Guidance
January/February 2021
WORKING KNOWLEDGE LG20: Lighting and Facilities Management will be the first guidance issued by the SLL specifically for FMs. Its author Sophie Parry outlines why the publication was needed and what areas it covers erhaps the first issue to address is, if you work in facilities management, why do you need LG20? I have worked with many facilities managers who at some time have to carry out work to a lighting installation. That could be repairs or remedial work or even replacing the installation because it is at the end of its useful life due to obsolescence, or the more recent trend of upgrading to LED lighting as an energy-saving initiative.
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Facilities managers may or may not be experts in lighting and will therefore possibly depend on those they believe are the experts to help them with the lighting works they need to undertake for their clients. I think it's fair to say that in all walks of life we have all at some point placed our faith in those we believe are experts, only to find that the outcome is not quite what we or the client was expecting and that a lesson has just been learned the hard way.
It is easy to fall into the trap of simply replacing existing lighting with fittings that claim the lowest energy consumption, for instance. Chasing down power consumption to cut the electricity bill and reduce the payback period is the name of the game – right? Well, not exactly. Think for a minute about the people who will have to work, study or enjoy their recreational time under this super low energy update. If the quality of light does not meet established metrics, then the experience of the people may well be less than enjoyable, an outcome unwittingly introduced by an uninformed, so-called lighting ‘upgrade’. The direct replacement of older technology lamps (usually fluorescent) with LED direct fit lamps can also be problematic. They may fit, they may light up and the energy consumption may well be reduced. It’s doubtful, though, that the quality of light output from the luminaire will provide the required quality of light. Good energy efficiency is a valid metric, but it should never be at the expense of appropriate electric lighting quality, relevant to the application in the space concerned. Lighting can be a complex subject, but like most complex subjects, it can be broken
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