Therapeutic lighting
Tuneable luminaire’s first UK mental healthcare use
Founded in 1963 with an ‘idea for a great product’ – an extra strong light fitting ‘engineered to withstand the most severe environmental conditions’, Designplan Lighting today dubs itself a ‘pioneer in robust LED lighting’, used in sectors as diverse as train stations, social housing complexes, and custodial environments. With mental healthcare having changed significantly in its approach to care and recovery, Designplan has responded by recently developing a ‘Tuneable White’ version of its Basilica LED luminaire – designed to help regulate service-users’ circadian rhythms by mimicking the natural day-night light ‘cycle’. The Network’s editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports.
First established in 1963, Designplan Lighting was based in, and undertook all its UK assembly from, an office and factory premises just a few hundred metres from its current location until August 2014 – when it moved to a new, purpose-built production facility and headquarters in Sutton’s Kimpton Park Way. The company, which employs around 150, offers a range of LED lighting that it says combines high performance, attractive aesthetics, low running costs, longevity, and ease of installation and maintenance. In 2011 Designplan Lighting was acquired by Sweden’s Fagerhult Group, a leading European lighting business whose largest markets are the Nordic region and the UK. Fagerhult also has strong market positions in Germany, the Netherlands,
Turkey, and Australia, and subsidiaries in 25 countries, including both Designplan Lighting and Whitecroft Lighting in the UK.
COMMERCIAL DRIVE INTO HEALTHCARE To find out about Designplan Lighting’s increasing commercial push into mental healthcare, and some of its latest mental healthcare-focused innovations, I met at its Surrey headquarters with Technical Applications director, Lee McCarthy, and Marketing manager, Alan Carter. The latter began by explaining that among the key sectors the company targets are transport, social housing, mental healthcare, and custodial. He said: “In some sectors – such as transport, we have supplied some very major schemes. For instance, we have provided a
sizeable ‘package’ of different lighting products – such as the platform light box – to the ongoing London Crossrail project. Although we have been a key supplier in mental healthcare for many years, we have recently used new technology to develop our product selection in this sector. “We exhibited at the 2018 Design in Mental Health exhibition because we specifically wanted to showcase our new Basilica Tuneable White luminaire to estates and facilities personnel employed in mental healthcare facilities, and the associated architectural, design, and construction supply chain. In the coming 12-18 months we plan to launch a number of other products which are aligned with the changes in the ethos of care by moving away from an institutional concept and towards progressive design.”
A SHIFT IN REQUIREMENTS In the mental healthcare arena, Alan Carter explained, the company has mainly so far targeted its lighting at high secure psychiatric facilities. “However,” he said, “one of our sister companies, Whitecroft Lighting, is pretty active in selling into the mental healthcare sector, so our activities have complemented those of each other.” Technical Applications director, Lee
McCarthy, added: “Although most of our mental healthcare work has entailed supplying lighting ‘packages’ to forensic units, we are now seeing a distinct shift, with specifiers requesting more robust products for all areas of mental health – largely driven, I believe, by the increasing focus on service-user and staff safety. We are also striving to improve the aesthetics of our lighting, so that it looks less institutional. One of the ways we do this is by making products anti-ligature by design, rather than taking an existing product and incorporating anti-ligature properties. Consequently, I think we have ended up with a nicer-looking product.”
Inside Designplan Lighting’s 70,000 ft2 BREEAM ‘Excellent’-accredited manufacturing facility in Sutton, Surrey. OCTOBER 2018
20 THE NETWORK
RANGE HAS ‘ADAPTED AND EVOLVED’ Alan Carter added: “The company was founded 55 years ago based on the premise of robust light fittings that could cope with impact and weather resistance etc. Over the years the range has adapted and evolved to meet the needs of the sectors we serve, including mental healthcare.” “While not a new concept,” added Lee McCarthy, “there has been increasing evidence in the past decade – including from scientific studies and trials – of the positive impact that good lighting can have on service- users in a range of mental healthcare settings.
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