Lighting retrofit

This is an excerpt from the minutes from our meeting in May 2019

The Ups and Downs of Lighting Retrofit

Tony Jones, Luceco

Recent years have seen advances in LEDS. 5 years ago, a 600mmx600mm unit used 45W - now it’s only 15W, half the price and with much shorted paybacks (1-2 years).

Edinburgh College case study - our steepest learning curve! We supplied and replaced about 7000 luminaries in 5 campus buildings within a 10 week period, working with a local installer.

• Lesson 1: surveys are crucial. We surveyed every luminaire in every room. The drawings didn’t match the buildings, so we had to re-do the ‘as fit’ drawings first
• Lesson 2: We had to add in wiring drawings which took. Ore time - the contractors had to investigate the electrical situation (eg live wires) and make sure we could deliver compliant (emergency) lighting
• Lesson 3: you have to consider the end user. The luminaries are a visible light source (not louvred): we have to sort out monitor glare which makes lighting trickier. Some people find it difficult to adjust to visible light sources, so we can go back in and change the light level of the luminaire (eg lower output). We can do this through control change, rather than having to replace the luminaire/fitting.

We have lots of other case studies, installing lots of different luminaires in different environments.  Critical to our success is to have lots of user/client meetings beforehand to properly understand their needs.

• Herts CC offices in Stevenage: 600lumen/W backlit panels at 300 sites
• Industrial setting case study at 26 Tata Steel sites across Europe – where a key learning is that LEDs don’t like hot environments!
• Interior and exterior lighting at a newbuild school in Letchworth, with paybacks of below 5 years
• In the health sector, Ashfields Primary Care Centre have seen £15k savings/year through the installation of 700 luminaires.

 For more information please visit https://www.luceco.com/