WHEN you drive past the Trafford Centre shopping complex on the M60 at night, you can't miss the amazing multi-coloured light show.

Just as surprising is the fact that the lighting system is the work of a small company, tucked away in the back streets of Barrowford.

AC/DC Lighting is now one of Europe's leading architectural lighting specialists and has worked on showpiece projects as far afield as New Orleans, Dubai and Egypt.

But it was the £1million Trafford Centre contract that provided the big breakthrough and catapulted the company into the big time.

AC/DC was the junior partner in a joint bid for what was one of the UK's largest-ever lighting contracts. At the last minute, the larger partner pulled out, saying that the job was just too big.

"We took a big gulp and decided to go it alone," recalled sales and marketing director Gareth Frankland. "It was quite literally make-or-break time. The penalty clauses were horrendous and there was no way we could miss the deadlines and survive."

The first big problem came with the realisation that the company could not physically produce by traditional methods the 10 miles of lighting strips that the contract demanded. Each cold cathode tube was made by hand, with craftsmen "blowing" the glass fittings in a process that took around 15 minutes.

Operations director David Horsfield said the contract had been a big challenge from the outset. "There was no way we could make 16km of lamps by the traditional process," he said.

"So we decided to invest in some technology and designed our own manufacturing process. Every other lighting company in the world is still making them by hand."

In total, AC/DC installed 20,000 metres - 12 miles - of cold cathode tubing in the Trafford Centre over the nine-month contract, all designed and manufactured in Barrowford.

"The Trafford Centre contract gave us enormous credibility," said Gareth. "We had always been an innovative company, but when we knocked on the doors of architects in London, they just didn't want to know.

"People started to take us seriously and we were suddenly being asked to tender for work both in the UK and overseas."

The next major project was the lighting system for one of the world's finest new hotels, the Burj Al Arab at Dubai. AC/DC clinched the £500,000 contract in the face of stiff international competition.

Other contracts have ranged from lighting the showrooms for the luxury Lexus saloons to an exhibition centre in New Orleans. Most new shopping centre developments now incorporate products from AC/DC Lighting and a more local project is special lighting for the pool and gym at the Crow Wood Leisure complex at Burnley.

Innovation has always been at centre of the company's approach. AC/DC was first established around 1970 at Manchester Road, Burnley, and its early development of cold cathode tube technology was featured on BBC TV's Tomorrow's World. However, the company never fully exploited the commercial potential of the technology and the receivers moved in in 1994. Standel Dawman Holdings bought the business and transferred everything to its factory at Pasture Lane works in Barrowford.

At the time, AC/DC had a work-force of five and a turnover of £200,000 a year. Today, the company employs 26 people and its turnover has risen to £1.7million.

It has developed world-beating technology that enables lighting to be simultaneously dimmed and changed in colour. The company is now working on what it believes will be the next big thing in architectural lighting systems.

It is working in conjunction with the Netherlands-based Philips Group to develop commercial applications for the new generation of LED technology - light-emitting diodes.

"We have three people working full time on developing potential new products," said Gareth. "We brought together a group of top architects and showed them what the new technology could do.

"We asked them to go away and think how they could incorporate the new LED lighting into their designs and we are now working on their feedback."

The company has just invested £100,000 on new CNC equipment to manufacture its own light fittings and the new range of LED-based products will be launched in June at the National Exhibition Centre.

"We have great hopes for this new range," added Gareth. "We are at the leading edge of this new technology and we will be there on day one when it is adopted."

As part of its continuing sales drive, AC/DC Lighting has just launched its new web site - www.acdclighting.co.uk - to attract new customers both in the UK and overseas.