North Lanarkshire Council, have commissioned Edinburgh based Lightfolio to produce a lighting strategy for the Authority. To emphasise the importance of the strategy, Lightfolio were further commissioned to identify pilot projects that would create talking points within the community and signify the intention to promote North Lanarkshire as an area of regeneration and growth. Cardinal Newman High School in Bellshill was chosen because of its shape and architecture to make a bold light statement. The idea was to completely change its appearance at night by the use of constantly changing colour. To create the greatest effect, and working in close collaboration with School Head Isabelle Boyd, Lightfolio opted to individually light 140 of the schools windows with colour controlled RGB lightbars creating a constantly changing façade with the colour movement determined by bespoke scene programming.Visible from the A125 into Glasgow, and easily recognisable as a local landmark, the highly innovative lighting scheme for the school was designed by Ian Walker and Reg Grove of Lightfolio with the lighting and controls supplied by South Woodham Ferrers based LED specialists Chamaeleon Technologies.
Asked why Chamaeleon were selected for the project, Chamaeleon Technical Sales Consultant Adam Knight said, "We've know and worked with Lightfolio for several years now, Our Astrum 400 RGB lightbar units were chosen by Ian Walker and Reg Grove not just for their excellent colour rendition but also for the neatness and robust construction which would be essential in a school environment. Also, LED technology was of paramount importance within the overall design plan to provide the school with a low running cost and minimal maintenance".
"Chamaeleon's expertise with DMX programming was also a factor" continued Adam, "We provided Lightfolio and their client North Lanarkshire Council with the flexibility to create a series of different colour scenes which the school can access at the touch of a button. What we've completed so far is just the first stage of the project. For the beginning of the next curriculum year Lightfolio and Isabelle Boyd have planned for the entire lighting scheme to become interactive, and the pupils able to design and control the lighting effects of individual windows from their classrooms via SMS Messaging.
Summarising, Adam Knight said: "Cardinal Newman School is a terrific project for Chamaeleon to be associated with. Seeing the school at lit-up night is a fabulous experience. We're absolutely delighted our that lighting products and programming were selected and fully acknowledge the vision and creative planning of Lightfolio." Adam also reserved special praise for installation engineers Hugo and Brian Grant of Glasgow based ETI saying: "The guys were technically excellent, lighting the windows utilised the capabilities of our fixtures to their maximum and seeing everyone's work knitting together was an amazing experience".
