What should you consider when planning the lighting at your office? We asked light factory ERCO for advice.

“In the office, we need the right light to feel good, make our communication easier and create a dynamic setting,” says Anders Lydén, CEO at Erco, which has manufactured light fittings since 1936. A great deal of money is often spent on furniture and interiors, but poor lighting means that these do not really come to the fore.

ERCO is a light factory with its Stockholm office appropriately located in Luma, Hammarby Sjöstad. ERCO manufactures light fittings, but, according to themselves, what they actually sell is light.

ERCO has trained architects and light designers who act as advisors to other architects and light designers, as well as electricity consultants, electricians and other entrepreneurs. ERCO’s projects include public buildings, private homes and shops.

“With the right lighting, the goods are displayed better, which can increase sales,” says Johan Elm, Technical Director at ERCO. Our customer NK Kaffe & Tehandel, for example, is extremely satisfied with the results they’ve had since installing an appropriate lamp aimed at the tea caddies on the shelf.”

A great deal has changed in the office environment over the years, with the exception of the standard for workplace lighting.

“The standards and rules we have today are from the time we worked in an analogue way, looking down at a desk,” says Johan Elm. “But nowadays, we all look straight ahead at an illuminated screen, which requires a different type of lighting than downlighting, which many offices still have. It often makes us less comfortable at work and less able to concentrate.”

ERCO’s methods include using what is known as customised “layered” lighting on the surfaces that really need light, instead of classic general lighting from the ceiling. The ERCO method not only enables the creation of better conditions for a more pleasant and productive work environment; it can also halve energy consumption per square metre.

ERCO’s tips for good office lighting

• Analyse needs first. What significance does the room or section of the room have in relation to company strategy, architecture and function?
• What should the light achieve? Which office tasks can be facilitated by the lighting? Can the lighting ensure that the premises are used more effectively, through screening, for example?
• Ask your employees. Maybe there’s someone interested in lighting who has some basic knowledge of the subject and is able to assist.
• Contact a lighting expert for advice.