False ceiling &
lighting design.

Gypsum board on a GI channel grid is our default: it is factory-made, dimensionally stable, and it takes a crisp shadow gap or a straight cove without cracking along the joint. POP still earns its place for curved profiles, domes and heavy cornice work, where it can be modelled on site. In most flats we use gypsum for the flat planes and POP only where the drawing curves.

Not if it is planned. We measure the slab-to-floor height first, run the ducting and conduits through a planned service void, and drop only the bands that need to carry services or light — leaving the centre of the room at full height. A peripheral drop with a cove reads taller than a flat slab, not shorter.

Three jobs done by three different fittings. Ambient light fills the room, task light lands on the worktop, the desk or the mirror, and accent light picks out art, texture or a niche. Put all three on separate circuits and one room becomes four moods without changing a single lamp.

Warm white around 2700K–3000K for bedrooms, living and dining, where skin tones and timber need to look right. Neutral 4000K over kitchen worktops, study desks and wardrobe interiors, where you need to see clearly. We keep the temperature consistent within a sightline — nothing looks worse than a warm ceiling next to a cold one.

Only if the circuit was wired for it beforehand, which is why dimming is decided at the drawing stage. We split the ceiling into dimmable and switched groups, specify drivers that actually dim without flicker, and mark the dimmer positions on the electrical layout before the boards go up.

From beam angle and mounting height, not from a rule of thumb. A narrow beam throws a tight pool and needs closer spacing; a wider beam covers more floor and can sit further apart. We plan the grid so the pools overlap gently at working height, and we keep the fittings aligned to the room, not to the joists.