Trading places

Walking into the Royal Exchange in the heart of London’s financial district seems like taking a step back in time. The classical Greek architecture of the three-storey, stone building draws the eyes upwards from the central courtyard to an elaborate, panelled roof; period lamps adorn the walls and, underfoot, a cobbled floor leads the way to traders’ arches around the perimeter. Although the main structure was built in 1844, the scene greeting visitors today has never been seen before: modern retail units fill the arches and the period lanterns hide a state-of-the-art security system.

The Grade I-listed building is actually the third version, after earlier incarnations were ravaged by fire. The original was the brainchild of Sir Thomas Gresham in 1566 in an attempt to make London the chief European marketplace. It has a history rich with trade, but in recent years the central courtyard has fallen into disuse; the construction of larger establishments and the development of the Docklands saw the move of financial traders away from the building.

Reawakening a sleeping giant
Seeing the potential of this prime site, developer London and Paris Estates leased the interior and ground floor space to develop it on a commercial risk basis. By redeveloping the central courtyard and constructing modern retail units in the traditional traders arches around the perimeter, it was deemed that a viable piece of real estate could be created.

One of the principal ways of bringing life back to the building was by use of light. “[The client] wanted to use light to reinforce the beauty of the architecture, give a sense of enclosure to the space, and an uplifting feeling when walking in...also to allow it to be used as a public walkway and allow the public to shop safely,” explains Lee Prince of lighting designer Light & Design Associates.

The company became involved in the scheme in mid-2000 and won the contract for the lighting design by competitive tender. “When we arrived for the start of the project there was a metal box that went up to the level of the first-storey window ledge,” says Prince. This was the former home of LIFFE – the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange – and was built to utilise the courtyard when demand for inner-city real estate was high. Traders entered from the street directly into the box, which was an enclosed space that filled the courtyard. When LIFFE moved to new premises in London’s Docklands during the 1990s this became redundant, and has lain empty until it was removed as part of the redevelopment project.

The significance of this, says Prince, is that the third floor and roof were added to the building during 1991, when this box was in place: “This is the first time that anyone has ever seen all three floors together with the roof on,” he confirms.

Historic heritage
As with all listed buildings, conditions applied to the redevelopment work: nothing could be fixed to the structure and the final result had to be as true as possible to the original design.

The conditions here, however, extended beyond structural protection. Removal of the box revealed a series of historic paintings decorating the ground floor perimeter wall. Part of the heritage brief, and a condition of the redevelopment, was that these had to be protected and public access to them created.

To satisfy the access requirements, architect Fitzroy Robinson designed a free-standing mezzanine walkway, which has been installed alongside the paintings. Careful shaping of the glass panels and a plastics seal around all edges ensure that the stonework is unharmed. Even the lift is unfixed to the structure: “It comes up as a glass box and touches nothing around it...like a piston,” explains Prince.

“The brief was to light the paintings in a contemporary style that allow them to be seen clearly by the public, provide a backdrop to the mezzanine level and satisfy all conservation issues regarding lighting valuable works of art,” he adds. The lamps chosen for the task are Crescent Lighting’s digitally-dimmed T5 linear fluorescents. They are UVA and UVB-protected and have a special elliptical distribution to give a gentle wash of light over the art. Corner-based statues are highlighted by Targetti Mondial 50 W dichroic low voltage downlights.

In the main courtyard and atrium, the heritage brief meant that as well as not being structurally-fixed, light fittings and services could not be visible. The designers used the architecture to help with this, locating lamps behind balcony balustrades and lighting “virtually everything” indirectly. The wiring solution from electrical contractor Trielectric was to lay discreet trunking along the balcony ledges of the upper floors and feed from this, with conduit coloured to match the stonework.

Before the lighting design was finalised trials were carried out to prove the theory. “Light pollution was a big issue,” explains Prince. The ceiling is floodlit by 70 W CDMT metal halide lamps housed within asymmetric Mayor floodlights and fixed by adjustable stirrup brackets. “The asymmetric floodlights on the ceiling panels...are controlled so there is no light pollution outside the building or from the courtyard into the office spaces around the upper levels,” he adds. This was a critical issue. Offices in the upper levels were occupied by the Guardian Royal Exchange before during refurbishment, and some rooms facing into the courtyard contain valuable works of art. Downlighting in the windows is provided by Concord:marlin Controlspot projectors.

The stairwell to the basement plantrooms and the lift reveal provided an opportunity for bespoke lighting. Remote-source, end-emitting fibre optics using 150 W CDMT metal halide lamps at 3000 K were selected. These are flush-fitted with a specially designed lens and recessed floor/step wash. They were chosen for their long lamplife and to minimise maintenance.

Lighting the lanterns
Large period lanterns adorning the centre of each wall provide more than mere decoration. Fuelled by gas when installed, they now hide modern technology and provide security as well as lighting.

  “The original idea was to take them down, have them restored and put back for use as emergency lights for the mezzanine stairs,” explains Prince. However, when the metal box was removed and old photographs examined, it was found that these had been moved to the room corners from their central-wall positions. This had to be rectified, said English Heritage, which left the problem of how to provide alternative emergency lighting without touching the structure. Uniform Echo digitally-dimmed, low voltage downlights manufactured by GSF Lighting were selected and installed in a panel above the steps. This is controlled by a central battery inverter system.

The lanterns had their own problems. Some glass was broken and one was missing. A specialist chandelier company, Sitch & Co, was located to restore them to their former glory. The idea for the incorporation of security cameras and lighting into the lanterns stemmed from a collaboration between consulting engineer Mecserve, Light & Design Associates and the security systems designer. As well as making use of the lamps, this removed the essential cctv cameras from visibility.

The revamped Royal Exchange was officially opened to the public on 6 December 2001, creating shopping opportunities and a competitor to the annual Christmas lighting displays, but one which is sure to be enjoyed long after the festivities have been forgotten.