rooms within a workplace will be used for different types of activity and every organisation will have its own ideas about how areas need to be lit – there is no one size fits all. A reception hall could use lighting more dramatically to create an impact when customers walk in. The assembly area in a factory would need specific desk lighting to enable people to carry out intricate work. A conference room might require cooler clear lighting for note taking as well as the ability to dim if necessary for screen presentations. Break-out areas benefit from warmer informal lighting with lower illumination levels to create a more relaxed ambience.
Lighting can be basically categorised as warm or cool. The temperature of the light defines the tint it exudes, and as the temperature rises, the colour will change. It cycles through a spectrum of red, orange, yellow/white, white and blue/white. Red, orange and yellow are the lower temperature colours and will produce a warm glow. Higher temperature colours like white and blue give out a cooler light. Further classification mainly divides lighting technology into four types – incandescent, fluorescent, halogen and light emitting diode (LED).
Specifying lighting for a particular workplace can also involve the calculation of the appropriate lux and lumen – both Latin words meaning light. When someone talks about lux levels, they are referring to the amount of light which is hitting the surface and being reflected, and lumen levels are the amount of light emitted by a bright source. One lux is the equivalent of one lumen spread over an area of one square metre. In the UK, BS EN 124-1:2021 includes recommended light levels for office ceilings as 100 lux, and for office walls as 150 lux.
Lighting can initially seem like a straightforward subject, but the deeper you delve, the more complicated it becomes! The technology behind it has also gathered pace in recent years, with the motorised lights, remote controlled systems and concepts such as OLED technology, using a carbon-based organic material which lights up when a current is passed through it.
Sustainability in lighting is a topic which is very much at the forefront in the industry. Although the roll-out to energy-efficient LED lighting continues to gather pace, lighting consumes approximately 1736 TWh of all global electricity. Developers are increasingly specifying lighting from ethical manufacturers prioritising eco-friendly technology and the use of renewable materials.
Here at Oakwhite our refurbishment and fit out work involves working closely with lighting designers and bringing our expertise to bear in order to create exactly the right atmosphere for each type of workplace, whether it’s an office, gym or restaurant. We pride ourselves on completing projects on time and on budget as our many satisfied customers will tell you.
If you’d like to know more about our fit out and refurbishment work, contact us via email, or give us a call on 01403 586062 and have a chat with one of our friendly team members.