Kensington Palace

Installing a Lighting System
for the King’s State Apartments

A residence of the Royal Family since the 17th Century, Kensington Palace is currently the official home of the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, and Princess Michael of Kent.

The Challenge

For this project we were commissioned by heritage building experts Qoda to design and install a lighting system for the King’s State Apartments in Kensington Palace. This was part of Historic Royal Palaces’ £12m refurbishment programme to mark the 300th anniversary of the Hanoverian accession to the English throne.

The brief was to devise a bespoke, invisible lighting system for a grand staircase and a suite of five rooms, while ensuring not to damage the ornate ceilings or the precious paintings and tapestries on display. This lighting should be easily programmed with a laptop and adjust light levels according to time of day. Control panels should be placed in a “secret” corridor and out of sight in original 18th century cupboards.  Finally, no modern fixtures should be seen by visitors.

The Solution

Our expert technicians are no strangers to working inside listed and historic buildings. They created a dynamic but unobtrusive lighting system using switch-free lighting circuits, circuits disguised as picture rails, lights hidden in original 18th Century decor, and hidden control panels.

As a result, the newly lit rooms have gained a new level of vibrancy, and the number of visitors has increased. The system was entirely sensitive to the age and styling of these spaces. The entire project was cost-effective and delivered on time, and Chris Lewis engineer are providing ongoing support as and when needed.

The Tech We Installed