Ecclesiastical Lighting has recently completed another extensive church exterior lighting project. St Agnes Church is sited on an island location in the heart of the beautiful conservation area of Moseley, five miles from Birmingham City Centre.

Ecclesiastical Lighting, a Division of the London based Lighting Manufacturer, the Light Projects Group, were initially invited to look at the building by Garry Dyhouse, a partner from A P E C Architects, the established Birmingham based firm of architects well-known for ecclesiastical related projects.

During the initial site meeting with both the architect and the client a number of potential options for illuminating the exterior of the Church were proposed and discussed.

Gerry Browne from Ecclesiastical Lighting explains that there were a number of complex issues associated with the lighting design for the project:

“Apart from achieving the appropriate lighting levels on all four elevations of the Church and the Tower, it was of paramount importance not to have any light pollution or light spill on to any of the adjacent prestige residential properties. In addition, on the north side, the church has consecrated grounds, which border the walls of the building.

We carried out an evening lighting demonstration with the client during which the company illuminated sections of the building using both ‘Architectural Lighting’ techniques (a method established by the Group many years ago) and by conventional ‘Floodlighting’ where the luminaires are located some distance from the building. It was unanimously agreed that an Architectural Lighting design was the most appropriate method to illuminate the exterior of the Church.'

It was also decided to use the LTV 10 and LTV 20 Series Recessed In-Ground luminaires from the comprehensive Kim Lighting range. These were primarily used for illumination of all four elevations of the building and the tower.

These luminaires have very precise internal optics and a combination of varying wattages of metal halide lamps was used for the task. The correct choice of lamp colour temperature was also critical in order to highlight the natural varying textures of the building. A unique adjustable lens tilt facility was also introduced into the products to ensure that all of the illumination techniques could be achieved.

In addition to these, a number of AR 111 and MR 16 Tungsten light sources, again in recessed in-ground luminaires, were used primarily on the west and north elevations of the Church to illuminate and feature the beautiful architectural features and textures.

The very difficult task of illuminating the east side of the tower using only recessed in-ground luminaires was achieved by again using the Kim LTV 30 range of precise beam special optic products combined with a single ended metal halide light source.

The stone crucifix at high level on the exterior west elevation was illuminated with a special optic AR 111 Par 36 Superspot "Patrol" luminaire discreetly located in the lychgate.

As an alternative to lighting the east elevation externally, the magnificent large stained glass window has been illuminated from the interior of the church using special halide projectors located in the chancel. These can be switched independently of the east elevation external lighting to create two totally different contrasting aspects of the church when approached from the East.

All the exterior tungsten lighting is controlled by an unique manual dimming system. When combined with all of the metal halide lighting, both sources are then operated automatically by the latest 7 day electronic programming time clocks.

Additionally, all the exterior lighting is designed with a number of individual switched circuits for each elevation so as to allow maximum flexibility with the everyday use of the lighting and the varying illumination levels on the building.

The electrical Installation of both the exterior and interior Lighting at St Agnes Church was carried out and completed by David Jackson and Stuart Jackson and their team from A J Electrics, the long established and experienced firm of NIC EIC approved electrical contractors from Coleshill in North Warwickshire.

In a final word about the project, architect Garry Dyhouse said, “this is one of a number of projects carried out by us with Ecclesiastical Lighting, including work at Sheffield Cathedral. We have a good working relationship with Ecclesiastical Lighting and this is another example of how lighting and architectural concepts can come together to achieve very effective results.”