Lighting the way to Wembley
The challenge
Wembley Stadium is London's largest and most prestigious sporting stadium.
We received the brief to light the iconic Royal Steps, as part of Quintain’s Masterplan for Wembley Park – one of Europe’s largest and most exciting development projects – the 2015 Masterplan was undertaken for Quintain by Flanagan Lawrence Architects and LDA Design.
The Masterplan marks the next phase of transformation of the land around the national stadium from world-class events destination to thriving London neighbourhood, with an exciting combination of new homes, iconic venues, great shops and workspaces.
The Royal Steps are located opposite the popular Red car park, and lead from London Designer Outlet to the Wembley Stadium entrance. They are vital for increased pedestrian circulation and connectivity to the upper level, adjacent to the stadium from the Event Pad below.
Clients and partners
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Lighting Design
GIA Equation
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Landscape Architect
LDA Design
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Contractor
O'Keefe
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Client
Quintain
The solution
Alexia Gkika, Senior Designer at GIA Equation states,
The brief was to provide a localised lighting solution on the Royal Steps Wembley. Garda illuminated handrail with asymmetric lighting modules was the chosen system for the balustrade/ handrails. The system offered flexibility, minor customisation and directed light where it was needed.
The stainless steel illuminated handrail comprises standard Garda 300mm Asymmetric LED modules in 3000K CCT, to create a warm, welcoming ambience.
To meet the safety demands for the arriving visitors and future-proof the installation against the rapid LED evolution, a CRI80 was specified, providing increased clarity on the steps and ramp.
The lighting circuits are all driven from supplies at one end of the steps to allow the lighting levels on the ramp and stairs to be dimmed separately via a Dali interface; meeting the masterplan’s vision to install dimmable public realm lighting within the estate.
The target lighting levels were set at 30lux average for daily operation pre-curfew, which is then dimmed further after curfew to save energy.
"Our aim was to transform and simplify the experience of everyone using the Wembley Park estate and Stadium. The iconic Royal Steps were paramount to delivering this. However, it was crucial that they were safe and welcoming. We worked with GIA Equation to select the right integrated lighting solution. Garda met all our expectations, helping us to deliver safe, secure, inviting and robust steps, whilst also being visually appealing for the high volumes of visitors and local community."
Tom McCreesh, LDA Design, Senior Consultant