Speirs + Major collaborated with product designers Priestman Goode to create a new street light. The Sorento, designed for lighting group DW Windsor, was originally created for use in an urban lighting project in Cambridge, but has since been commercialized for use in other public spaces.

The project arose out of a lighting strategy Speirs + Major developed for the City of Cambridge in the 1990s, which led to an opportunity to develop a light column. DW Windsor then came on board to produce the Sorento design, and a prototype was installed in Cambridge.

The street light was developed in response to the lack of lighting products suitable for historic areas. Designer Paul Priestman said: ‘When you’re specifying for historical areas, you either get appalling heritage Victoriana, or you get inappropriate modern designs. We wanted to create something in-between.’

Mark Major added: ‘The success of this product is that it works in a historic context. We built up an aesthetic based on what we knew planners and heritage bodies would accept, and we were conscious of what it takes to insert modern performance sensitively into a historic context.’

A key feature of the light is the way heat is managed away from sensitive components such as control chips and sensors. Alan Grant, design and development manager for DW Windsor, said: ‘The light runs exceptionally coolly, which gives it a very long life.

Speirs + Major and Priestman Goode have previously worked together on Heathrow’s Terminal 5.