Royal Automobile Club
Pall Mall

Client
Royal Automobile Club

 

Contractors
Bovis Elliot
Banqueting Suite
Begley Patten Engineering
Mountbatten Room
Sherry Lighting
Rotunda Murals
Ben Pearce-Higgins
Billiard Room

 

Interior Designer
Robert Lush RIP

 

Lighting Designer
Ben Pearce-Higgins 020 7483 2253

 

Product Used
45 x VMD300/12
8 x MCC

(Contactor Controllers)
24 x LRM
(Rotary Modules)

As one of the most prestigious Grade 1 Listed Buildings in London, the major restoration of The Royal Automobile Club posed lighting problems that could be described as particularly challenging.

Brief
The restoration brief, developed in consultation with English Heritage, was exacting: restore the interiors in the original style, using appropriate light fittings with illumination levels corresponding to the contemporary multi-functional requirements.

 

The areas concerned were: the Banqueting Suite, the Billiard Room, the Mountbatten Room; and the Centenary paintings in the Rotunda and the Great Gallery Restaurant painting.

Challenges
Since the appearance of the rooms could not be altered, only a few recessed spots were permissible and, owing to the ceiling construction, no local transformers were allowed at all. This inevitably meant that long runs of cabling from remote transformers were going to be required, yet sparkle and lamp-longevity were pre-requisites.

 

Result
"With little space available in the ceilings, the task of running some 200 low-voltage lamps, concentrated in traditional fittings, made the choice of control transformer very simple." Said Ben Pearce-Higgins "In my opinion VoltMaster is the only product that allows the satisfactory resolution of the design brief. Because of its special "Sensor Circuit", long cable runs are easily achieved, and cable volt-drop is not a problem."

"Because it is an intelligent, self-regulating transformer, dimming levels are wonderfully consistent. I used a series of rotary modules, with master switches, to control the light levels because I always subscribe to simplicity wherever possible. Given the variety of uses and functions that the rooms have to support, these rotary modules give precise dimming control that is infinitely variable, but always extremely smooth because VoltMaster gives square-law dimming."

 

"The client is very happy with the new lighting, which effortlessly adapts to the various brightness level requirements; and lamp-life has been much better then even they had hoped."

"We have had remarkable lamp-life and are very pleased with every aspect of the new lighting" Tony White, Chief Maintenance Engineer, Royal Automobile Club.

“We have had remarkable lamp-life and are very pleased with every aspect of
the new lighting”

Tony White
Chief Maintenance Engineer
Royal Automobile Club