Lighting Control

lighting

features

Lighting Control

technology, Features, July 2008, COMMENTS

Adam Kent, Managing Director of Install Automation Ltd -an innovative provider of integrated lighting, electrical and AV control systems – explains why your venue can benefit from having a lighting control system.

Installing a control system for the lighting of your venue delivers many immediate benefits. A control system makes lighting control more intelligent, convenient, green and cost effective. A control system also has long-term benefits as it can potentially increase the value of a venue as well as better the future re-sell ability.

There are three main types of lighting: task, ambient and accent; a control system will allow you to conveniently access and control the different types in your venue on demand. More intelligent control systems will even provide you with the ability to access, reconfigure or program a lighting system from a remote location, at any time.

The main attractiveness of a control system, especially for larger venues, is the ability to control all lighting from one central hub. You can conveniently control all lighting from a single location instead of doing a tour of a venue to ensure all lights are off, and by ensuring all lights are off you can work towards reducing your venue’s utility costs and reducing your venue’s carbon footprint, as leaving lights on is the main cause of wasted energy in the UK!

Lighting control technology developments are fast and are being reinvented to work in harmony with other control systems. Security controls are a great example...it is possible to use lighting controls to aid your venue’s security by having settings in place whereby an ‘all light on’ mode is triggered when an alarm is set off, or your security cameras identify a potential risk.

The constant introduction and development of new lighting technologies is encouraging more impressive and imaginative lighting configurations than ever seen before and can be crucial to winning business from competing businesses. Not only is it important for attracting business off the street, but customers can now research venues online and first impressions are everything.

The lighting your venue adopts must create the ideal atmosphere for your target clientele as well as have the ability to be flexible to changing clientele. Nothing can alter the mood of a venue as effectively or swiftly as a change in the lighting. Using the right control system, it is possible to create pre programmed lighting scenes which can then be set to a timer to suit specific periods of the day, or controlled manually to suit specific events. It is possible to have hundreds of different varieties of scenes pre programmed, particularly useful for venues that have multiple functions and especially those that hire themselves out for events, as it can be a great selling point to a potential hirer.

Aside from the potential aesthetic benefits lighting control systems can have for a venue, we feel that the main reason bars and clubs are adopting custom lighting control systems is the potential cost savings it can deliver. For example, did you know that just by having the ability to control all lighting from any one room, even remotely, can save up to 60% on the monthly bills? The demand for this functionality is driving the business forward, most likely as a result of fast rising energy costs, and we are seeing not only new developments adopting the technology, but also more and more undergoing renovations specifically to take advantage of the immediate cost savings.