St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel
London

 

The Marriot St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel is a truly iconic Victorian building which is now restored to its magnificent former glory. It demanded sympathetic yet innovative lighting. The lighting design team at Aecom, then headed by Martin Valentine, achieved it with substantial support from Multiload Technology

Challenge

Lighting the refurbished St. Pancras Hotel presented a major challenge with the lighting designer having to tread a fine line between preserving the historic mood of the building’s many spaces and updating them for modern hotel use. Each area within the hotel calls for a distinct lighting approach with a great deal of custom work being commissioned from many of the suppliers. The listed status of the building meant that the lighting designers found themselves confronted with a lack of concealment options for the controls and drive units, forcing them to seek remote siting solutions.

 

Solution

To perfectly achieve the diverse range of desired lighting results while satisfying the need to remotely position the controls and drive units, Martin Valentine specified Multiload Technology's VoltMaster Intelligent Transformers and Analogue Mains Dimmers, the MoodMaker Scene Setting system and other auxiliary products.

 

MoodMaker, with its intuitive and simple to use control panel and wallplates, provides lighting level scene control within the hotel's public spaces, which the hotel staff can operate with ease and confidence. There is no need for engineer or programmer visits to either reconfigure or repair the microprocessor-less MoodMaker.

 

A bespoke 150VA miniature VoltMaster was produced to help realise the ambitious lantern design created by Martin Valentine and Aecom. Multiload Technology also manufactured a completely new scene select wall plate for use in the Royal Suite.

 

Results

Multiload Technology products have been essential tools in assisting with the creation of the beautiful lighting which now adorns St. Pancras. The products are future proofed to cater for changes in lamp technology and, being grouped together remotely, greatly simplify maintenance. Furthermore, VoltMaster increases lamp life of the low voltage lamps by a factor of up to four, saving a great deal of money every year.

 

Speaking about the choice of MoodMaker as the primary control solution, Martin Valentine says “I had reached a point where I just wanted something powerful, configurable and something which once set will stay 100% stable without 'excuses'...”

 

St. Pancras, already a national landmark, became an instant hit after opening and everyday thousands of visitors enjoy carefully crafted lighting that is facilitated by Multiload Technology.

 

“The project required some unique solutions and Multiload Technology provided exactly the bespoke service required. All the fine area lighting scene-controls are via their MoodMaker, and special VoltMaster transformers were designed to meet the needs of the chandeliers and accent lighting. I am extremely happy with the results.”

Martin Valentine
Former Lighting Group Director AECOM