City of London Supplementary Planning Document by Speirs Major
City of London Supplementary Planning Document by Speirs Major
The City of London Lighting Supplementary Planning Document has won a GOLD Build Back Better Award for Speirs Major in the 2024 lighting category.
The City of London Lighting Supplementary Planning Document has won a GOLD Build Back Better Award for Speirs Major in the 2024 lighting category.
In July 2023, the City of London Corporation Planning and Transportation Committee voted unanimously to adopt the ground-breaking document (SPD), a statutory set of guidance for external lighting within the City of London.
The document, developed by Speirs Major in collaboration with the City’s planning team, was an initiative that came out of the authority’s 2018 Lighting Strategy, which sought to establish an innovative approach to lighting within an area that boasts some of the tallest contemporary tower buildings in Europe, set within a unique mediaeval street pattern.
The SPD, believed to be the first of its kind in the UK, takes a creative and flexible approach to reducing the environmental impact that lighting creates while encouraging solutions that will realise the social and economic benefits of good design.
The 2018 Lighting Strategy the City identified a series of desired outcomes, including reducing energy waste and light pollution, improving the quality of the public realm and mitigating potentially harmful effects of obtrusive light on both residents and local biodiversity.
These objectives formed the basis for the SPD, which aims to ensure that all new developments include proper consideration for how lighting will complement the unique architectural and heritage context, as well as addressing important issues of sustainability, safety, accessibility, inclusion and amenity for residents, workers, visitors and tourists.
Under the newly adopted guidance, lighting is integrated into the planning application process at a very early stage with applicants for major developments required to submit a lighting strategy as part of any pre-application and then a fully developed lighting concept at the application stage.
Technical details of lighting schemes are then delivered post-planning as part of the conditions, including mandatory information on how the lighting will be operated and maintained.
Supporting this guidance is provided to help applicants to achieve the desired outcomes. A simple methodology limits light spill and brightness based on a series of ‘District Brightness Zones’ including residential, heritage, cultural and tourist areas, and commercial, retail and transport hubs.
Each of these has varying ‘curfews’ to help control external illumination and the impact of interior lighting, particularly for highly glazed buildings, including dealing with such issues as the lights being left on in empty buildings.
The SPD also includes a ‘Lighting Charter’ that encourages existing building owners and their tenants to sign up to many of the initiatives on a voluntary basis.
