Hospitality lighting levels by space: what the standards actually say

At a glance

lx is lux. Figures are quoted only where read in the document named on 5 Nov 2026. “None read” means the governing document is paywalled and was not read.

Who publishes what, and how much we could read

Illuminance, in lux, is how much light falls on a surface: lumens per square metre (HSE HSG38 glossary). The hard question is who says how much a room should have, and for the rooms a designer asks about most, lobbies, restaurants, bars, guestrooms, the answer sits in documents that are not free to read. The table sets out what each source covers and how much of it we could read for this sheet.

Two statements from the sources we could read frame the problem. The Society of Light and Lighting’s guide to communal residential buildings (LG9, August 2022) says it does not cover hotels, and that hotels generally have their own corporate specification for lighting. And the portal description of its guide to licensed premises (LG18, 2018) says lighting in those venues has to suit the mood and brand of the venue as well as meet safety and escape needs. In a hotel, then, the level for a guest area is usually a design decision made by a lighting designer to a brand standard, not a figure read off a table.

What BS EN 12464-1 does and does not say

BS EN 12464-1:2021 is the standard people usually cite. The BSI listing describes it as setting requirements for the lighting of indoor work places, for the visual comfort and performance of people with normal or corrected vision, in terms of quantity and quality of light, with a schedule of requirements and a verification procedure. It also says two things that matter here: it does not specify lighting requirements with respect to the safety and health of people at work, and it does not apply to emergency lighting, which BS EN 1838 and EN 13032-3 cover.

In a hotel or restaurant, “work place” means the places staff do tasks: the kitchen, the reception desk, offices, the working surfaces of a bar. It is a standard about seeing a task, not about how a dining room should feel. A guest’s table is not a workplace, and LG18 says licensed-premises lighting has to suit the mood and brand of the venue. So a figure taken from the EN 12464-1 schedule for a restaurant describes the staff’s tasks at most; it is not a target for the room.

Supplier web pages quote EN 12464-1 rows for hotels and restaurants, often as if they were hospitality targets. We could not check them against the standard, which is paywalled, so none appears in the tables on this sheet. The SLL’s LG16 shows how the documents relate: it says the stair levels in the SLL Code for Lighting are based on BS EN 12464-1. The CIBSE page for the 2012 edition of the Code says that, since the British Standards took over the recommendations, the Code explains how to interpret and apply them; we did not read a description of the 2022 edition.

The figures that are openly published

The openly published numbers are few, and they answer narrower questions than “what should a dining room have”.

HSE guidance for workplace tasks

The Health and Safety Executive’s Lighting at work (HSG38, second edition 1997, web version) gives the table below on page 28. It gives an average illuminance for the area and a minimum measured illuminance at any point, because using only the average can leave some places darker than is safe (paragraph 93). For movement, the guide says only safety has been considered. For the limited-detail and detail rows it says the purpose is to avoid visual fatigue and that the levels will be adequate for safety.

The same guide sets maximum ratios of illuminance between adjacent areas (page 30): 5 to 1 where a task is lit above its surroundings or where two adjacent working areas differ, and 10 to 1 between two working areas separated by a barrier with frequent movement between them. Its example lights an interior to 500 lx, which would need an adjacent area at 50 lx, so a transition zone is needed rather than a sudden drop to the 20 lx movement figure. It is workplace guidance from 1997, and HSG38 itself points to the CIBSE Code for lighting for the fuller recommendations.

The law and the Approved Documents

• Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, regulation 8 (Great Britain): suitable and sufficient lighting, natural light so far as reasonably practicable, and emergency lighting where people at work are specially exposed to danger if artificial lighting fails. The approved code of practice (L24, 2013, paragraphs 81 to 89) gives no lux figures; it asks that stairs be kept well lit without shadows over the main part of the treads (paragraph 82). These duties are to people at work; how they apply to guest areas is a question for the operator’s advisers.
• Approved Document M Volume 2 (England, 2015 edition incorporating 2024 amendments), definition of “contrast visually” in paragraph 0.26 (page 15): a light reflectance value difference of more than 30 points, or a minimum of 20 points where illuminance on the surfaces is above 200 lux. Paragraph 4.34 (page 45) asks that artificial lighting give good colour rendering of surfaces without glare, pools of bright light or strong shadows.
• Approved Document L Volume 2 (England): fixed lighting should achieve levels appropriate to the activity and spaces should not be over-illuminated, with design based on the SLL Lighting Handbook or an equivalent guide in the 2021 edition (paragraph 6.59, page 52) and on the SLL Code for Lighting or an equivalent in the 2026 edition (paragraph 5.64, page 55). Its definition of display lighting includes spaces for public leisure and entertainment, naming restaurants (2021 page 85, 2026 page 87); see Part L and chandeliers. Table B1 of the 2026 edition (page 94) lists illuminance bands from 50 to 1,000 lx, but only as an input to the energy limit in the LENI method, not as a recommendation.

Uniformity and how it is measured

Uniformity says how evenly light falls on a surface. The International Lighting Vocabulary defines illuminance uniformity as the minimum illuminance divided by the average illuminance on a surface, a number with no unit (CIE S 017:2020, e-ILV 17-29-160, symbol Uo). It is measured on a stated plane over a stated area, usually at a grid of points. The drawing works one example: twelve invented readings with an average of 135 lx and a minimum of 109 lx give a uniformity of 0.81.

HSG38 does not use the ratio. It asks for an average and a minimum measured illuminance (page 28 above). BS EN 12464-1 and the SLL guides give uniformity values we have not read. Three points hold whichever document the number comes from:

• A uniformity figure means nothing without its plane and area. The working plane is the horizontal, vertical or inclined plane on which the task lies (HSG38 glossary). State the height, the area and the scene.
• In a restaurant or bar, even light over the whole floor is not the aim. Hospitality schemes use pools of light and darker surrounds, so uniformity is normally set on the task areas, the tables and the bar top, and the ratio between neighbouring areas is a design decision. HSG38’s 5 to 1 and 10 to 1 ratios are workplace limits.
• Levels fall as lamps age and fittings get dirty. HSG38 (paragraph 76) says lamps and luminaires need cleaning and replacing because illuminance declines with age. Say whether a target is maintained or initial. The SLL Code covers the maintenance factor, and its Commissioning Code L: Lighting (2018) covers commissioning; neither was read.

Putting it in the brief

You cannot read a hospitality lux target off a free page, so the brief should make someone accountable for setting it and for proving it.

• Ask the lighting designer for a target table by space, each row naming its source: a standard and edition, an SLL guide, or the brand standard. A figure from a web page is not a source.
• Tie every target to a scene. A restaurant has a lunch scene and an evening scene; the same room has two levels. Say which dimming level the number belongs to.
• Keep escape and stair lighting separate. Emergency and stair lighting follow their own documents and should not be reduced by a decorative scene.
• Decorative fittings may not come with the photometric data a calculation needs. Ask the maker for it, or treat the fitting’s contribution as unquantified and prove the level by measurement.
• Measure at commissioning, with a calibrated meter, on the grid shown on the drawing, in each named scene.

The wording below does that. It leaves every number to the lighting designer.

Lighting designer to issue a target table by space and scene before the layout is fixed. For each row: maintained average illuminance [ ] lx, not less than [ ] lx at any measuring point, on the [horizontal plane at [ ] mm above finished floor / table tops / bar top], uniformity (minimum divided by average) not less than [ ] over [the task areas]. Name the source of each target ([BS EN 12464-1 edition / SLL guide / brand standard]). Supplier web pages are not accepted as a source.

Targets apply at the named scene [lunch / evening / late] at [ ] per cent dimming. Illuminance ratio between [the arrival area] and [the restaurant] not more than [ ] to 1, with a transition zone of [ ] m. Maker to supply photometric data for decorative fittings, or the effect is confirmed by measurement.

Emergency escape and stair lighting to [BS 5266-1 / BS EN 1838] and [SLL LG16] as applicable, by [the emergency lighting designer]. No scene or dimming setting is to reduce lighting on stairs or escape routes below the design level of [ ] lx.

Illuminance measured with a calibrated meter ([class], certificate dated within [ ] months) at the grid on drawing [ ], in each named scene, after the lamps have stabilised. Readings recorded and signed by [name] and compared with the target table; any point below target is corrected and remeasured before handover.

Standards and sources

• BS EN 12464-1:2021 (BSI, 31 Aug 2021) and the SLL (CIBSE) Code for Lighting, Lighting Handbook, LG9, LG16 and LG18: BSI listing and CIBSE portal pages read 5 Nov 2026; paywalled, not read. Confirm against the current editions.
• HSE HSG38 (1997) and L24 (2013); Approved Documents M Vol 2 and L Vol 2 (England): HSG38 pages 28 to 30; L24 regulation 8; ADM 0.26 and 4.34; ADL 2021 6.59, 2026 5.64 and Table B1; all read 5 Nov 2026.
• CIE S 017:2020 International Lighting Vocabulary (e-ILV): entry 17-29-160, read 5 Nov 2026. BS 5266-1 and BS EN 1838 (emergency lighting) are named, not read.

Questions we are asked

What lux level should a hotel lobby, restaurant or bar have?

We cannot give one from a source we could read. The documents that set recommended levels for these spaces (BS EN 12464-1, the SLL Code for Lighting, SLL LG18) are paywalled, and hotels usually follow a brand standard. Ask the lighting designer for a target table by space and scene, with the source of each figure named.

Is BS EN 12464-1 the standard for hotel lighting?

It is a standard for the lighting of indoor workplaces, according to the BSI listing. In a hotel that covers staff tasks such as the kitchen, reception desk and offices. It does not set guest-room or dining-room atmosphere, and BSI says it does not specify safety and health requirements or cover emergency lighting.

What lux is needed in a corridor or on a stair?

HSE guidance for workplace circulation routes (HSG38, 1997) gives 20 lx average and 5 lx minimum measured, for safety only. Stairs have their own SLL guide (LG16), and escape routes follow BS 5266-1 and BS EN 1838; we could not read those, so check them with the lighting or emergency lighting designer.

What is lighting uniformity?

Illuminance uniformity is the minimum illuminance on a surface divided by the average. A value of 0.8 means the darkest point is 80 per cent of the average. It only makes sense with the plane, the area and the scene stated, and in a restaurant it is normally set on the tables rather than the whole floor.

How are lux levels checked after installation?

With a calibrated illuminance meter, at a grid of points on the plane the target is set on, in each named scene, after the lamps have stabilised. The specification should say who measures, which points and which scenes, and require any shortfall to be corrected and remeasured.