Case Study: gym, swimming pool and cinema room basement conversion 

Kieran Logan of Rose Electrical Contractors Ltd talks to  Zano Controls  about a recent project where he used  our ZMO150 module dimmers  to provide flicker-free and silent  lighting  control  across a  multi-functional  excavated  basement conversion  in Leeds.  

Name: Kieran Logan  

Company: Rose Electrical Contractors 

Bio: An electrician for over 25 years based in Birmingham and Leeds, Kieran Logan started his electrical contracting company, Rose Electrical Contractors Ltd, in early May 2019. Kieran enjoys time spent with family and friends and works on a variety of electrical projects – mostly domestic across a mix of outdoor and indoor jobs.  

The job 

When extending your dream home, creating a liveable area underneath the existing property is an option increasingly sought after by homeowners looking to add extra space without having to extend wider, longer, or higher.  

Electrician, Kieran Logan of Rose Electrical Contractors Ltd was brought on board to complete the first and second fix of a domestic electrical installation for a home extension project by building firm, C & A.J Marshalls.  

The project was a big one, the property was already well extended with an outwards kitchen extension. On a mission to add a gym, swimming pool, cinema and family room, the homeowners decided that excavating the basement level of the property to fulfil their dreams was the best approach.  

The excavation of the basement had to happen without any demolition of the property itself, sitting directly under the property the builders had to underpin the existing structure of the basement to replace the lost foundations and restore the building to full strength.   

The project itself took nearly 2 years to complete. 12 months into the project Kieran got started on the first fix, with the second fix taking 6 months to complete.  

The lighting design brief 

Working in conjunction with Horsley Townsend Architects, who specified the lighting design scheme include lamps and fittings from Astro Lighting, it was up to Kieran to provide and pair the lighting scheme with the right products to provide flicker-free and silent lighting control.  

Good swimming pool lighting really helps to provide a wow factor, both inside and out and as the lighting design scheme spanned across the basement conversion consisting of the gym, swimming pool, cinema and family room and the stairwell into the upstairs/ground level floor of the property it was key that the right products were chosen to provide the correct lighting levels specific to each room. Recessed LED fixtures in pool areas are a great way to create a relaxing glow from the pool at night, but as with any lighting project where electricity is in close proximity to water, care needed to be taken and the regulations followed to ensure that the fittings were safe to use within Zones 1 and 2 of the pool area. The ground floor works also included another family room that had an apex vaulted ceiling and a structural glass floor close to the stairwell that let light into and led down to the basement conversion.  

For the ceiling areas Kieran used a mix of surface spotlights, Astro Lighting’s Lynx fittings at 12.5W each, and recessed spotlights, Astro’s Trimless Luminaires, that had to be installed before the final plaster skim and were IP65 rated. For the areas across the basement conversion that required small sections of LED tape to highlight and wall-wash specific zones and provide a feature glow, Kieran used Aurora’s  LEDline™ PRO single colour 24V super bright LED strip.

Both the surface and recessed ceiling spotlights and the LED strip lighting required lighting control to match and provide low-level dimming capability across the various rooms in the basement and the stairwell that led to and included the family room on the ground floor level. As the ZMO150 was Kieran’s go to dimmer and he had used it before on countless projects, he knew and could count upon the fact that it would just work. Kieran calculated the total wattage across the number of circuits the project required and, in each instance, the ZMO150 became the dimmer of choice. As all circuits came to a combined total wattage of less than 150W/VA, the ZMO150 was the ideal solution. Providing 0-150W of flicker-free and silent dimming control, the ZMO150 was perfect for achieving a low lighting level within the cinema room and making full use of the total load elsewhere. I.e., within the gym and swimming pool.  

As lighting control was a key part of the brief, and the homeowners wanted to ensure control was made by a rotary controller in keeping with the same aesthetic and style as the rest of the property – Kieran matched the ZMO150 with chrome plates and a rotary knob from Click Scolmore.  

Installation  

Eleven ZMO150s were installed across the project in total. Across the downstairs basement conversion, Kieran had seven lighting circuits each connected to one ZMO150, and in the upstairs family room that led down to the basement and the apex vaulted ceiling area, four ZMO150s were used.  

In the pool area, Kieran used Astro’s Trimless range of recessed spotlights, pairing two ZMO150s with ten lamps at less than 10W each, across two circuits. Each circuit produced a combined load of 62.5W, and with plenty of room left to allow for inrush each circuit was connected to one ZMO150.  

Within the cinema room, Kieran paired four Astro Lynx surface spotlights at 12.5W each with a small section of LED strip lighting around the back of the 48 inch cinema screen on one circuit with one ZMO150 to provide flicker-free and low-level lighting control.    

In the gym, again Kieran paired four Astro Lynx surface spotlights and roughly a metre and a half of Aurora’s LEDline™ with one ZMO150. LED tape and strip lighting lists wattage per metre, which often makes it difficult to calculate an installation precisely and it’s the LED driver - and the huge inrush it consumes - that skews the wattage listed on the label significantly. However, in neither the gym nor the cinema room was much LED strip lighting required. The total load that included the 50W generated by the surface spotlights and the power consumption of 19.2W per metre listed by the LED strip lighting came to less than 150W/VA, with generous inrush allowance accounted for.  

In the basement family area that joins the gym and cinema room, Kieran had two circuits each with a ZMO150 module dimmer connected to seven Astro Lynx surface spotlights. Upstairs, within the family room that went from the kitchen and led down to the basement two ZMO150s were used across two circuits each with several Astro Lynx surface spotlights on. And within the Apex vaulted ceiling area used 6 Astro Lynx surface spotlights were used – four connected to one ZMO150 and two connected to another. 

Amazing results 

No problems were encountered at all over the course of the project as the lighting design scheme has been planned and specified well with architectural lighting fittings and lighting control that paired brilliantly and put up an excellent performance throughout.  

Project summary 

Name of project:  Gym, swimming pool and cinema room basement conversion  

Contractor: Kieran Logan  of Rose Electrical Contractors Ltd

Brief: Lighting design scheme for a multi-functional excavated basement conversion in Leeds.  

Total number of circuits: 11 

Dimming products installed:   

x 11 ZMO150s

Lamps and fittings:   

Surface spotlights - Astro Lighting’s Lynx fittings at 12.5W each 

Recessed spotlights - Astro’s Trimless Luminaires with 6W LED GU10s 

LED strip lighting - Aurora’s  LEDline™ PRO single colour 24V super bright LED strip at 19.2W per metre.  

***** 

About the ZMO150 

The most reliable, compatible module dimmer on the market, the ZMO150 is a problem-solving piece of tech that’s perfect for a wide range of domestic (and small commercial) projects. 

The ZMO150 at a glance... 

0-150W/VA 

2-way switching 

Flicker-free and silent 

Learns and adapts 

Easy-fit installation 

Offset pot for retrofit projects