People exploring the streets at night to understand lighting considerations

We use night-time design to align community needs with how physical elements are designed, maintained and managed to create safe and inviting spaces for everyone. Our night-time design methodology looks beyond the constraints of statutory compliance and instead draws strength from a broader understanding of night-time equity, ecology and economics.  

  • Equity: our physical abilities, appearance, and past experiences can affect how we move around a city at night. Using stakeholder engagement and data, we consider design principles consistent with inclusive and inviting night-time spaces. 
  • Economy: 50 per cent of modern life happens after dark, but when retail and offices close, urban activity drops. Working with business communities, we can reassess the value of night-time urban design and use it to improve town activity, revenue and quality of life.
  • Ecology: night-time design can reduce negative impacts on ecosystems and improve ecological health in urban contexts. We identify specific ecological factors and develop creative solutions balancing the needs of people with the natural environment.
Night-time design at work
Night-time design is a multidisciplinary approach we use to create safe, inviting and ecologically sensitive spaces within the built environment, after dark. It considers lighting, safety, urban planning, ecology and economic factors, founded upon evidence based design.

Discover how we can help

Night-time workshop for community consultation

Our night-time workshops involve listening to the voices of the people who live in and use a space.

Night time workshop

Using their insights, we can design a better night-time experience, connecting spaces, neighbourhoods, and buildings.

For each workshop, up to 20 participants walk around a space at night with torches, reflecting on questions about how they feel in the space and learning about lighting. We focus on listening, and summarise all feedback and findings into a document for our client.

The workshops provide direct feedback from the public; qualitative data organisations can use to inform night-time changes and future investment. Feedback empowers our team to take an evidence-based approach and influence better outcomes through design.

Night-Time audit

Our Night-Time Audit tool gives organisations visibility of their spaces at night, providing a digital view of the environment.

Night audit example

We capture 360-degree scans of spaces at night and make them accessible via our digital platform Virtual Engage for a project's duration.

The tool empowers organisations to understand what happens in the space after dark and make changes to the environment. It provides evidence of a space's night-time conditions, eliminating assumptions supporting design teams to solve challenges and communicate better.

Night Insight - Virtual Night-Time Safety Consultation

Our Night Insight tool enhances traditional public consultations by offering a user-friendly, web-based platform for accessing and sharing detailed information about lighting proposals.

Night insight virtual assessment

The tool uses 360-degree night-time scans of chosen areas, allowing unlimited scans and area sizes tailored to organisations' needs. Users can provide feedback on specific safety concerns, and the tool's interactive features facilitate engagement. Its online accessibility enables easy sharing with constituents, the public, and business groups, offering a direct marketing opportunity to demonstrate proactive action on safety issues.

This approach empowers organisations to reach groups who don't typically attend consultation events and provides flexible consultation periods, including outside of winter when it is darker earlier.

Night-Time Vulnerability Assessment (NVA)

The NVA is an evidence-based perceived safety assessment of urban spaces at night, developed by lighting, risk, security, and resilience experts.

Night Time Vulnerability Assessment underway

It combines qualitative and quantitative approaches to analyse current conditions and recommend design changes improving gender-sensitive design, night-time activity, and safety perceptions.

Lighting and security are critical in improving people's experiences, fostering social interaction, and boosting local economies. The NVA helps organisations evaluate their spaces against an existing baseline dataset focused on urban conditions that promote safety for women and girls.

Using the assessment, organisations can gain a holistic overview of the practical and technical lighting infrastructure, urban design and security requirements when developing a future-proof night-time strategy or masterplan.

Find out more about the Night-time Vulnerability Assessment