National Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery was formally established in 1856. It was the first portrait gallery in the world when it opened.

The art gallery, which is found in St Martin’s Place, London, houses the largest portrait collection in the world. The gallery displays portraits of famous personalities and faces of people who have shaped British history from the Middle Ages through to the modern day. Alongside the permanent displays, the gallery also host a number of exhibitions.

The National Portrait Gallery needed a responsive electrical coordinator to work closely with the in-house engineering department to carry out various lighting improvements planned for the gallery.

Sensitive electrical installation specialists

With expertise in sensitive electrical installations in museums and galleries, Eaton Electrical were approached. Due to the project being carried out on a listed building with sensitive contents, Eaton took a great deal of care and attention whilst working out-of-hours to install low energy LED lighting, high colour rendering, dimming and control systems.

Following a number of installations, improved lighting has helped to enhance new and existing exhibitions, bringing the portraits to life. To protect and preserve the rare and valuable paintings, a lower temperature and a decrease in the level of UV lights in the gallery was enabled.

All of the above has contributed to the gallery performing with a lower energy consumption.

As a result of the successful work Eaton Electrical were instructed to work with National Portrait Gallery to reduce energy consumption and improve lighting in other areas of the building.