St Gabriel’s Church

Overview

Park Lighting Design was honoured to undertake the lighting design for St Gabriel’s Church, a striking listed building in the heart of Heaton, Newcastle. The goal was to create a lighting scheme that highlighted the church’s architectural beauty and sacred features while maintaining reverence for its historic character.

This project was delivered in collaboration with local consultancy Screen and Forster, working closely with Michael Screen to ensure a sensitive and effective approach to lighting within a heritage setting.

Brief

This project required a delicate balance between modern lighting functionality and heritage conservation. The brief focused on illuminating both general spaces and significant religious and architectural features—including a statue-adorned cross, an ornate organ, intricately detailed roof structure, baptismal font, and other religious artefacts.

Lighting also needed to support varying usage—from quiet worship and private reflection to larger services and community events—necessitating a versatile control system without compromising the building’s integrity

Lighting Design Approach

The design utilised high-performance Exenia LED track Lights, chosen for their compact form, excellent colour rendering, and adaptability in heritage contexts. These fixtures brought out the textures of the ornate architecture while offering precise control over beam direction and spread.

A point cloud scan of the church was conducted, forming the basis for a detailed Revit model. This model enabled the team to run accurate lighting calculations and produce high-quality 3D renders, which proved invaluable in helping stakeholders visualise and approve the proposed scheme.

A sophisticated Helvar DALI control system was implemented to provide flexible scene-setting across the space. This allows tailored lighting moods for services, concerts, or evening use, all while ensuring energy efficiency and ease of control for staff.

Challenges

Designing for a Grade-listed building introduced multiple challenges. All interventions had to respect the church’s historic fabric, requiring close coordination with heritage consultants and sensitivity in fixture placement and mounting methods.

Another challenge was achieving visual consistency between modern LED sources and the church’s traditional ambiance. The team achieved this by carefully selecting warm colour temperatures and discreet fixture finishes that blend with the architecture.

Key Products Used

• Exenia LED Floodlights – Used throughout for architectural and feature lighting, delivering precision, high CRI, and subtle integration.
• Helvar DALI Lighting Control System – Enabling scene control, zoning, and automated settings for various uses.

Outcomes

The completed scheme respects the historic and spiritual essence of St Gabriel’s Church while bringing the space into the modern era with energy-efficient, high-quality lighting. Key features are beautifully highlighted, the space is more usable and inviting, and the integrated control system empowers users to adapt lighting to any occasion.

The project stands as an example of how technology and heritage can coexist—preserving the past while embracing the future.