Legrand Adds Shade Controls with Acquisition of Solarfective Products Limited

Legrand, North America, West Hartford, Conn., moved into the market for commercial building shading systems with the acquisition of Solarfective Products Limited, Toronto, Ont., a manufacturer of standard and custom shading systems including roller shades and skylights. Solarfective will become part of Legrand, North America’s Building Control Systems business.

Daylighting is now part of the evolving energy codes requiring coordination of passive sources with artificial lighting. Legrand said in a release that the integration of Solarfective’s shading systems with Legrand’s active lighting control will enable Legrand to coordinate these various lighting systems, providing architects, designers, specifiers, and facility managers with a broad, strategic range of energy efficient, commercial lighting solutions.

“High-performance buildings and energy codes are continually evolving. This acquisition is about providing our customers better, more integrated solutions for passive and active lighting control to meet the evolving demands of today’s buildings,” said John Selldorff, president and chief executive officer, Legrand, North America. “The solutions Solarfective and Qmotion have brought to Legrand will enable us to be a more strategic partner for all of our commercial and residential customers.”

Legrand said shades are a key subsystem of high-performance buildings as they help to manage both the thermal load and passive light.

“We are thrilled to be joining Legrand,” said Anise Odeh, owner and president of Solarfective. “I am confident this partnership will continue Solarfective’s growth into new markets and provide further technological advancements in commercial shading and lighting systems integration.”

The combination of Solarfective’s commercial offerings with Legrand’s recent acquisition of Qmotion Advanced Shading Systems for residential markets, position Legrand as a single source provider covering the breadth of construction and retrofit applications.

The addition of Solarfective positions Legrand to go head-to-head with Lutron, which has had shade controls as part of their package for many years.