North Hertfordshire District Council’s offices in Letchworth needed improvements to be made for several reasons, not least that the offices suffered from a lack of daylight which meant the lights in the offices and adjacent corridor had to be kept on all the time.
Building Surveyor, Nafees Parkar, investigated various solutions and, following a consultation with a colleague at another council who had previously used Solatube Daylighting Systems, concluded Solatube Daylighting Systems were once again the ideal solution.
Cambridge based building and roofing contractor Benchmark installed eleven Solatube daylighting systems across a range of sizes. Three Solatube 290DS systems (350mm diameter) were installed to bring daylight into the internal corridor and eight Solatube 330DS (530mm diameter) systems were installed – 4 brought daylight into the Committee Rooms and 4 delivered daylight into the Council Chambers.
hadn’t seen these systems before but they met all of our needs and were simple and quick for our roofing contractor to install. Solatube was very helpful in assisting us to purchase the correct products for our needs and in providing support to Benchmark too.
Chase Meadow is a signaling design company based near Stratford upon Avon. The company took over an existing office barn conversion that had very dark work spaces all along one side of the building owing to their distant location from any windows.
They required additional light in order to maximize the available space and layout, ideally a focused natural light to carry out their design process work.
Business Operations Manager, Sue Grant, had seen daylight tubes featured on a design programme some time ago and thought to contact Solalighting Limited. A total of 8 Solatube 290DS Daylighting Systems were installed in the meeting room, printing room, public and private offices, and toilets.
In addition to providing the solution for their lighting requirements, the installation of this product also ensured minimal disruption and impact on the present building – a beautiful barn of Victorian construction.
The Solatube Daylighting Systems have been highly effective introducing high quality natural light in very dark areas, it is our intention to add some additional tubes next year to increase the natural light in other areas of the building.
The visual communication agency Van Iwaarden Artwork has been specializing in the execution of art projects and murals for 25 years. Many projects are carried out on location. Van Iwaarden also has a studio in her building where new creations arise.
There is a wall in the middle of the studio to paint large canvases. The perfect situation for painting is in pleasant daylight. Unfortunately, the large wall is in a dark corner.
With the Solatube daylight system it is fairly easy to create extra daylight. That is why the owner chose to place two Solatubes above the canvas. In this way the canvas is evenly provided with natural daylight, whereby the entire colour spectrum is displayed. The Solatube is well insulated and therefore does not emit heat, which is ideal for painting.
I am very satisfied with the result. When painting you have a good view of the canvas and the application of the colours. Besides, there are no annoying shadows from the brush or those in front of the canvas.
Arup is a professional services company with a global team of designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists. Patrick Elsdale is one of Arup’s Senior Lighting Designers. Patrick has had a relationship with Solatube for over 7 years and uses our daylighting systems whenever he can.
When it was decided to refurbish Arup’s Edinburgh office Patrick wanted high quality of light, to make it as energy efficient as possible and to reduce energy costs. He aimed to produce the most sustainable office that had been built up to that point.
Much of this was achieved by installing 84 Solatube Daylighting Systems so that the entire general office is lit by daylight with electrical lighting only used for about 10% of the day. Arup has reduced power usage for lighting in their office as much as possible; current consumption is about 3 watts per m² in the summertime and around 6 watts per m² in the winter resulting in an enormous power saving overall. Besides, many visitors to Arup’s office comment on the high quality of light.
The Solatubes give us the blend of energy-saving and quality of light we need and our office has won several major awards for sustainability. It’s a no brainer. Why would you not want something that improves the quality of light, saves you money and is good for the environment?
Project development Fintro Office in Wervik Fintro has approximately 300 independent bank & insurance offices. The office in Wervik renovated an old commercial building into a new, modern office. The new building is narrow and deep, the terrace and garden were completely taken over and provided with a 'flat' roof. Dirk Delva, director of the branch, talks about the issue and about his solution.
The client and the architect wanted natural light, not just artificial light. A courtyard garden was provided, but it remained too dark. Ordinary domes in the roof or windows were not allowed. It is a bank branch, the regulations imposed by the bank do not allow this. The bank's architect accepted Solatubes fitted with burglar-resistant security bars.
8 Solatubes were provided, four large Ø 53 cm and four small Ø 35 cm, the 4 large Solatubes were installed above workplaces in the office. Eight "drums" were made to provide the right openings in the right places when the concrete vault was cast. The Solatube domes were installed together with the insulation and the roof covering. Even then we saw that something beautiful was being made. The owner, architects and "workmen" looked with amazement at the abundance of light that had already entered the areas. The owner opted for the TechLED in the domes. A sensor switches on the lamps automatically when it gets dark, this way a constant light intensity remains in the office. The new office was opened on December 1, 2016. Everyone who works or stays there is extremely satisfied with the 'light comfort' that the Solatube systems provide.
