ETC Sensor3 power control selected for Kings Cross central development

ETC dealer and lighting control systems integrator – Control Lighting Ltd has selected ETC’s Sensor3 power control, Paradigm and Mosaic systems as the solutions for the large-scale Kings Cross central development in London.

For the last ten years Control Lighting Ltd have been working on the design and implementation of a site wide lighting control system for the public realm lighting. The site is a 67-acre development which has re-imagined the blend of residential, commercial, retail and public space, and has won many awards over the years for the development.

The company was appointed to design and implement a holistic lighting control system that could provide usable performance data, as well as ensure the maintenance and events teams could quickly make adjustments for the operational side of the lighting system. Control Lighting Ltd selected ETC products as the best solutions to easily adapt to the needs of the site as it expanded over the years. The core lighting power distribution equipment is utilising the Sensor3 power control range from ETC, and the site wide lighting processors are from the ETC architectural control product families - Paradigm and Mosaic.

ETC’s Sensor3 power control system delivers stable, unparalleled power and networked control for all fixture types. The Kings Cross central development has demonstrated the consistent reliability of Sensor3’s dimming solutions which have been a part of the project for ten years and counting. The flexible and powerful management of the Sensor3 control system has seamlessly supported the various lamp types used, without the added expense of Kings Cross Central having to upgrade their entire power infrastructure.

To assist the maintenance staff, all flagged items or usage reports are displayed on specific larger touchscreens. Data is also automatically fed back to Control Lighting Ltd’s office, which allows reports to be produced for monthly review by the site management teams. Positive steps are then implemented to reduce the use of energy across the site lighting installation based on the data obtained.

Due to the way in which the energy monitoring is presented, the site management team have used the supplied live and historical data and charts in real time, as part of their own site meetings.

ETC’s Paradigm and Mosaic architectural lighting control solutions were selected for this project for their large-scale and artful lighting control features. They allow the Kings Cross Central development to utilise exceptional colour control, interactive lighting, energy saving features and more, all within an adaptable and user-friendly control system.

During the design stage of the project, a key consideration was ensuring that the event and maintenance teams had quick access to the reporting side of the system, as well as control of the general public realm and the various lighting features from their own computers. There are 26 custom designed touchscreens located around the site offering intuitive interfaces which use the design features of ETC’s Paradigm Light Designer and Control Designer software suites, along with custom lua scripts to create the task driven touchscreen layouts. With ETC’s software features, Control Lighting Ltd used this to create bespoke control interfaces for the touchscreens to make it easy for staff at Kings Cross to recall presets and make custom adaptations to the lighting states for pop-up events. The complex layouts from Building Management Systems were used to create intuitive, interactive and customised control interfaces for the venue team.

Fast forward 10 years, and there are now 24 lighting control locations positioned in various plant rooms across the estate, each networked together. The equipment that is utilised allows for switching of the lighting power circuits as well as 1-10v, DALI and DMX control for specified lighting schemes. The combined lighting control system also offers useful features such as the use of DALI reporting. This allows important information such as lamp failures or DALI emergency fitting test results utilising DALI EMPro to be fed back and communicated to the client. The lighting power racks also automatically issue electrical usage reports per area as well as alarms for the fault status of the circuit protection devices.    

Ray Dolby from Control Lighting Ltd. commented: ‘Due to the historically good reliability of ETC equipment and Control Lighting Ltd’s knowledge of the requirements of the architectural and landscape markets, the site wide solution grew organically. It was very special working with a developer that had the long-term vison to embrace a holistic approach to the control and monitoring of public realm lighting schemes’.

Project Credits:

Site wide Developer: Related Argent

Lighting Control Systems Integrator: Control Lighting Ltd

Major Lighting Controls Equipment Supplier: ETC Ltd.

Lighting Design Consultants: Speirs Major Light Architecture, Studio 29

Photography: Kings Cross HR