1

2
3
4
It is one of a series of publications written by the
Society of Light and Lighting (which is part of
CIBSE). They produce the Code for Lighting, The
Handbook and …….

5
....a whole range of guides for different applications.
This particular guide to ‘Lighting for the Built
Environment’ concentrates on offices.

Published in October 2015, it is primarily intended

to provide guidance to those responsible for the
design, installation, commissioning, operation and
maintenance of building services. It will be
necessary for the users of the guidance to exercise
their own professional judgement when deciding
whether to abide by all or depart from it.

6
It has been 10 years since the previous edition was
issued when we were encouraged to think about
vertical surfaces, contrast on the ceiling, the task
and uniformity all while minimising energy use and
maintaining a good visual environment for the
occupants. This was nothing new, the previous 4
issues of The Code for Lighting showed this
diagram in one form or another.

Whilst only a guide, LG7 was referred to in Part L of our

building regulations, so it became something that should
be ‘complied to’ - this resulted in some elements taking
precedence over others i.e. ratios of ceiling luminance
versus task levels and uniformity.

There is no such thing as an LG7 compliant luminaire.

7
The new guide tries to redress the balance. Where
uniformity, both of the ceiling and the task, became
all important, we can now use discretion and
understanding of the space to create a more
interesting visual environment and to not be afraid
of the resultant slightly darker spaces.

The new guide also reflects the changes made to

the European Standard for Indoor Workspaces
(EN12464-1) and the SLL Code for Lighting, giving
options and suggestions on how to use these
standards.

8
The way we use office spaces has changed
considerably in the last 10 years. Hot desking is no
longer unusual and our use of desktop computer
screens has also changed.

The modern office has to contend with laptops and

tablets, informal discussions, telephone conference
meetings or, at the other extreme, multi-screen
work stations.

9
This simple question results in many more questions

Who is the user (an end client, a tenant or unknown)?

What function will they be doing?

Is it only screen based?

Is it the size of a desk or an A4 piece of paper?

Is it a fixed location?
Is it meeting based?
Formal or informal?

Or is it a speculative office where the whole space

could be used for anything?

10
The ideal is to know the answers to all of these
questions, look up the task in the tables, find out
what illuminance levels are needed and go onto the
next step.

But the reality is that one or more of the answers

will not be known.

The new LG7 offers many considerations in these

situations which could help to reduce the light levels
and therefore energy consumption. So more of this
later….

11
Assuming task is known we can decide what light level
is needed over the defined area. The area surrounding
this can be lit to a lower level as it is not so critical.
This change to a lower level should be barely
perceptible so we use the Scale of Illuminance to
define what it should be.20 30 50 75 100 150 200
300 500 750 1000 1500 2000 3000 5000

If the task is 500 lux the immediate surrounding area

can be 300 lux for a distance of 0.5m. Beyond this is
the’ Background’ area which is usually circulation
space, here the levels can drop to 33% of the
‘Surrounding’ area. This careful application of light can
result in high energy savings but also creates a more
visually interesting space.

However, there are other aspects we must consider.

12
Anyone sat performing an office task needs to regularly
look into the distance to avoid eye strain. A long
distance view is ideally out of a window but a far wall will
also work. Therefore we should consider the lighting of
internal surfaces including the ceiling.

The guide has minimum recommended levels and as

the illuminance of walls and ceiling is no longer a
percentage of the task light it is much easier to achieve:
These are 75 lux on the walls and 50 lux on the ceiling,
but it does advise that if there are no windows providing
the long distance view higher illumination levels should
be considered.

LG7 also gives guidance on balancing the light within a

space so if there is a lot of daylight the contrast between
window and the window reveals or surrounds should be
considered, or adjacent walls might have to lit to a much
higher level than the minimum.

13
Another vertical surface that is visually important
are the faces of the occupants. Communication is
an essential part of most people’s daily work and
our facial expressions convey a lot of information.
Consequently it is now as important to address the
illumination of a person's face as their working area,
at a height of the normal sitting position 1.2 m and
the normal standing height of 1.6 m. The preferred
reference being the Cylindrical Illuminance
Measurement.

However modelling also comes into this which is

the balance between diffuse and direct light onto
the face. Having a mixture of the two types will help
to define shapes, contours and texture.

14
Discomfort or disability glare can be difficult to resolve if not
considered early enough. This can come from windows,
luminaires or reflections, which is getting harder to deal with if
there is not a fixed task area i.e.. Hot desking, and the use of
mobile devices.

The main object of a lot of glare in early years has now got
easier. Computer screens have improved considerably so
veiling reflections are not such a problem, but the new trend for
glossy screens does bring this back into focus.

The guide mentions this and other issues to be wary of - there

is a whole chapter on Tablets and Touchscreen Displays.

But all light is the source of glare and LED’s bring a new set of
problems. LED’s are small area point sources and are getting
more powerful every month. The control of this light source is
critical but not impossible and the traditional methods of
diffusers, reflectors and refractors are still just as effective –
check the photometric data.

15
Building regulations in the UK acknowledge and encourage
the use of automatic lighting controls. The guide offers
explanations of different types of control and when it is
appropriate. It also touches on making the operation as
simple as possible so that the end user understands it and
perceives that it is working with them. If they feel it is
working against them they are more likely to disable it in
some way.

The guide explains the principles of Constant Illuminance

with the objective of not over illuminating a space initially
and gradually increasing the output of the luminaire to
compensate for lamp deterioration.

This can have a significant saving in energy use and

overcomes the problem of what maintenance factor to use.

16
The impact of energy use must be considered when
designing an office lighting installation.

Building regulations across the UK require that the energy

used by building be controlled within specific energy targets.
Many organisations insist that the building they occupy has
an environmental assessment rating such as that offered by
the U.K.'s Building Research Establishment Environmental
Assessment Method (BREEAM) or by LEED controlled by
the US Green Building Council.

This can be achieved by not over specifying the number of

luminaires, using effective lighting controls and using
efficient luminaires.
The guide also explains how this can be assessed, either by
using Luminaire Lumens per circuit watt, with a correction
factor for utilising control systems, or by LENI.

17
The contribution of other members of the design team will
have a big effect on the eventual lighting scheme and early
collaboration is always recommended.

The architect will have an influence on the daylight entering

the space and will have strong opinions on the overall look
that is to be achieved.

There is a whole chapter on daylight and it is to be

encouraged as a free source of energy and illumination, but
uniformity into a deep space is difficult and therefore it has to
be balanced with artificial light.

Glare can be a problem and various methods to control glare

are discussed along with the resultant measures to bring
back the balance.

18
The interior designer will need to understand that extremes
of colour and texture will have very different effects on the
lighting.

There are recommendations for the reflectance factors of

walls, ceilings and floor and it is important to understand
how big a difference this can make.

The visual impact is still important so in some instances we

need to work around a fixed problem; i.e. in historical
buildings.

Techniques can be used to bring texture to life such as wall

washing or grazing, and the colour temperature or colour
rendering of a lamp might be dictated by the colour of the
interior.

19
The structural engineer or HVAC engineer will also have an
influence on ceiling voids and the space that is available for
luminaires. These spaces are getting tighter with more and
more equipment being installed, so we need to understand
the impact this will have.

Temperature is a critical factor for most luminaires, whether

LED, fluorescent or discharge so air circulation will need to
be considered. The chilled beam concept is becoming
increasingly popular in office developments and integration
of other cooling methods i.e. air handling luminaires is also
common.

The new LG7 has a chapter on the integration with

mechanical services that will be of interest to many building
service engineers.

20
The guide also touches on providing well-designed lighting to consider
health and well-being.
While it can be relatively easy to design a lighting scheme that only
illuminates a designated task area and cuts energy used to a minimum,
such a scheme would ignore the occupational health and well-being of the
user.

Background lighting and illumination of walls and ceilings will clearly use
energy but such elements of the lighting design should not be omitted
simply to satisfy energy saving goals.

Lighting can have a positive or negative impact on the occupants of an

office. Our bodies are used to the lighting around us changing as the day
progresses. Daylight is constantly changing due to sun position, height
and intensity, as well as colour, particularly at the beginning and end of
the day. Cloud cover can make such changes appear relatively quick and
random.
It is possible with the appropriate control system and associated
luminaires to mimic, in some degree, the change in sky and the lighting
diversity it brings throughout the day - the theory being that this will have
a positive impact on the occupants well-being.
While such systems are not common they may be appropriate in some
situations.

21
There are detailed solutions for all office types and
shapes, including the thorny subject of the
speculative office development.

It shows how assumptions can be made to deal

with balancing daylight, where a nominal corridor
and break out spaces might be, how to cope with
subsequent positioning of partitions and many other
useful hints when designing a lighting scheme.

22
So lets look at a practical example

23
A stunning Thames-side location with an unusual
challenge gave TRILUX Lighting the opportunity to
work with Foster + Partners on an office fit out
which is part of their own London campus.

Located right next to the historic and very

decorative Albert Bridge with views over the river
and Battersea Park, this small office needed to
reflect the values of Fosters with a calm,
unobtrusive attention to detail.

24
Fosters were willing to depart from the norm and
totally embrace the new LG7 (EN12464) ideals of
just lighting the task without going for uniformity
across the entire office.

We were fortunate in knowing where the desks

would be but other items of furniture did change
throughout the project.

25
The original concrete ceiling was to be kept and
everything would be surface mounted. So we went
through a variety of options from suspended
direct/indirect to track mounted products as well as
surface mounted circular fittings , but everything
required conduit including the sensors, emergency
fittings and CCTV.

The architect was very unhappy with all of the

clutter on the ceiling and he decided to put in a
suspended ceiling.

26
The final scheme utilised the Trilux Inplana in rows of four over the
desk areas and created a differential in space by having a grid of 9
slightly smaller ones over the conference table.

Vertical surfaces and cylindrical illuminance were considered along

with balancing the internal wall illumination with the considerable
amount of daylight coming through the two adjacent walls of glass.

Interest was added by using the Oktalite Quad recessed luminaire

along a wall of cupboards …..

27
28
The same Quad adjustable downlight provided high
levels of accent light in 2 awkward corners which
can now be used for display purposes.

29
The whole scheme is controlled by the new
LiveLink wireless control system.

This allows the occupants to select their required

lighting scene either from their smart phone or from
pushbuttons on the wall.

As this system is so easy to commission it will allow

a total change of usage in the future if required.

30
These pictures show the big change that lighting
the internal wall can make and why LG7
recommends vertical lighting so strongly.

Originally these cupboards were going to be half

size so it was designed with a larger offset than we
now have, but because the luminaires are
adjustable we have been able to adapt; another key
message from LG7 – liaise as much as possible
with the design team and try to build in adaptability.

31
This document is probably not one that most people
will read from cover to cover, but is designed to dip
into when needing the answer to a particular
question.

It brings the guidance right up to date utilising the

most recent legislation and reflects how we now
use our office spaces.

32
33