Shedding light on the world of building

The five-strong team in Leeds is providing specialist lighting design for a large hospital in Abu Dhabi and for an office for a large pharmaceuticals company in Shanghai.

The lighting contract for the 360-bed Cleveland Clinic on Al Sowah Island, Abu Dhabi, came after Aecom was taken on to provide building engineering services for the project.

Lee Barker-Field, head of the lighting division, said: “The clinic has a spa feel to it, which is quite a challenge to achieve when designing the lighting in a building that has to have a medical function.

“It’s quite a new focus for these sorts of buildings and is used to help to reduce patient recovery times.”

The second project, the China Novartis Institute for Bio Medical Research, in Shanghai, was designed by the Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena and looks similar to a temple in design and constructed out of stone.

Mr Barker Field said: “This is a high-end office facility. A lot of the lighting is aimed at bringing out the emphasis on the architectural materials and building proportions.”

The building includes subdued, ambient lighting with localised activity for workspace areas. It aims to be highly energy efficient with tight energy targets to meet.

Aecom’s Far East office is also providing building services and structural engineering consultancy for the project.

The lighting team is focusing on overseas work as it continues to win contracts in the Middle and Far East.

Mr Barker Field said: “We are still focusing on overseas work and that is where we would imagine a significant chunk of the work coming from in the next year and beyond as the Middle East, Far East and Russia continue to build.”

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