Glasgow Caledonian University has become one of the largest universities in Scotland with nearly 22,000 students from over 100 countries. Its campus is self–contained and situated right in the heart of the city of Glasgow. The University is made up of three academic schools- the School of Computing, Engineering and Built Environment, the Glasgow School for Business and Society, and the School of Health and Life Sciences.

The university, is a ‘University for the Common Good’, a vibrant, values-led, multi-cultural, civic university with a global outlook and strong commitment to delivering social innovation and sustainable development in its education and research. This has led to it being ranked fourth in the world and first in the UK for promoting gender equality, in the top 5% globally for social impact, and first in Scotland for health and wellbeing and reduced poverty. It is also ranked the top modern university in Scotland for research power, second for environmental and ethical performance, and rated highly in other key UK and global league tables.

A recent independent report by BIGGAR Economics concluded that the university contributed £1.7 billion and 14,360 jobs globally in 2020-21.

Following the launch of its Campus Masterplan in 2010, Glasgow Caledonian University has recently completed a series of priority projects identified in the masterplan, including the Campus Futures Project, which represents a £32m investment in its campus estate. This has helped enable the university to retain its competitive position against other Higher Education institutions nationally and internationally as well as supporting student retention and attracting higher numbers from around the world.

As part of this on-going project, Dextra was asked to help improve the lighting within two floors in the university’s CEE Building as well as make energy savings, which the company managed to exceed expectations on.

THE SOLUTION

In the breakout spaces and open plan areas, the Rubix 4 was fitted with some supplied with the Reacta-Control system. The Rubix is available in two colour temperatures, variants to suit a wide variety of ceiling systems, a choice of coloured cell bezels to match corporate branding guidelines, all common dimming types and with optional integral lithium emergency. The Rubix 4, which has been used before in the university buildings, has been designed to offer an alternative to the traditional circular downlighter.

The four optically controlled cells are ideally suited to applications that require minimal glare off axis such as bookmakers and electronics retailers who operate large banks of display screens, or office and school applications where glare must be effectively controlled.

Also chosen for use in the classrooms and meeting rooms, the Rubix Flush was installed, with some luminaires supplied with the Reacta-Control system. Offering a complimentary luminaire to the Rubix Recessed product, the Rubix Flush has a superior optic design with a minimalist appearance that sits flush with the ceiling.

The metal surround provided with the Rubix range can be easily modified to suit a wide range of standard ceiling variants such as exposed T and concealed grid but also in non-standard sizes such as 300mm x 300mm, 500mm x 500mm or 750mm x 750mm. This, combined with a wide range of lumen outputs and dimming and lithium emergency variants, ensures the Rubix can be customised to your specific requirements.

Also used in the open plan areas on the floors was Dextra’s popular Protec LED, which was customised for this project with a drop glass ring.

The Protec is one of the most versatile downlights in the range with a selection of attachments allowing the product to be personalised to suit most applications.

It is available with two reflector options, coloured ring inserts to match corporate themes, drop glass and ring attachments, IP rated covers for bathrooms and wet areas including external under canopy applications and opal or microprism diffuser variants where glare compliance is required. Attachments are easily replaced allowing luminaires to be updated in line with refurbishment avoiding the cost and waste of luminaire replacement.