This fantastic achievement has been co-ordinated by the Belgian office of Robe’s Benelux distributor, Controllux, led by Mattias Ternoot in conjunction with Guillaume Canart of Nivelles-based integration and installation specialist, Inytium.

It is the biggest single deal for lighting fixtures delivered by Controllux Belgium, and the project is part of the drive to convert all venues in Belgium from conventional light sources to LED to enhance sustainability and reduce operational overheads and power consumption.

Six of the venues are in Brussels – Les Tanneurs, La Raffinerie, Le Botanique, Le Varia, Theatre National and Les Halles De Schaerbeek; three are in Liège - L’orchestre Philarmonique Royal, Le Manege Fonck and Le Forum, and the tenth one is Le Manege in Mons.

The lighting upgrade tender for all venues was handled by public authority La Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (FW-B) which owns and operates all these spaces.

Open demonstrations were held at each theatre, with several manufacturers present, allowing lighting heads and technical teams to independently compare the available options, and a seminar was also organised, addressing all aspects of transitioning from tungsten and halogen to LED lighting, illustrating the huge benefits.

The Robe fixtures delivered are T1 and T2 Profiles, T11 Profiles and PCs, LEDBeam 150 and 350s, ParFect 150 FWQ RGBWs, Tarrantulas, Spiiders, PAINTE Profiles, ESPRITES plus Tetra2s and TetraXs.

The venues vary from small and intimate with 200-seat studios to the most prestigious stages in the country at the National Theatre in Brussels.

A major reason Robe was selected was for the quality and consistency of the colour mixing between all the different products. This is something that Robe has long worked on and refined for a long time across all its product families which can be seamlessly and perfectly mixed and matched.

Another plus for Robe was that its theatre portfolio is also already very strong in Belgium.

The T11 specifically proved hugely popular with all the various lighting professionals involved in the selection process. They loved the versatility brought by this static fixture’s 5 - 50-degree zoom, so no more lens changing! Furthermore, everyone was impressed with the brightness and quality of the light output, making the T11 an ideal modern replacement for traditional 2K luminaires.

A third reason shaping everyone’s choice was that these theatres also all receive touring productions, so they need to be savvy about what’s-hot-and-what’s-not on riders. Robe being a popular rider-specified brand also helped.

The National Theatre in particular is frequently accommodating large international companies most of which will also have Robe on their specs. Here, the late and much-missed lighting specialist Romain Gueudré was instrumental in choosing Robe.

Furthermore, if any of these venues need more Robe luminaires for a production than they now have in their house rigs, the rental markets in Belgium, The Netherlands and France are all well stocked with additional fixtures.

So, with quality kit, additional rental availability and Inytium – one of the major and well-respected integrators – onboard to provide service and support, the combination proved to be a winner. On top of that, Controllux supplied excellent product awareness and training for all the crews receiving the fixtures.

Robe made up approximately 60% of the total of this order for re-equipping the venues, with the deliveries taking place over a 3-month period at the start of 2025.

Guillaume comments on the “excellent” support from both Robe and Controllux and underlines the importance of that fundamental long-term relationship between suppliers and manufacturers, especially in fulfilling a contract of this magnitude.

Belgium is also known for its stunning medieval towns, waterways, Renaissance architecture, distinctive gastronomy and as headquarters of the European Union and NATO. The country has several unique regions including Dutch-speaking Flanders to the north, French-speaking Wallonia to the south and a German-speaking community to the east. It is a truly dynamic multi-lingual melting pot of cultures and creativity with a compact 11 million population and constantly punches ‘above its weight’ on the world stage.

Photo Credit: Louise Stickland