Our Best Practice Guide To External Lighting For Historic Buildings

In this ancient country of ours, we have a wealth of incredible historic buildings. Most of them were built before artificial light had been invented. For them, light sources were either natural daylight or fire.

Today, we have many lighting solutions using advanced lighting technology. We appreciate how the right external lighting can enhance, elevate and highlight a historic building. However, if the lighting’s done badly, it’ll have a detrimental effect, drawing attention to negative aspects which makes it seem far less impressive.

We’ve worked on many renowned heritage buildings around London and we’ve learnt the best lighting solutions and installation techniques to complement their architectural features and unique challenges. We’ll share some of our professional insights in this blog.

What to consider before installing lights on historic building

Before you even consider installing external lighting to any heritage site, you must carefully consider:

• The building’s location – rural or urban
• How much of the building should be lit
• The surrounding area that might be affected including neighbouring properties and spaces
• How to reduce the visual impact of the exterior light fittings during the daytime view.

It takes particular knowledge and experience to get this right. It’s important to maximise the aesthetic impact of these incredible buildings and enhance their unique features. It’s a tricky balance to incorporate modern outdoor lighting whilst retaining the architectural integrity and historic fabric of the buildings. In addition, many historic buildings (like churches) take a prominent position in the community and the night time lighting can impact their neighbours.

What are the best practices for installing external lighting on historic buildings?

Before you start any new scheme of lighting design on a historic structure, it’s important to consider both the technical and the aesthetic requirements and possibilities. An effective and appealing external lighting scheme should tick the following boxes.

Design process

The lighting designer needs to collaborate with their client to get a full understanding of their brief, along with restrictions and priorities. They need to take their client’s information and transform it into a successful lighting project. Part of their role is to create the desired effect with the minimum electric light units (luminaires). It’s key to communicate and collaborate ongoing throughout the scheme.

Computer generated imagery (CGI) is a helpful tool. It enables clients and design teams to visualise how the historic building will be lit and for the lighting designer to explain the intricacies of the proposed design.

Aesthetic presentation

The external lighting of historic buildings needs to create the desired aesthetic presentation of the building and its surroundings 24/7. Strategic positioning of lighting will enhance architectural features, giving it an impactful presence. This amplifies the building’s social and heritage significance.

It’s crucial that this thought process applies to both day and night time aesthetics. A lighting scheme may look sensational at night when the historic structure stands out and is aglow. But if that same scheme has poorly positioned luminaires that look unattractive in the daylight, it’s a let down. The daytime view of the building shouldn’t be marred by poorly located electric light units. Similarly, cabling should be installed discreetly where possible. Ideally where it can be camouflaged.

Light levels and positioning

A historic building doesn’t need to be lit up like an overly-decorated Christmas tree. Put yourself in the visitor’s shoes to identify which aspects of the building actually get viewed. There’s no point lighting up the back or sides if they’re inaccessible.

Measure light levels to check the lumens used meet the planned specifications and provide adequate illumination of the building. Minimise glare and light spill that can have a detrimental effect on neighbouring areas. Flood lights will cast a wide beam, whilst spotlights will be narrower. Think about what’s really necessary for your heritage lighting project.

The colour of the building’s facade will alter the light levels too as that causes a certain amount of reflection. That surface colour will help you to determine the colour temperature of the lamps used in the scheme. That could be a white light, warmer yellow or may even include vivid colours. All this needs to be considered to ensure that the right quality, quantity and colour of light is used for the best lighting experience.

Installation

When it comes to the actual installation process, it’s essential to prepare and protect the site beforehand. Start by safeguarding architectural features and the surface of the historic building with a protective layer to avoid damage during installation. Set up temporary lighting to illuminate the areas of work. This serves as both a safety and functionality measure.

If you’re replacing existing light fittings, take extreme care not to damage the light fixture and surrounding facade. Retain the integrity of the building, by hiding or disguising cables and light fittings as much as possible.

Ongoing efficiency

Your lighting scheme needs to go beyond functionality and aesthetics. It should be the most energy efficient it can possibly be as well. With sustainability in mind, it’s important to consider the appropriate use of lighting technology such as LED lighting over old style light fixtures. Good control systems can help to reduce energy consumption too. For example, switching off or dimming unnecessary lighting during unoccupied hours.

Appropriate lighting controls provide versatility so that lighting schemes can be adjusted as time goes on. It’s worth ensuring that the lighting scheme is easy to maintain too.

For further information and advice, we recommend Historic England

Work with Prolec – specialists in lighting heritage buildings

We have a wealth of specialist expertise in architectural lighting for heritage projects. At Prolec, we specialise in installing and maintaining electrical lighting systems. We understand how to achieve the right balance between updating to modern standards whilst maintaining architectural integrity.

Historic buildings require a careful approach and expert knowledge to carry out upgrades and repairs. With their very specific issues, a bespoke approach to each new lighting project is essential. We work collaboratively and continuously with our clients to achieve the best results for their unique, historic building. Please contact us to discuss your heritage lighting project and specific needs.