Bullring Shopping Center

The Bullring is synonymous with the city center, attracting some 40 million visitors each year. This leading retail venue has been awarded many accolades for its appeal as one of the most exciting shopping destinations anywhere in Europe.

5 years on from it’s reopening, The Bullring was keen to review the decorative lighting scheme. As Tim Walley the Managing Director of the Bullring explains, “The Bullring is now once again the centrepiece of the city and as such we wanted to ensure that it remains so. We had 2 main criteria when selecting the new lighting design. Firstly, it had to support the Bullring’s image and secondly, but equally importantly, it had to be sustainable as well.”

The Bullring has now replaced the old cold cathode lighting system with Color Kinetics eW Cove Powercore which delivers a high quality white light and has been specifically designed for interior alcoves and atriums. Here, the eW Cove Powercore luminaires were primarily used to illuminate the areas around the main escalators and lifts as well as decorative shaped facets into the ceiling voids of the main walkways.

Switching to LED technology delivered an 85% reduction in energy needed to illuminate the center which equates to an estimated £34,000 savings in running costs per year. This equates to some 251 tons of CO₂ emissions, which will be saved annually. Maintenance costs can also be dramatically reduced since these luminaires have an extremely long life of approximately 50,000 hours.

In addition to the impressive energy savings, the luminaires brings a whole host of creative lighting displays which visitors can enjoy. The Bullring prides itself on having a busy calendar of events to make the shopping experience even more entertaining. Their vibrant color-changing palette can be tailored to suit the occasion or controlled to provide subtle changes in ambiance from a bright early morning light to the warmer, softer atmosphere of an evening setting.

St Martins Square plays host to numerous festivities throughout the year. Here, color-changing luminaires continue to add to the sense of theatre. Positioned within the window boxes and fountains, luminaires provide an eye catching backdrop to the many events held in the pedestrian quarter.

This flexibility was clearly a major consideration when specifying the decorative lighting scheme. As Tim Walley comments, ”Selecting these luminaires have enabled us to enhance the Bullring’s aesthetics and visual impact. We are extremely proud that it has become the largest retail destination in the West Midlands. In addition to the Bullring’s excellent retail mix we can now offer a spectacular night time vibrancy brought about by the exciting light shows that we can create – and all this has been achieved without compromise to our environmental responsibility.”

^{* Formerly specified with iColor Cove EC Powercore. Now specified with PureStyle Compact Powercore, IntelliHue.}