Architectural Emergency Lighting
At Béhar, we’ve been pioneering elegant and eco-designed emergency lighting made in France. We create luminaires that combine safety and aesthetics to ensure safe building evacuation while preserving architectural integrity.
Made in France
We design, develop, and manufacture disruptive, eco-conscious exit signs, escape route lighting, and anti-panic luminaires in France.
Our steel, wood, and screen-printed pictograms are produced and assembled in Île-de-France.
As part of the Schneider Electric group, our electronic boards and plastic housings are manufactured in Italy, at our factory near Bologna.
These strategic production sites allow us to reduce our carbon footprint while ensuring a responsive supply chain and optimized delivery times.
Design for all architectures
Since 1960, we have been creating functional designs that provide architects and project teams with elegant, flexible solutions that integrate seamlessly into any building’s architecture. From materials, shapes, and colors to mounting options and fixing accessories, our products can be fully customized to meet every requirement.
Our technical expertise allows us to design emergency lighting collections that are both functional and aesthetic, while maintaining simplicity.
Steel, wood, recycled plastic — we combine robust materials with clean lines to create elegant, timeless luminaires.
Advice and support
Our team collaborates with architects, design offices, and installers to select and customize the ideal emergency lighting. We deliver responsive service, high-quality solutions, and reliable manufacturing schedules — ensuring your projects run smoothly from start to finish.
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Design and technical office
We listen closely to our clients’ specific needs and leverage our technical expertise to create custom designs or solve complex engineering challenges. Our Vista Cinema luminaire is a perfect example of this approach: when the French Cinema Federation reached out to us, we engineered a solution tailored to the exact requirements of cinema operators.
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Technical Specification Support
We provide comprehensive support for preparing Technical Specification Documents. Our experts help define precise technical requirements and select solutions that perfectly match your project needs.
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Fondation
In 1960, Alfred Béhar was just 22 when he founded Béhar Sécurité to design and manufacture France’s first architectural emergency lighting. Recognizing the limitations of standard industrial products, which focused solely on regulatory compliance, he imagined something better: emergency lighting that truly complemented architecture. Working closely with architects, he developed evacuation luminaires featuring refined designs and premium materials that enhance — rather than compromise — building aesthetics.
Innovation
A trailblazer, Alfred Béhar invented the first self-contained safety unit (BAES) and registered a patent for it in 1960. A true innovator, he went on to shape industry standards. In 1974, emergency lighting became regulated in France, introducing specific standards to ensure safe evacuation. From that point, demand soared, and Alfred Béhar’s creativity knew no bounds. In 1985, he designed and produced the first edge-mounted emergency lighting unit for the headquarters of the Canal+ television channel, known as the Spark series. To celebrate its 40th anniversary, we launched a redesigned version featuring a square pictogram: LUCE, the most compact luminaire available today.
Schneider Electric
In 2006, Schneider Electric — the global leader in electrical equipment and energy management — acquired Béhar Sécurité. This partnership allows us to navigate local regulations while delivering our solutions worldwide.
Eco-responsibility
Our luminaires are engineered with optimized component counts and simplified assembly processes, making repair and reconditioning easier. We maintain a comprehensive inventory of spare parts for all our models. For products using older technologies, we offer upgrade kits that preserve existing supports and pictograms. Our emergency lighting solutions are designed to meet both current standards and future challenges.
