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