Sópers House offers members the space and amenities to pursue their professional and personal interests in one place. High-quality, contemporary offices. Sophisticated co-working environments. A gym, yoga studio, and boxing ring. Barista café. Fine dining restaurant and terrace. All under one roof. Getting the lighting right was critical in realising this nuanced morning- to-night vision.

According to Scott Foster, general manager, Sópers House, “The idea was to create an office building that people never wanted to leave. Top-tier technology and sustainable operations were key in making Sópers House an attractive option. That’s where Lutron came in.”

The vision behind Sópers House was to deliver right-sized office spaces with first- rate amenities. This facility needed to be smart about energy use to keep operations affordable. Finding the right lighting system was instrumental in delivering all the above. Hristo Bonchev, managing director at Smart2u by HSB Engineering, was responsible for the design and installation of the lighting system at Sópers House.

Lighting system design goals:

  • Divides, includes, satisfies, enables any number of configurations to accommodate small, medium, large, and custom office sizes on demand.
  • Includes easy on/off and dimming control of overhead LED lighting with daylight harvesting and occupancy sensing for automated energy savings in every configuration.
  • Satisfies new UK building regulations that require light level tuning and energy usage reporting capabilities.
  • Enables the installer to configure the system by themselves.

Lighting control solution

The Vive lighting control solution is a modular, wireless system that provides intelligent switching and dimming control with energy savings via occupancy sensors, daylight harvesting, timeclock scheduling, and demand response.

The smart lighting system for the nearly 6,500 m2 of serviced office space features an modular structure, where each bay is comprised of six lighting fixtures controlled by one Pico wireless remote, an occupancy sensor that turns the lights off whenever the space has been empty for 30 minutes, and a daylight sensor that dims overhead lights when sufficient daylight is available. The building currently hosts tenants renting spaces that range from 2 desks up to 50.

Hristo Bonchev commented, “Vive Wireless provided Sópers House with an absolute modularity of installation, to fit the lighting control needs of custom-made workspaces of all sizes. We’ve been dividing and combining office spaces as needed and making the changes to the system’s programming by ourselves, without any need to go back into the ceiling and change the wiring. It’s so easy.”

Another aspect of the Vive lighting control system that was of paramount importance to the team was its ease of installation and straightforward programming. The electrical contractor at Sópers House needed to be able to make the necessary adjustments to the lighting control system, to create the right- sized office spaces, without requiring outside technical support. Vive offered Sópers House a custom-fit lighting control solution with a simple setup process.

Valuable insights into energy use

Vive energy management and energy usage reporting capabilities allow for easy compliance with the new building regulation requirements for energy usage reporting. With Vive Vue, the software that accompanies the larger wireless Vive system, the team at Sópers House can see the way that the system is consuming energy, in real time, on a fixture-by-fixture basis. They can also make adjustments to lower their energy use, quickly and easily.

The next phase of this next-level concept

The Sópers House venture has been a huge success. Opened in 2021, there has been a waiting list for available office space for months. The project has moved into Phase Three — and is currently in the process of adding 25 new office spaces in addition to spa and wellness amenities. The Vive system will be expanded to provide the modular, and new building regulation-friendly, lighting control system throughout all the new office spaces.