Mental health lighting – an evolution in design

Whitecroft Lighting has been lighting UK mental healthcare facilities for a generation, with Karen Bramman at the forefront since 2001. Much has changed since the company’s first mental health project in 1998, and in this article she explains how Whitecroft endeavours to stay one step ahead of a market in ‘perpetual motion’, drawing on a recent project at Peterborough City Hospital to illustrate the company’s expertise, and its ability to tailor its products to specialist settings.

Lighting healthcare has always required specialist knowledge and experience to meet client expectations, but I would argue that the unique combination of technical and clinical challenges often make lighting mental healthcare the most demanding. These challenges are influenced by a number of factors – some specific to the needs of mental health service-users and staff, some technologyrelated, and others more pervasive to wider healthcare and industries – such as the rising cost of energy and the drive for Net Zero

In 2020, the NHS pledged to become Net Zero carbon by 2040, and in October that year NHS England launched its Delivering a ‘Net Zero’ National Health Service report, which, outlined its expectations for carbon reduction and energy operational efficiency. As NHS England put it, ‘This report provides a detailed account of the NHS’s modelling and analytics underpinning the latest NHS carbon footprint, trajectories to net zero, and the interventions required to achieve that ambition. It lays out the direction, scale, and pace of change. It describes an iterative and adaptive approach, which will periodically review progress, and aims to increase the level of ambition over time.