Back to School for Northern Light

26 June 2007

Northern Light recently completed their part of the £1.3 million renovation of the assembly hall at Stewart’s Melville College in Edinburgh.

The College is one of Scotland’s premier independent schools, with magnificent buildings designed by David Rhind and a roll of over 700 pupils.  

Stewart’s Melville College originated when two schools – Daniel Stewart’s College and Melville College – merged in 1972.  Melville College was founded in 1832 by Rev Robert Cunningham and Daniel Stewart’s College was opened in 1855 by the Merchant Company of Edinburgh, to whom Daniel Stewart, upon his death in 1814, left a sum of money and instructions that it should be used to create a children’s hospital.  The hospital transformed into a college in 1870.

The aim of the recent renovation project was to turn the existing assembly hall into a performing arts centre, providing state of the art facilities for music, theatre, debating and public events.

Northern Light won the contract to design and install stage lighting and sound for the refurbished space and worked alongside architects Simpson & Brown and main contractor Interserve.

An extensive kit list was required to service this project and included installation of a Zero 88 Frog lighting desk and 120 ways of dimming with all associated patch panels and socket outlets, plus a Yamaha MG 32/14 FX sound desk.

David Vandepeear, Project Manager at Northern Light, said:  “This was a fantastic project to work on, although it did present certain challenges.  As a Category A listed building, we had to work very closely with the architects and main contractors to ensure that our electrical installation was fully fit for purpose, without affecting the fabric of the building.”

In addition to the desks, cabling and dimming, Northern Light provided a vast range speakers, amplifiers and microphones to ensure the client’s specifications were thoroughly met.  Products came from multiple suppliers including Beyer, Canford, Audio Technica, Thomas, Selecon, Ampetronic, Pulsar, ETC, MGC and Doughty.

Colin Cuthbert, Managing Director at Northern Light, said:  “Stewart’s Melville College is an Edinburgh institution housed within one of the most well known buildings in the city and we were thrilled to be able to be part of the transformation of the assembly hall. Our considerable experience of working within historical buildings ensured that the project remained on budget and finished to an extremely high standard.”