In early 2020, Leeds central railway station was finally completed and handed over to the end client. One of the big features of the project was the dynamic lighting system supplied to the main concourse area. This is one of the first tuneable circadian lighting systems supplied to a major public transportation space and was designed to work hand in hand with a highly transparent ceiling system to harvest daylight and save further energy.

The transparent canopy over the main concourse was part of £161m redevelopment of the station. The architectural design concept utilised ETFE to make maximum use of naturally occurring daylight and human centric circadian rhythm LED lighting designs that are designed to control the new lighting to simulate the colour and temperature of daylight, improving mood, alertness and productivity of both staff and passengers. The main acoustic feature beams that run across the station concourse were finished in a dramatic gold anodised like finish which is accentuated by the colour tones of the tuneable white light – and by the daylight at certain periods of the day. This adds drama and interest to the space. Meanwhile, lighting in toilets is programmed to dim to 20% when they are not occupied.

RIDI Group provided products mainly from their VENICE extruded linear ranges in tuneable white LED light that were integrated into various aspects of the ceiling system at high and low levels. Natural lines were created inside the concourse to encourage the ‘flow of traffic’ through the space, subliminally encouraging passengers to move in the direction of the gate line. The higher-level lines of light were integrated into the structural beams that continued through to the external canopies, where IP rated versions were supplied to maintain the visual aspect. At lower levels, lines of light were set into the plasterboard margins outside the retail outlets.

RIDI Group also provided their Control 3 Dali control system to meet all the control needs of the circadian lighting control. The system can set the parameters of the circadian rhythm for its specific location and therefore adjusts precisely to the daylight hours at any specific time and date in the year. This is a programmable feature of the Control 3 system. The system also met the demands of the energy control needs in the core areas as well as controlling the energy usage in the main space where daylight was heavily utilised.

Lighting Engineer: Mike Kimmitt, Systra
Installing Contractor: JSC Electrics