Swanlea School in Whitechapel, London, appointed business performance and energy cost reduction consultant, Auditel, to review its energy performance, arrange a survey of the existing lighting and propose improvements.
The school, which was graded ‘outstanding’ in its most recent OFSTED assessment, was looking to save money, while also providing better facilities to support ongoing exceptional achievement.
An initial survey undertaken by Auditel was used as a basis to quote and as part of a wider tender process and modelled several different areas for both main lighting and emergency provision to confirm light levels would meet Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) guidelines. Swanlea School is sited in a dense urban area to the east of the City of London.
The building, designed by Percy Thomas Partnership with Hampshire County Architects, is laid out over three floors with a large full-height open central ‘street’ with a curved glass roof, where pupils and staff move along walkways and across bridges to access classrooms and facilities.
The school-wide LED lighting upgrade project included classrooms, store areas, offices, corridors, cloakrooms, sports facilities and assembly halls, with many different types of luminaire across over 2,000 light fittings in total.
The process identified that it would need to supply around 15 different types of light to provide the functionality required across so many diverse areas.
The unusual design of the buildings meant several customised fittings were needed to replace existing lighting Earlsmann and NCS score top marks for design and installation Working together with NCS Technology to install the lighting, Auditel appointed Earlsmann to undertake all LED works, following a bid and tender management process which resulted in the provision of a complete ‘one stop shop’ solution for all areas – delivering the LED upgrade project on time and to budget. Light levels throughout the school have improved.
The new LED lighting is virtually maintenance-free, has a long lifespan, offers a significant reduction in energy use and has cut the school’s CO2 emissions by approximately 58 tonnes each year.
Terry Stimson, the school site manager, was enthusiastic about the performance of the lighting – and the contractors used; saying that “lighting throughout the school has significantly improved” and “very impressed with the implementation which we hardly noticed they were there as they were extremely professional and provided an excellent, trouble-free installation”.
