What Is a Lighting Strategy and Why Might Your Development Need One?

Good lighting starts with a strategy not a luminaire.

When lighting is considered on a development, the conversation can quickly turn to fittings, wattage, positions and appearance, but before deciding what to install, there are fundamental questions to be considered. What does the lighting actually need to achieve and what does it need to avoid?

That is where a lighting strategy comes in.

What is a lighting strategy?

A lighting strategy sets out the overall approach to lighting for a site or development. Rather than simply showing where luminaires will be positioned, it considers the wider requirements and constraints of the project.

Depending on the development, this could include:

* how external areas need to be illuminated

* the surrounding environment and landscape

* neighboring properties

* ecology and sensitive habitats

* dark corridors and boundary conditions

* potential light spill and nuisance

* safety and accessibility

* energy use and sustainability

* lighting controls and operating hours

* relevant planning requirements

The aim is to establish a considered approach to lighting before individual lighting decisions are made.

Why might planning require one?

Lighting can have an impact beyond the boundary of a development.

Poorly considered exterior lighting can create unnecessary light spill affect to neighboring properties, alter the character of a dark location and potentially disturb wildlife.

For this reason, a planning authority may request information explaining how lighting will be managed, this may form part of a planning application or be required through a planning condition. The level of information needed will depend on the project, its location and the sensitivity of the surrounding environment.

A lighting strategy isn’t just a lighting layout, there is an important difference, a lighting layout can show where the lights are, a lighting strategy explains why the lighting is being approached in a particular way.

It considers the project as a whole.

Where should light be provided?

Where should it be controlled?

Where might lower levels be appropriate?

And perhaps most importantly:

Where should darkness be retained?

What about ecology?

Where a development is close to habitats or protected species, ecology can become a particularly important part of the lighting strategy. Hedgerows, tree lines, woodland edges, watercourses and other landscape features can provide important routes and habitats for wildlife. In these situations, the lighting designer and ecologist may need to work together so that the requirements of the development can be balanced with the need to protect sensitive areas.

This is also where lighting mitigation can become part of the strategy. The objective isn’t simply to make everything darker, It’s to understand where light is needed, how much is appropriate and where it shouldn’t go.

Why should lighting be considered early?

Lighting can sometimes be treated as something to resolve towards the end of a project, but if ecology, planning or environmental constraints are involved, that can create unnecessary problems. By the time luminaires, pathways, parking areas, landscaping and electrical infrastructure have been decided, opportunities to resolve potential lighting conflicts may already have been lost. Considering lighting earlier allows it to become part of the architecture, landscape and environmental strategy rather than something that has to be corrected afterwards. It can also help architects, landscape designers, ecologists and developers work towards the same objective from the outset.

From strategy to design

Once the principles have been established, the detailed lighting design can develop within that framework.

The strategy provides the direction, the design provides the solution and the two should work together, because successful lighting isn’t simply about achieving enough light, It’s about understanding why we’re lighting something in the first place and the effect that light has on everything around it.

How Circalume can help

Circalume provides independent lighting design and consultancy, helping project teams consider lighting alongside planning, ecology, sustainability and the wider environment.

Whether lighting needs to form part of an early planning submission, respond to ecological requirements or help discharge a planning condition, considering it early can make a significant difference.

Good lighting starts with a strategy not a luminaire.

Circalume Designing Light with Purpose.