REFURBISHMENT
Rooflight replacement delivers huge daylight gains Hambleside Danelaw recently undertook replacement of profiled rooflights at a large warehouse, with prior access to the site to undertake ‘before & after’ light surveys... The warehouse located in Wigan was being refurbished; the existing external rooflights were replaced using Zenon Evolution LC1 external rooflights. Thanks to refurbishment contractor NSS and their client TMT Group, Zenon manager Paul Hanratty and regional manager Dave Frankland were given access to the site to complete light surveys prior to the project commencement as well as after the installation had taken place. The warehouse is in two parts. Building 1 is a metal clad warehouse, the existing rooflights were double skin GRP, this was the original building, dating to pre-1996. The total coverage of rooflights amounted to 10.71% of the roof area. Building 2, also a metal clad warehouse, the existing rooflights were double skin GRP, acting as an adjoined extension to building 1 this dated to post-1996. The total coverage of rooflights amounted to 8.22% of the roof area. Before Zenon Evolution rooflights were installed and the existing inner rooflights were cleaned, initial readings were conducted on both buildings’ daylight factors. To best test the daylight factor, all internal artificial lights (with exception to emergency lighting due to health and safety) were switched off. Building 1 had a daylight
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September/October 2021
factor of 1.32% and Building 2’s was 1.37%. After the work was completed, further readings were taken. As with the prior visit all artificial lights were switched off, but this time, the emergency lighting was switched off too, as it was not deemed hazardous due to the improvement in the level of natural light being filtered through the rooflights. A member of the site management team commented that he didn’t understand why the lights had been on as turning them off had made no difference; the natural daylight coming from the rooflights was such that the artificial lights were not needed.
“The difference was astounding. Building 1 now had an average daylight factor of 3.72%, an increase of 181.82%... in Building 2, the improvement was even more evident with an increase of over 200%!”
The difference was astounding. Building 1 now had an average daylight factor of 3.72%, an increase of 181.82%! In Building 2, however, the improvement was even more evident with the daylight factor averaging 4.12%, an increase of over 200%! Now the two buildings will be saving on energy costs due to the reduced need for artificial lights. Zenon rooflights are designed to let natural daylight in. Used for both new builds and refurbishments, Hambleside Danelaw’s Zenon rooflights have the potential to allow three times more natural light into the interior space than a window or other vertical glazing the same size.
www.daylightingmag.co.uk
