More razzle with no dazzle for St Bart's

Refurbishment of lighting at St Bartholomew's church in Armley, Leeds has included prismatic glass lenses from Holophane Europe, incorporated into specially made chandeliers suspended in the nave. These form part of a comprehensive re-lighting scheme throughout the church.

St Bartholomew's was consecrated in 1877 and is the largest parish church in the diocese of Ripon and Leeds. In upgrading the lighting scheme, Lighting Design and Consultancy (LDC) worked closely with the priest and the church architect to arrive at a design that would add sparkle to the volume of the nave.

"We wanted to create a concept of glass rising up into the nave, catching sunlight during the day and catching the church lighting later in the day," explained LDC's Michael Phillips. "We opted for chandeliers finished in bronze with crystal angels and crystal spheres to catch and refract the light through the space," he added.

The design chosen for the eight chandeliers, manufactured by R&S Robertson, features five prismatic glasses from Holophane - one large one at the centre and four smaller ones around the outer edge - all on the lowest tier of the chandelier. Each chandelier is suspended from an 11m stainless steel rod, backed by a separately fixed safety wire.

"It was important to avoid glare so we opted for Holophane's prismatic glasses and they are performing superbly," Michael Phillips continued.

The larger, central prismatic glass uses a 250W halogen light source and incorporates a refractor and an internal reflector to provide 80% upward lighting and 20% downward lighting. The other four prismatic lenses on each chandelier use 150W halogen lamps and are designed to light the pews below and are linked to a scene setting dimming system.

Above these, on the next 'tier' of the chandelier, are four spotlights, directed upward at the remaining components of the chandeliers. Two spotlights illuminate the glass angels, while the other two have a broader beam width to shine up through the crystal spheres mounted on the suspension rod. The lowest sphere is 150mm in diameter and the higher one is 75mm in diameter, so that each chandelier matches the arithmetic proportions of the church's gothic architecture.