The Brief

Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena, formerly Nottingham Arena is part of the National Ice Centre and located in the heart of Nottingham. The National Ice Centre was the first twin Olympic sized ice pad in the UK and Nottingham saw the opportunity to adapt their initial plans to incorporate a sports and event venue. The project was originally built with one of the largest lottery grants at the time to replace the dated ice centre on the back of alumni Torvill and Dean’s Olympic success.
Since it’s opening the National Ice Centre has been become home to the Nottingham Panthers ice hockey team, is the designated National Ice Centre of Excellence for Short Speed Track and World Synchronized Skating Centre and is home to both national teams.
Opened by Jayne Torvill in 2000, home to the award-winning BBC Documentary series Ice Stars and visited by the Queen in 2002, the National Ice Centre is no stranger to high profile events and the Motorpoint Arena has followed suit. Since the first concert, Simply Red in 2000, Motorpoint Arena has attracted some musical greats; Green Day, Westlife, Diana Ross, Elton John & Beyoncé.
We were asked to consult on the renovation of the Spotlight restaurant at the Motorpoint Arena. The architectural team had created a lighting plan in line with their aesthetic vision and sought advice for the ensure that it delivered on the required lighting levels from the client brief.

The Solution

Using our state-of-the-art lighting design software program, we were able to analyse the proposed plan based on the amount of light emitted in certain areas and if it was suitable for the restaurant.
The restaurant has large windows with views over Nottingham so benefits from a lot of natural daylight. The client wanted the light and airy feel of the daytime to carried to the evening and the lighting design had to reflect this.
We used our LED Poco Down Lighter fixture which was perfect for the restaurant area to support the hanging light fixtures. The Poco lights are discrete and hang flush with the ceiling, have a wide beam angle and long life and, most importantly for this environment, they are dimmable which makes them adaptable and gives the venue the autonomy to manage the ambience in the restaurant.
The Poco also suited the ancillary areas such as the corridors and the bathrooms. In these areas, the Poco was used at a fixed lighting level to ensure the safety of the guests using these areas.
As with all our lights, the BB Lighting LED Poco Down Lighter is energy-efficient and long-lasting which means savings on energy and maintenance bills.