6 January 2009 Smiths of Smithfield

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Smiths of Smithfield enters a new era with The Light Corporation

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A decade after The Light Corporation installed one of London’s most renowned restaurants, Smiths of Smithfields, the team has been invited back to upgrade the venue’s lighting installation. Smiths were keen to maintain the original look and feel of the venue, but they were aware that technology has moved on dramatically in the last ten years. Maintenance issues and environmental concerns were also key drivers for the refurbishment, which has seen The Light Corporation replace the less-commercially valuable halogen lights on all four floors and the exterior with LED lighting.

The original New York waterside loft style restaurant has an English twist and is set in the heart of the Smithfield meat market, an area steeped in history. The incredibly atmospheric industrial unit delivers consistently high levels of quality food. The lighting was designed to be totally in keeping with the environment, but to be eminently practical.

The huge warehouse restaurant, owned by Masterchef presenter John Torode, now has a much brighter and cost-effective lighting scheme. With incandescent lightbulbs being withdrawn from sale by 2012, the carbon footprint is something that lighting designers are aware could become a major environmental factor in the future. Smiths brought in The Light Corporation’s David Caddick to make the transition, which was not as simple as just changing a few bulbs. David drew up a new lighting scheme to replace the cathode lighting on the first floor and exterior of the gigantic warehouse while minimising the disruption in the busy restaurant area that is open all day.

On the ground floor, new LED light sources provide ambient light from the suspended galvanized troughs. Additional accent down lights for the tables are located on the underside and adjustable LED spotlights are positioned on the top of the units.

Throughout the entire venue cathode strips light feature walls and are hidden in coffers and troughs. There are adjustable low voltage spotlights on stems to light the tables and industrial low level wash lights, as used on London underground.

David commented: “Switching to LED lighting will make a cost saving of about 90-95% and will provide more than 100,000 hours of light. I don’t know how many polar bears we’ll save, but if the technology is available we should use it.

“Most of the work took place overnight when customers weren’t in. We achieved exactly what we wanted to – we kept the integrity of the original design, but made it more cost-effective and efficient.”
The Light Corporation is recognised as one of the UK’s foremost lighting design, manufacturing and consultancy business with a remarkable and innovative collection of bespoke and standard products made in England.

With its stylish, elegant and contemporary solutions for residential, bars, restaurants, retail and leisure projects for both interiors and exteriors, The Light Corporation’s David Caddick and Tim Henderson have been involved in some of the highest profile architectural lighting projects in the world.

www.lightcorporation.com

From: NIGHT Online

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