Lighting can have a big impact on employees’ sense of wellbeing in the workplace and also their productivity. This is why planning lighting is as important as anything else in the office fitting process.
Unfortunately, not every office interior is blessed with an abundance of natural light. Depending on the design of the building, natural light may be in short supply and parts of the office will need lighting so that staff have enough of it to do their jobs.
Artificial lighting comes at a significant cost. When the office is lit up 5 or more days a week for 10 hours a day the cost of this can really add up and without any measures incorporated in your planning to reduce the use of artificial light, this could be a missed opportunity.
Then there is the question of the type of lighting and how much of it is needed. Too much brightness from harsh flourescent lighting can cause migraines in some people while too little can be the cause of eye strain. This will also reduce productivity.
Today we can be much smarter about the ways we use lighting in the office including introducing task lighting. This directs light only to areas that need to be lit which saves energy.