038 INTERVIEW / MIKE SIMPSON
Some of Mike Simpson’s notable projects (clockwise from left): The Big One in Blackpool, Albert Bridge and Tower Bridge in London
lighting plays in overall building services.
It’s a two-way thing, but driving through the
CURRICULUM VITAE : HIGHLIGHTS
lighting agenda is the most important.”
Positions: current president of Cibse; technical and Your most memorable projects:
With different presidents hailing from dif-
design director of Philips Lighting UK. Has to be Tower Bridge, now a bit dated but it was
ferent disciplines within building services,
Education: BSc Hons in Electrical and Electronic a fascinating project to be involved in. And I still get
Engineering, with a lighting specialisation, South Bank a buzz when I drive over Waterloo Bridge and see St
there is a danger that from year to year the
University, 1977. Paul’s sitting there. It’s 20 years old and coming up
emphasis shifts and that such appreciation
Career highlights: for renewal. Maybe there’s a little bit of ego but it’s
can wane when chains of office are handed
1977: joined laboratory of Philips Lighting and something I created. At the time it was done both the
over. But according to Simpson structural
undertook a number of technical and design roles technology and the design processes were much
over the following 20 years. During that time he was simpler than they are now. Now, apart from trying
changes in areas such as how the SLL is
responsible for the exterior lighting of Tower Bridge, to knock some energy out of it, I would bring the
financed have knitted the society more
St Paul’s Cathedral and Blackpool’s Pepsi-Max roller structure of the building out a lot more, reveal the
thoroughly into Cibse.
coaster. detail. There’s many people around who would do the
“I would like to think that we have re-es-
1997: joined Marlin Lighting as technical director, job now much better than I can.
responsible for product design and development.
tablished the lighting profession within the
2003: rejoined Philips Lighting as UK technical director, Projects that you would like to change and why:
institution and made fundamental changes
responsible for lighting design, custom product design Battersea Bridge, they didn’t tell me they were going
that will make it quite difficult now to
and lighting training in the UK. to paint it Dark Green! With today’s technology it could
unravel or fade away. What happened in the
Professional bodies: look much better.
In 1977 he joined the IES before it amalgamated with
past was that we tended to be an isolated
the IHVE to form Cibse. In 1994 he was president Projects you dislike:
group. We had one person who looked after
of the Institution of Lighting Engineers and in 2001 Any historic building given the saturated colour
us within the institution. Part of the whole
president of the Society of Light and Lighting. He is treatment.
process we’ve gone through is creating
currently leading Cibse’s drive to create sustainable
buildings for the future and green the buildings of the Projects you admire:
links into the PR people, into the technical
past. He has been a member of numerous panels and Westminster Abbey, it just sits there glowing gently.
people so that we’ve got a bit of everybody.
involved in the preparation of many of the institution’s
We’ve now got 20 or 30 people who all as
lighting guides. He has worked on the formulation of Lighting hero:
part of what they do will support lighting.
international lighting standards and presented many Sally Storey, she creates wonderfully subtle yet
papers over the years at national and international interesting spaces you just want to live in.
We’re much more firmly embedded.”
lighting conferences.
On that note, Simpson was off to sort out
Additional activities: Notable projects:
Dick Whittington, the current pantomime,
• Guest lecturer on the MSc course in Light and Tower Bridge, Albert Bridge (now famously switched
and to ponder the next production, The Full
Architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. off in the background to a car advert), Blackpool’s
• Guest lecturer on the BA course in Lighting Design at Pepsi Max Roller Coaster , Buckingham Palace (for the
Monty, at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley.
Rose Bruford College, Sidcup. Queen’s 80th Birthday celebrations).
And the answer is, no, he won’t.
• Organises the SLL Ready Steady Light event at Rose
www.cibse.org
Bruford, designed to encourage young people into the Key current projects:
world of architectural lighting. Venues for the 2012 London Olympics.
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