Aston Hall

Situated north of central Birmingham, Aston Hall is a magnificent stately home built between 1618 and 1635. This Grade I-listed Jacobean mansion is cared for by Birmingham Museums Trust and is open to visitors throughout the year. It houses one of the country's finest Long Galleries and is reputedly one of the most haunted buildings in the UK.

Following a three-month refit during the winter closedown of 2022-23, Aston Hall is now equipped with Thorlux self-testing emergency luminaires and a SmartScan Gateway, installed by Enterprise Electrical Services Ltd. The Gateway remotely collects operational status information and transmits it to the SmartScan web portal. This system provides complete operational and power status information and allows for automatic emergency lighting test scheduling.

The brief for the emergency lighting at Aston Hall was that it should draw as little attention as possible when not active in order to preserve each room's period appearance. This stipulation required some creative solutions. Given the building’s Grade I-listed status, certain areas of the walls and ceiling could not be interfered with. A specialist heritage carpenter participated in the planning and installation of wiring, including in areas of the building that previously had no electrical supply. To provide emergency lighting in the famed Long Gallery, Thorlux supplied Duo-Spot twin spotlights with a custom paint finish to match the wood panelling colour. High-output Firefly Plus Surface emergency luminaires have been installed discreetly in corners throughout the building, rather than the usual location in the centre of the rooms. Importantly, prescribed emergency lighting levels are still achieved. Finally, emergency exit stairwell lighting comes from IP65-rated Mini-8 bulkhead luminaires with opal polycarbonate covers.

All Thorlux emergency products provide over three hours of duration in the event of a power failure. A five-year warranty also covers the products. The finished emergency lighting system at Aston Hall has achieved its stated goal of ensuring safety throughout the building while not disturbing the heritage and beauty of this centuries-old space.