Levels designed, not assumed.
Scheme design, circuiting, dimming, control and emergency lighting — coordinated with the ceiling and the other services rather than added once the grid is closed.
Lighting goes wrong at ceiling stage.
By the time anybody stands in the finished space and says it is too bright, too flat or the wrong colour, the decisions that caused it were made months earlier — on a reflected ceiling plan nobody lit in their head.
So we work it the other way round: what each area is for, where the daylight comes from, what is being lit and what is only being walked through. Then the layout, the circuiting, the control and the emergency provision follow from that.
A good scheme is mostly decided before anyone chooses a fitting.
What we design and install.
- Reflected ceiling plans and lighting layouts
- Downlights, linear runs, cove and coffer lighting
- Feature lighting, coordinated with the joinery and the fit-out
- Dimming — leading edge, trailing edge and DALI
- Scene setting and lighting control, standalone or as part of the smart layer
- Emergency lighting to BS 5266, including the three-hour duration test
- External, façade and landscape lighting
- Commercial and retail schemes, including display and task lighting
- Daylight linking and occupancy control where it reduces running cost
- Emergency light testing and logbooks — [maintenance contract terms to be confirmed]
Bracketed items are awaiting confirmation from Systems360. Emergency lighting duration and test requirements are taken from BS 5266 and are standards rather than claims.
The same fittings, a different brief each time.
What changes from one commercial space to the next is what the lighting is being asked to do — sell, illuminate a task, or simply get people out of the building.
In a commercial space
The brief is task levels, running cost and compliance. Display lighting has to sell, working areas have to meet levels, and emergency lighting has to be there and tested.
- Levels designed against the use of each area, not a blanket grid
- Emergency lighting designed, installed and logged to BS 5266
- Control and daylight linking where it reduces running cost
- Coordinated with the ceiling grid and the mechanical services
[Second commercial application to be supplied]
[A second kind of commercial lighting scheme Systems360 delivers — the sector, what that client was buying, and what made it different from the row above. To be written by Systems360 rather than invented here.]
How a lighting scheme comes together.
Three stages. The design work is the part that decides whether the finished space works.
Scheme and layout
We agree what each area is for, produce the layout and circuiting, and set out the control and emergency philosophy before any fitting is selected.
First fix and coordination
Cabling, drivers and back boxes installed with the ceiling and the other services — the stage where a scheme is either coordinated or compromised.
Commission and set scenes
Fittings installed, dimming set up, scenes programmed, and emergency lighting tested and logged.
Questions we get before we start.
Why do the dimmed fittings flicker?
Almost always a dimmer and lamp that were never matched. LED lamps need the right dimming type and a minimum load, and the fix is usually specification rather than rewiring.
How early do you need to be involved?
Before the ceiling is set out, ideally at the same time as the interior design. After that, changes stop being design decisions and start being builders' work.
Do we need emergency lighting?
Most commercial premises do. BS 5266 sets the duration and the testing regime, and the logbook is part of what a fire risk assessment will ask for.
Can you work to our interior designer's scheme?
Yes, and it is the usual case. We take the scheme, work out the circuiting, dimming and control it needs, and flag anything that will not do what the drawing expects.
[Replace with a real review from a commercial client — ideally one that names the lighting work specifically.]
Lighting for a home instead?
This page is written for specifiers, contractors and commercial clients. There is a separate one for homeowners, covering the same schemes from the other side — how the rooms will feel, how the switching works, and what you will actually see.