Tanfield is the conversion of a prestigious 1980’s headquarters building into multiple tenanted office spaces with common facilities. The brief required meeting a Very Good BREEAM rating and that the lighting should form a key quality element.

The open-plan office floor plates feature an exposed cast concrete coffered ceiling and a 16m structural column grid.  The proposed pendant solution had to integrate seamlessly with the existing architecture and convey a sense of quality and efficiency. It also had to provide adequate lighting for general use of the office floor space and uplighting to the coffered soffit to express the generous height available. The potential of creating a second ceiling of light fittings had to be avoided as this would defeat the object of having a high open ceiling. Luminaire selection was critical: direct/indirect distribution; aesthetically acceptable; considerable apparent transparency to ensure that the contrast between the lower plane of the fitting and the lit soffit was minimised; and affordability.  On the second floor, recessed fittings to free up the ceiling plane and complement the open views from this floor.

The lighting control strategy provides optimised daylight harvesting and occupancy monitoring. Microwave sensors monitor light levels and are set to provide a constant 300 lux at working plane. The lighting control system uses a distributive intelligence DSI dimmable network with each sensor controlling four luminaires (±16m2 floor area). These are interconnected on a bus-wire to control entire floor-plates if required.
A wall switch provides manual control for ON and OFF.

The building has a common entrance and linear atrium that contributes daylight to the office floors through internal glazing. The lighting approach is calm and simple, accentuating the architecture and linear aspect of the space with continuous fittings integrated with the glazing system. Feature pendants by Mike Stoane Lighting lift one’s view up and are designed around the concept of glare-free light. These are controlled to vary the colour temperature from cool- to warm-white, depending on the time of day and daylight availability.