Illuma Lights Up New Bradgate Park Visitor Centre

david attenborough opening new bradgate visitor centre.jpg Sir David Attenborough opening the new Bradgate Park Visitor Centre - September 2016

The Bradgate Park Estate was first enclosed as a deer park around 800 years ago. Today, the striking landmark covers over 1300 acres of publicly accessible countryside in the heart of Leicestershire and comprises of not only the deer park and meadow, but also the ruins of a Tudor mansion, a country park shop with tea rooms and a war memorial, as well the exciting new Bradgate Park Visitor Centre. Once the home of influential medieval nobility, the park is now a Registered Charity and Trust which welcomes over half a million visitors every year.

landscape view of bradgate countryside park.jpg Bradgate Park, UK

The new Bradgate Park Visitor Centre, which re opened towards the end of 2016, is at the centre of the park and plays a vital part in educating visitors on the surroundings. It was designed to provide the public with an important educational understanding of the park’s history and geology, as well as its human occupiers and owners. Before the visitors centre opened, you would never have known that the park site is the resting place of ancient volcanoes!

new Illuma lighting design at bradgate visitor centre.jpg The new Bradgate Park Visitor Centre

Finding the perfect solution.

Competing against other lighting manufacturers, Illuma Lighting was asked to put forward a comprehensive lighting design proposal for the new visitor centre, with the main objective being to provide a flexible, welcoming lighting solution that primarily highlighted the exhibition boards and points of interest. Illuma’s specialised lighting design team wanted to achieve a high contrast between the lux levels on the displays and the ambient light level, to make sure visitors are drawn to the exhibits – particularly the taxidermy stag!

illuma's feature lighting in the bradgate visitor centre exhibition.jpg The new Bradgate Park Visitor Centre

Illuma was thrilled when our lighting design and lighting solutions were selected to be installed. The chosen solutions were Illuma’s popular Gridspot LED spotlight and the all new Twizzle LED downlights.

Illuma’s Lighting Designer, Kate Morley had this to say about the project; “We used a combination of 3-Circuit 230V Track and 1200lm Gridspot LED’s alongside our unique Twizzle LED downlights. The Twizzle LED fitting was perfect for this kind of application as there were some really awkward canopies installed as part of the exhibition design that needed downlights mounted integrally. The rotation and freedom of movement of the Twizzle LED allowed us to get the right angle of light onto the displays. The ever-popular Gridspot LED in warm white, track-mounted in the apex of the roof also proved to be the perfect fit and a great solution for the visitor centre as it keeps the light source discreet and allowed us to aim the fittings at the perimeter displays.”

illuma lighting design plan and installation for reception.jpg