Lighting Journal November/ December 21

Professional best practice from the Institution of Lighting Professionals

November/ December 2021

THREE SPIRES, ONE TRANSFORMATION Relighting, and reimagining, Coventry’s iconic ‘three spires’ RIDERS ON THE STORM How the supply chain crisis is causing a ‘perfect storm’ for lighting WEMBLEY WAYFINDING The stunning new lighting scheme bringing fans to Wembley Stadium

The publication for all lighting professionals

M621 Motorway

J5 - J7 has upgraded with the Highway Diamond™ Elite Range.

•

Replaced 250W and 400W SON lanterns between junction 5 and 7.

•

Supplied 171 Maxi / Midi Highway Diamonds.

•

Supplied with lanyards as requested by the client.

ASD Lighting PLC, Mangham Road, Barbot Hall Industrial Estate, Rotherham, S61 4RJ, United Kingdom

Scan to view the Case Study Video

ASDLIGHTING.COM

+44 (0) 1709 374898

SALES@ASDLIGHTING.COM

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

3

Contents RIDERS ON THE 06STORM

The supply chain crisis facing the UK, and the lighting industry, has not been caused by one single issue but is the result of a ‘perfect storm’ of shipping logjams, raw material shortages, spiralling prices, Brexit, Covid-19, and labour shortages.

ILP members gathered in the autumn to discuss what the industry can do

16

THREE SPIRES, ONE TRANSFORMATION

38WEMBLEY WAYFINDING

16

06

GETTING SMARTER 46 ABOUT SMART

LIGHTING

22

‘‘IT WAS EXTREMELY REWARDING’

Between working with Grade 1 listed structures, managing health at safety at height and even having to deal with nesting peregrine falcons, relighting Coventry’s three spires brought with it some serious practical headaches. But, as contractor Sean Turner outlines, it was one of the most rewarding projects he has ever worked on

USE THIS AS 26‘‘LET’S AN OPPORTUNITY’

Research published over the summer arguing that street lighting, in particular LED, was having a detrimental effect on insect population has, understandably, caused something of a stir within the lighting community. The ILP’s Peter Harrison has provided a response

In response to the ILP’s statement on the Science Advances research on lighting and insects, report author Douglas Boyes outlines answers to what he argues are some of the key questions facing the lighting community

The over-enthusiastic adoption of LED presents a threat to nocturnal wildlife around the world, especially moths and insects, argues former Lighting Journal editor Carl Gardner. It is even having an impact in an obscure and once pristine corner of northern Sicily

England may have been denied glory in the Euro 2020 finals in the summer, but the championship did serve to highlight and showcase the stunning new lighting scheme now running down Olympic Way to Wembley Stadium

The new lighting scheme for Coventry’s iconic ‘three spires’ is the pinnacle of the city’s lighting-led transformation as part of becoming UK City of Culture this year.

But getting it right while staying true to the vision and the integrity of the original scheme at times proved challenging, as Jo Shore and Andy Hart explain, with an additional commentary from Mark Major

‘‘I HOPE OUR STUDY 28 WILL HELP OPEN A

DIALOGUE’

MOTHS TO THE 32FLAME?

Two webinars held by LDC Bristol over the summer provided an update on the European Union’s Interreg 2-seas Smart Light Concepts (SLIC), including preliminary conclusions on how municipalities and councils can maximise smart public lighting

38

52END-OF-LIFE CARE

In June, a consortium spearheaded by lighting firm TRILUX launched the two-year project called ‘SUMATRA’. As Dr Sebastian Knoche and Vick Nanthan outline, it is exploring new ways of efficiently reusing and recycling LEDs beyond their primary ‘end of life’.

INFORMS AND 56‘‘BOTH INSPIRES’

In her latest book, veteran lighting designer Sally Storey has addressed how lighting designers can elevate residential lighting from the humdrum to the visually stunning. Lighting designer Sunny Sribanditmongkol investigates

46

‘‘WE MUST ENGAGE 58 WITH THE NEXT

GENERATION’

With the departure of Tracey White, this month sees the arrival of a new Chief Executive at the ILP, Justin Blades.

Lighting Journal fired up Microsoft Teams to find out all about him and his likely priorities for the Institution

p COVER PICTURE

56

THE HOME OF ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING EXCELLENCE

Coventry’s iconic ‘three spires’, showing (from left to right) Christchurch, Holy Trinity and St Michael’s Cathedral. Turn to page 16 where Jo Shore and Andy Hart explain how their new lighting scheme has been the pinnacle of the city’s Year of Culture transformation this year, with additional commentaries from Mark Major, Balfour Beatty’s Sean Turner and Rob Marsh from WE-EF

anolislighting.com www.theilp.org.uk

fresh thinking trusted technology

AMENITY

FUNCTIONAL

BELISHA

HERITAGE

GEAR TRAYS

SMART

SIGNS & BOLLARDS

CONTEMPORARY

Over 140 Councils

Trust INDO to deliver product and service excellence Market-leading On-Time Delivery Performance

Superior Technical Expertise

World-class Product Quality Standards

Lowest Maintenance & Whole Life Costs

Outstanding Customer Service & Support

Widest Retrofit Gear Tray Range in Europe

Discover the Direct Drive range www.indolighting.com/discover

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

5

Editor’s letter

T

Volume 86 No 10 November/ December 2021 President Fiona Horgan Chief Executive Justin Blades Editor Nic Paton BA (Hons) MA Email: nic@cormorantmedia.co.uk

Lighting Journal’s content is chosen and evaluated by volunteers on our reader panel, peer review group and a small representative group which holds focus meetings responsible for the strategic direction of the publication.

If you would like to volunteer to be involved, please contact the editor. We also welcome reader letters to the editor.

Design George Eason Email: george@matrixprint.com Advertising Manager Andy Etherton Email: andy@matrixprint.com Published by Matrix Print Consultants Ltd on behalf of Institution of Lighting Professionals Regent House, Regent Place, Rugby CV21 2PN Telephone: 01788 576492 E-mail: info@theilp.org.uk Website: www.theilp.org.uk Produced by

he term ‘perfect storm’ can get over-used these days, often describing anything from a series of minor upsets or irritations to our day-to-day routine right through to quite literal life-transforming natural or manmade disasters.

However, I do think on this occasion it is the right phrase to describe what lighting as an industry is currently facing in terms of supply chain pressures, price hikes, pinch-points and shortages. As members told the ‘Hi Lights’ event held by the ILP in September specifically to discuss the crisis, and which we report on from page six, there is no one single factor that can be blamed.

To an extent, any one of the tensions currently at play – including shipping and container blockages, a post-Covid shortage of raw materials, and the lack of HGV drivers and new Brexit red tape when goods do finally reach the UK – would potentially have caused a headache for lighting.

The fact that all these pressures have combined at the same time is therefore both seriously bad luck and a serious worry for the industry. The current crisis has been exacerbated by a combination of one-off events, such as the knock-on impact on supply chains from the Ever Given container ship getting stuck in the Suez Canal earlier this year and, as Lisa Chiles, street lighting partnership manager for Angus, Dundee City and Perth & Kinross councils highlighted at the Hi Lights event, more systemic issues such as the industry’s long-term talent and skills’ shortages.

Identifying the problem (or problems) is the easy bit, however. Identifying the solutions or how (or even whether) the industry can respond is quite another matter. As ILP Vice President – Products Scott Pengelly writes in this edition, the key is going to be encouraging clear communication and education, and well as transparency and honesty, on all sides within the industry to explain problems and delays and to manage expectations.

As Scott puts it: ‘If we are to protect ourselves and others from the effects of the issues discussed, now is the time for us to come together and work as one within this industry.’

I also, however, think Michael Grubb makes an important point in our supply chain coverage. The current crisis has illustrated very starkly how little it takes in our modern, increasingly interconnected, commercial world to disrupt just-in-time supply chains.

The global nature of the industry – and manufacturing more widely – is a fact of life and probably not going to change anytime soon. Yet, especially against the backdrop of the momentum towards more sustainable, circular economy-based models and approaches, I agree with Michael that, arguably, there is an opportunity to use this crisis to look afresh at how lighting’s supply chains are structured. Does everything need to be quite so global or globally sourced?

I’m not suggesting for a moment to have the answers to what are undoubtedly complex knots to unravel. Equally, I appreciate this sort of blue-skies thinking is not going to resolve the short-term pain (and we all hope it is only short term) many within the industry are experiencing. But, especially with the COP26 climate change conference taking place in Glasgow this month, if new approaches, thinking and creativity can eventually emerge then maybe something positive might have come from this crisis, and that’s only to be welcomed.

Nic Paton Editor

Matrix Print Consultants Ltd Unit C,Northfield Point, Cunliffe Drive, Kettering, Northants NN16 9QJ Tel: 01536 527297 Email: gary@matrixprint.com Website: www.matrixprint.com

Corrections and clarifications One of the priorities of Lighting Journal is to promote and celebrate diverse voices within the industry, especially female lighting professionals. Which makes it doubly embarrassing that in last month’s edition, on page 22, we described Amparo Ferri, sales engineer at Pudsey Diamond, as ‘he’ when she very definitely is not! So our sincere apologies to Amparo for our inadvertent unconscious bias and for that error.

© ILP 2021

The views or statements expressed in these pages do not necessarily accord with those of The Institution of Lighting Professionals or the Lighting Journal’s editor. Photocopying of Lighting Journal items for private use is permitted, but not for commercial purposes or economic gain. Reprints of material published in these pages is available for a fee, on application to the editor.

DIVINE™

SUBSCRIPTIONS

ILP members receive Lighting Journal every month as part of their membership. You can join the ILP online, through www.theilp.org.uk. Alternatively, to subscribe or order copies please email Diane Sterne at diane@theilp.org.uk. The ILP also provides a Lighting Journal subscription service to many libraries, universities, research establishments, non-governmental organisations, and local and national governments.

HIGHLIGHTING OUR HERITAGE LIGHTING SOLUTIONS FOR HERITAGE BUILDINGS

anolislighting.com

www.theilp.org.uk

6

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

The supply chain crisis facing the UK, and the lighting industry, has not been caused by one single issue but is the result of a ‘perfect storm’ of shipping logjams, raw material shortages, spiralling prices, Brexit, Covid-19, and labour shortages.

ILP members gathered in the autumn to discuss what the industry can do

By Nic Paton

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Lighting and the supply chain crisis

F

rom queuing up for hours to fill your tank through to grabbing the last loo rolls off an empty supermarket shelf, we’ve all felt the supply chain crisis that has gripped the UK over past few weeks.

Lighting these days relies on interconnected, often complex and often ‘just-in-time’ global supply chains. So it is perhaps no surprise that, as an industry, it too has been buffeted by what many have been describing as a ‘perfect storm’ of shipping problems, raw material shortages, rising prices, Brexit, labour and skills shortages, and the ongoing fallout (as well as global economic recovery) from Covid-19.

The Highway Electrical Association (HEA) in June released a statement highlighting that the industry was facing ‘unprecedented times’ through the combination of ‘major changes in trading arrangements; Brexit, which almost slipped under the radar; a global pandemic and the now forgotten Suez Canal blockage’ [1].

It added: ‘All of these are now compounded by the shipping backlog in China’s Pearl River Delta, with hundreds of container ships waiting for berths to become available. This blockage already surpasses that which occurred when the Ever Given got stuck in the Suez Canal earlier this year and is likely to lead to extended delays for electrotechnical products.’

So, how are lighting professionals and ILP members being affected? To try to find out, the ILP held a special themed ‘Hi Lights’ virtual get-together in September to discuss the supply chain crisis, its causes and consequences, and whether members had any thoughts on possible solutions.

UNFOLDING CRISIS

The event was opened by Scott Pengelly, head of application – road and street at Thorn Lighting and the ILP’s Vice-President Products, who highlighted that he and the ILP had been taking a key interest in the unfolding crisis for some time.

‘The issue surrounding supply chain problems is something that those of us who work on the commercial or manufacturing side within lighting have probably been aware of for about six to seven months now. Certainly from the start of this year, 2021, we started to see issues cropping up,’ he said.

‘It was a subject I shared around the vice president team at the ILP because I felt it is an issue we should probably raise as an industry. People, clearly, are

The global supply crisis has caused fuel and food shortages as well as led to blockages and hold-ups in ports

having supply chain issues, and that has knock-on effects all the way through, from those who are specifying, those who are trying to deliver installations and the contractors on site. So I think this is a really key and interesting subject and one that it is only right we need to be discussing.’

Bob Gaskell, contracts director at CU Phosco Lighting but also attending in his capacity as president of the HEA, highlighted the impact that soaring raw material prices were having. ‘Sheet steel prices over the last six months have gone from £6.50 a ton to over £1,400 a ton. So, when you’re building a high mast of standard size, obviously the implication on cost, not only for us but our clients, is immense,’ he said.

‘As a lighting manufacturer, we are also having problems getting LED boards. There is a shortage of LED boards throughout the world,’ he continued, adding that growing demand for copper from Germany, the US, Japan and, especially, China as their economies recovered from Covid was pushing up prices here too.

‘I do a lot of port work and container prices have gone through the roof.

What was a standard container was about £1,000-£1,500, you’re now talking £15,000,’ Bob also highlighted.

‘There is a big backlog at the ports, too. We had the problem with the Suez Canal [when it was blocked by the Ever Given] but you have also the issue that if you go past any port, Harwich or Felixstowe or wherever, there are now massive queues just to get stuff unloaded. And this is being witnessed throughout the world.

‘It is affecting the whole supply chain; it is not only me as a contractor and manufacturer but also consultants www.theilp.org.uk

7

8

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Lighting and the supply chain crisis trying to deliver jobs, specifying certain products at the start and then trying to deliver those products at the end.

For example, we’ve done a recent installation at Schiphol Airport and on the 40m mast we use dampeners, which come from a company in America. We ordered them back in May, the mast has gone up, but we are still waiting for the dampeners. You get a delivery date and then things just get pushed back and pushed back again,’ Bob added.

DELAYED ORDERS

Gary Thorne, lighting service manager at FM Conway, highlighted that orders going back to April and May were still being delayed. ‘It is especially on the column side. For our Westminster contract, for example, we have to have a certain pole size and we are really struggling to get anything through.

‘I keep on saying to my suppliers, “if it is three months, tell me it’s four, if it’s five months, tell me it’s six”, I’d rather go in on the long side at the moment and know where I’m going. Also, it affects my bottom line, and all contractors are the same. I have to predict when I am going to do things each month and I have to do that in advance.

At the moment, we’re falling well short because we simply cannot get the product.’

Echoing Bob Gaskell, Nick Smith, of Nick Smith Associates, highlighted that the price of both aluminium and copper ‘had gone through the roof ’. He added: ‘Everything has gone up, hasn’t it? Talking to a lot of suppliers, people can’t get hold of drivers now; some manufacturers will give you alternative drivers if they can’t get a particular brand. It is a huge problem.’

Ian McDonald, national sales manager at Norsk Hydro, agreed. ‘There is a global shortage of aluminium at the moment, and it is driving up prices. It has not gone up as much as steel has; it has probably gone up in the region of 15% in the past couple of months. It will probably continue to go up to the middle of next year and then it will level off.

‘It is all to do with what is happening in China. China is the biggest user of aluminium, as it is with a lot of different materials. Whatever happens in China tends to have a knock-on effect to the rest of the world.

‘It is mainly in primary aluminium where the shortages are. Lead times are also up, for us to about 12-14 weeks on product. That is not down to aluminium, that is down to the components that we have to buy in for specialist www.theilp.org.uk

‘NOW IS THE TIME FOR US TO COME TOGETHER AND WORK AS ONE’

A

s we all feel the squeeze more and more from the effects of the current global supply chain issues, it is important we come together as an industry and community to support one another through these truly unprecedented times, writes Scott Pengelly.

It was clear some time ago that the impact of Covid-19 was going to hit the UK supply chain at some point, as costs of raw materials sky-rocketed and demand increased across almost all sectors.

We have seen other engineering worlds, from car manufacturing to construction, reporting these issues for a while now and the world of lighting and its associated industries would clearly be impacted at some point.

Add to this problems with shipping routes and a widespread lack of HGV drivers to move products around the country and you end up with, as this article makes clear, a perfect storm in lack of availability in almost all sectors.

The need to discuss this with a wider audience and raise the topic to the top of agendas became very clear and therefore the theme identified for September’s ‘Hi Lights’ session was settled upon.

Getting members from a wide cross -section of backgrounds would be the best way to raise the importance of this subject as well as act as a barometer of the effect to our members up and down the country (and indeed globe too!). For me, the three main takeaways that came out of the Hi Lights event were:

1. THE NEED FOR HONESTY Contractors and end users were very clear – be honest! Most are now aware of the problems on supply of materials, however promises and commitments

FIND OUT MORE

If you wish to engage more with the ILP on this issue, or anything else in regards to products or the manufacturing sector, feel free to make contact Scott Pengelly at vp.products@theilp.org.uk

must be made and kept to where possible.

Honesty breeds more trusting relationships in the long run and commitments which turn out to be incorrect breed future uncertainty.

2. THE NEED FOR EDUCATION As the leaders in this industry, we are responsible for educating others on this subject matter.

It is upon us to ensure that lighting professionals understand the impact this is going to have on each and every project. Unreal delivery and supply expectations which may have been committed to two years ago can no longer be relied upon whilst we navigate through these tough times.

3. THE NEED FOR COMMUNICATION If the proposed availability is simply not going to happen, this needs to be made clear as soon as possible.

Additional costs within supply chains such as traffic management, work permits and labour commitments are made weeks and months before projects are planned for delivery on site. If supplies are looking unlikely to achieve this schedule it must be made clear as soon as possible to avoid other problems further down the line.

As Gary Thorne made clear at the event, and in our main article: ‘I keep on saying to my suppliers, “if it is three months, tell me it’s four, if it’s five months, tell me it’s six”, I’d rather go in on the long side at the moment and know where I’m going.’

In summary, if we are to protect ourselves and others from the effects of the issues discussed, now is the time for us to come together and work as one within this industry.

Together, we can show that, through professionalism, we can keep delivering to the high quality we all want to be associated with.

Scott Pengelly is Vice President – Products for the ILP as well as head of application at Thorn Lighting

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

www.theilp.org.uk

9

10

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Lighting and the supply chain crisis

products, such as hinge columns or things like that. There are also shortages of screws and nuts and bolts and the timber for the back boards.

Everything has gone up in price,’ Ian added.

SKILLS SHORTAGES

Richard Jackson, executive director of DFL, offered a consultant perspective.

‘We are not as impacted on materials; I would say it is more that there is a skills’ shortage out there. There is more work coming in currently as well, which is I think exacerbating the issue.

With more work, you need more materials,’ he said.

What was needed, more widely, was better education and communication between consultants, contractors and clients, he argued. ‘At the start of the process, as consultants, we are looking to educate our clients. I can’t tell you the number of clients we have who say, www.theilp.org.uk

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Lighting and the supply chain crisis

Containers waiting to be unloaded at Felixstowe. The port has been experiencing severe backlogs, with shipping blockages compounded by the Ever Given (below) getting stuck in the Suez Canal

“I need this designed in four weeks because I am building it in five”. And it is like, “have you ordered your columns and lanterns?”. And the answer is “no”.

So then you have a big problem ahead of you because of the emergency we’re in.

‘If there are material shortages, we try to work with manufacturers to understand the products that are coming on line. It is a really tough situation and I don’t think there is any one answer. But I think, from our perspective, it is critical we communicate honestly with our clients from the start.

‘Personally, from what we’re seeing, I don’t think it will go away for another three to six months, at the earliest. At one level, we’re fortunate as an industry; there is a lot worse going on in other industries. But it is the volatility across everything. So I think we need a lot of joined-up thinking – position statements, education pieces and bringing it into the media – to course our way through it,’ Richard added.

What, then, could an organisation such as the ILP do to help, asked Jess Gallacher, Engagement and Communications Manager at the ILP? ‘It is education; webinars and discussions,’ said Richard. ‘ We need to explain that the industry typically works on a lead time, that you don’t just take a lantern off the shelf, it has got to be specified by a competent designer.

‘And a competent designer doesn’t just come out of a lighting design factory ready-made. They need time to bed their skills in. It is education, for

‘WE’VE HAD A CONTAINER STUCK IN FELIXSTOWE NOW FOR 21 DAYS’

A

s a British manufacturer we’re quite small on the imports side of things, but, like most, do import some electronics and one of our functional lantern castings, so, as shipping delays started to present themselves, we immediately put in place mitigation steps, before it became too big of a problem, writes Tim Barker.

Typically, our containers are brought straight into Felixstowe, unloaded, and brought to our offices in Basingstoke, Hampshire.

We’ve had a container stuck in Felixstowe now for 21 days. The problem is we simply cannot get a driver to tug the container from Felixstowe to Basingstoke.

And what is even worse is that we arecharged for storage at the port. Which we can’t do anything about.

The other problem is the cost of shipping. We’ve seen a 40ft container go from £4,000 for shipping this time last year to £17,000. So, you have to wonder what the long-term knock-on effect is going to be for customers.

We haven’t had any delays from our manufacturers. Yet. But you do have to pay top dollar to get a space on the ship.

And because there are so many backlogged containers in ports there is now apparently a global container shortage too!

Covid is another factor in all this. For example, because of the pandemic, we hear the ports in China are grossly understaffed; so they are struggling to keep up.

They then get penalised by the shipping companies, which are making hay while the sun shines. But it just is supply and demand.

At the moment, we are absorbing things as best we can to limit the impact on our customers. We’re over-stocking, far higher than my accountants are happy with! And, wherever possible, placing long-term POs with local suppliers, for example for our injection-moulded polycarbonate bowls. So, we haven’t felt the pain yet.

In addition to the impact on delivery schedules, we have to ask what the impact will be on wider industry pricing. We can probably hold off until 2022 before increasing any prices, as long as don’t see any more significant price rises. But we’re hearing of price increases upwards of 7% becoming the norm.

Tim Barker is managing director of Acrospire

www.theilp.org.uk

11

12

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Lighting and the supply chain crisis me, educating people about the current situation and its implications. It is educating everyone on the risks and how, collectively, the industry comes together to deliver a solution,’ he said.

Even though it is a wider question than the immediate supply chain crisis, the longer-term issue of skills shortages was one the industry still needed to address as a priority. Thinking creatively about it during this current pinch-point might be no bad idea either, argued Lisa Chiles, street lighting partnership manager for Angus, Dundee City and Perth & Kinross councils and Tayside Contracts.

‘We’re looking at, “what can we do?”.

Can we bring in apprentices and train them up as electricians? But I can only give them experience in street lighting,’ she said.

‘In order for them to get their qualifications they need to go elsewhere and get a broader and deeper training. We have other departments in the council who may be able to help us out of course, but what is the benefit to them if they ’re coming back to us?’ Lisa added.

‘WITH SUPPLY CHAINS, WE’VE GOT A LACK OF COMMUNICATION WITH KEY CHARACTERS IN MANY OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR SUPPLIERS, AND THAT IS A HUGE ISSUE. TRYING TO GET HOLD OF PEOPLE NOWADAYS CAN JUST BE A NIGHTMARE’ KATH JOHNSON, YPO

TRULY GLOBAL PROBLEM

Philip Hammond, director of BHA Lighting in South Africa, illustrated the very global nature of the problem. ‘It’s quite remarkable to hear the similarities of the problems and issues that you have in the UK compared to those we have in South Africa. They’re not all that different,’ he said, although highlighting that, unlike in the UK, there were no any fuel shortages in his country – at least not yet.

‘In South Africa, the lighting industry has placed such a reliance on importation from the Far East, particularly China. The costs are now astronomical.

I know that certain importers and distributors are importing containers of goods where the cost of the container far exceeds the value of the goods. So it is having a massive price-push effect, so prices are escalating over, relatively, very ordinary products. It is also impacting very severely on project items,’ Philip said.

‘Companies that have been importing are starting to buy up smaller lighting manufacturing plants, investing in them to grow them, to reduce their reliance on China. To my mind, that is fantastic, because it means we can get bespoke product if we are in lighting design, whereas before you couldn’t, you took what was available. So it is a very interesting situation,’ he added. www.theilp.org.uk

Top: backed-up containers waiting to be transported from a port in China, where Covid-19 has left many ports struggling with labour shortages. Above: steel smelting. A global shortage of raw materials, and sharply rising prices, is a further supply chain problem affecting the lighting industry

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

New Luminaire MultiMeter

13

One Handed Electrical Measurements Directly at the NEMA Socket Westire Technology are renowned in the street lighting industry for unparalleled quality & reliability. Our past experience allows us to boast long standard product warranties and life expectancies far beyond.

For further details visit westire.com

Critical Power Measurements

True-rms readings

The Luminare MultiMeter (LMM) device measures and visually displays critical power measurements when commissioning, verifying and troubleshooting luminaire operation via NEMA 3, 5 or 7 pin socket.

The LMM utilizes true-rms readings to accurately capture four critical measurements. The LED display continuously scrolls through Volts, Amps, Watts, and Power Factor.

UK & International Sales

North & South America

Irish Sales

HQ & Manufacturing

James Wright E: jwright@westire.com T: +44 7713 958962

Michael J Duffy E: mduffy@westire.com T: +1 847-274-6756

Fiona Gallagher E: fgallagher@westire.com T: +353 97 81209

Westire Technology Ltd, Ind. Estate, Belmullet, Co. Mayo, Ireland.

E: info@westire.com T: +353 97 81200 F: +353 97 81400 www.theilp.org.uk

14

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Lighting and the supply chain crisis

The fact that many workforces are still dispersed and/or working from home or remotely has also often made it that much harder to resolve or smooth supply chain pinch-points when they do arise, pointed out Kath Johnson from purchasing organisation YPO. ‘With supply chains, we’ve got a lack of communication with key characters in many of the private sector suppliers, and that is a huge issue. Trying to get hold of people nowadays can just be a nightmare,’ she said.

For lighting consultant Alan Tulla, Brexit remained something of an elephant in the room, at least when it came to labour and recruitment shortages, if it was less to blame for the more global issues around shipping and raw materials.

‘We all knew this would happen back in 2016, didn’t we?’ he said. ‘That the whole point of it was to train up and www.theilp.org.uk

employ UK people rather than from abroad. It was part of the plan, maybe not spelt out as clearly as some people might have wished.

‘That was the objective, to get a more self-sustained UK workforce that would not only do the fancy stuff but would also drive lorries and pick strawberries. I think it is an excellent idea now that the people at the lower end of the economic scale are getting a pay rise as a result of their scarcity, so all for it from that point of view,’ Alan added.

COMMUNICATION, EDUCATION AND COLLABORATION

As the event drew to a conclusion, ILP Technical Director Peter Harrison agreed that one of the keys needed to be for the lighting community to be communicating much more, educating clients and customers and getting its message across much more clearly. The

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Lighting and the supply chain crisis

‘THIS CRISIS MAY BE AN OPPORTUNITY TO LOOK AT THINGS AFRESH’

I

industry was going to need to work together to pull through this crisis, he suggested.

‘I think it is going to take time for us to normalise our economy again, for it to reset. I think we’ve been hit by lots of factors; it is like a perfect storm, really.

It was kicked off by the Ever Given getting stuck in the Suez Canal, which meant that lots of goods were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and missed the boat, so to speak and has caused all sorts of a knock-on effect.

Then it was exacerbated by one of the main ports in China being shut down for several weeks because of a Covid outbreak,’ Peter emphasised.

‘Collectively, it is so very important that manufacturers/suppliers speak to their clients to understand what their need is going to be over the next 12 months. Say, for instance, it is a local council. It will know roughly how many columns it was going to be putting up last year and, from there, how many Sections 38 or 106 or 278 works it likely to need to do, in rough numbers.

‘This will give suppliers an idea of what the quantum is going to be like going forward. Because people are needing to order now for manufacturing in six to 12 months’ time. That is one thing, collectively, we can do as an industry to help things out a bit,’ Peter added.

don’t think there is one event that has led to the current situation, it’s an amalgamation of events and circumstances that, over a period of time, have reached a crescendo! I think everyone is being affected in one way or another, writes Michael Grubb.

Lighting today is simply electronics; the components in a luminaire are no different to what you’ve got in a TV, a car or any number of other things. And, fundamentally, that’s probably the biggest problem: you’re only ever one item away from not being able to construct a product.

I wouldn’t say it’s been a crisis for us, as a lighting design practice, but it has been an inconvenience. It requires extra consideration and therefore time, which costs money.

However, we haven’t been as affected as other sectors within the industry.

Everything has gone up in price, sometimes by as much as 25%. It’s a global problem and every discipline on a project faces the same challenge, ‘we can’t get this, or we can’t get that.’

If you’re looking for off-the-shelf lighting equipment, there can sometimes be flexibility or fewer issues with stock availability.

But, when you’re designing, making-up products and asking for someone to build them for you, then you can be facing a challenge! It only takes one unavailable material item within the overall design to cause you a 10-12-week extra lead time and delay, so the risk is real.

There can be a constant chain of tradeoffs. Should we spend a bit of extra money to get things through more quickly? But then, can the client accommodate that uplift in cost? You also start looking at the design and thinking, ‘am I making a rod for my own back here!?’ and considering whether you should play safer. We haven’t needed to do this yet, but that’s the internal monologue in your mind as you pre-empt issues, whilst doing your best to protect the design, client and process simultaneously.

On big-build projects where the construction might be two years, allowing an extra 16 weeks is not going to make much difference in the scheme of things; you just have to make sure people don’t place their orders too late. For projects with bespoke designs, the client might want you to get on with it as quickly as you can, basing their knowledge on out-of-date information from others or

assumptions based upon their past experience. In those situations, you may have to be the bearer of bad news, and quickly, so that choices and decisions can be made to bring things back under control.

Likewise, this is a challenge when tendering for new work and clients because when faced with an over-optimistic programme, you have to consider what is possible in the timeframe and how to retain the design intent. And, you have to be honest when things are not feasible because no-one will thank you for promising what can’t be delivered.

Manufacturers have gone through a very, very tough time, we all know that. It was often not in their interest to store equipment or components. As a result, no-one had excess stock so it didn’t take much time to run out, but I don’t place any blame on them for that situation.

I think Covid has been a moment to reflect and reset. As a business, I’m being very conscious of trying not just to go back to old habits.

This period, along with time spent doing extensive research on the circular economy previously, has really opened my eyes as to just how many components today go into a light fitting. Once you understand that, you realise you are only one tiny fragment away from a much larger problem. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that it is going to potentially happen frequently for any number of products.

Therefore, I think within this crisis there is, potentially, a real opportunity for the UK manufacturing industry to look at things afresh. Yes, a lot of components come from abroad but there are things we can do here ourselves, and opportunities where we could do more.

If you break a luminaire down, not much of it is originally sourced. When things go wrong, who is going to take that opportunity? Which suppliers are going to see this as a way to test new approaches? Who is going to use this crisis to be a bit braver? I think some of that will happen, and I think it will be in everyone’s interest, but it will take time and courage.

Michael Grubb is owner of Michael Grubb Studio

[1] ‘Statement from the HEA looking at the Impact on the Industry of the Global Materials Shortage and Shipping Backlog’, June 2021, https://thehea.org.uk/hea-content/uploads/2021/10/HEA-Statement.pdf

www.theilp.org.uk

15

16

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

The new lighting scheme for Coventry’s iconic ‘three spires’ is the pinnacle of the city’s lighting-led transformation as part of becoming UK City of Culture this year. But getting it right while staying true to the vision and the integrity of the original scheme at times proved challenging

By Jo Shore and Andy Hart

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

17

Public realm lighting

C

oventry’s famous ‘three spires’ are Christchurch, Holy Trinity Church, and, probably the most famous, the now-ruined remains of the original St Michael’s Cathedral, with its shattered nave, tower and spire symbolically left as it was after the city was flattened in ‘the Coventry Blitz’ of November 1940.

During this year, we’ve brought you a succession of articles detailing how public realm lighting has been at the heart of the transformation of the city for Coventry’s year as UK City of Culture.

We’ve looked at our new colour-changing LEDs in Greyfriars Green (‘All the colours’, September, vol 86 no 8), the use of art and daylight in the Hertford Street retail quarter (‘Rippling rainbows and twinkling trunks’, July/August, vol 86 no 7), the Bull Yard shopping centre (‘Space to breathe, play, and reset’, May, vol 86, no 5), and an overview of what has been an exhilarating year (‘Lighting Coventry’, February, vol 86, no 2).

Yet, in many respects, it was the spires which were ‘the big one’ when it came to lighting, and relighting, Coventry. To that end, it was probably the most pressured part of the whole regeneration programme for us from a lighting perspective, not because of specific obstacles, but simply because of knowing throughout that we couldn’t afford to get this wrong.

The newly illuminated three spires. From left to right: Christchurch, Holy Trinity and St Michael’s Cathedral

BUILDING ON ORIGINAL SCHEME

Our work for the spires has built on the original lighting scheme by Speirs Major that was put in place in the late-1990s – and in fact, as Mark Major of Speirs Major explains on page 20, he and his team have been closely involved with the whole of this year’s lighting ‘journey’ within Coventry.

What we aimed to do, therefore, was take an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach. Our goal was not radically to alter the original Speirs Major scheme, simply to update and modernise the fixtures, lanterns and control.

For the three spires, we’ve installed a total of 91 luminaires, split between a mixture of in-ground, uplighter, floodlight and spotlights, sourced from three manufacturers: Meyer, Agabekov, and WE-EF. There are also three new columns, from Urbis and Mallatite, while the control has come from Architainment.

Of the three, St Michael’s, understandably, was probably the most challenging. It is a Grade I monument but also a ruin. The ruined tower and spire is deconsecrated but it is adjacent to the new St Michael’s Cathedral, designed by Basil Spence and

Christchurch spire, with its colourful water feature in front, has become a popular night-time attraction

Arup and built by John Laing in the 1950s and 1960s, which is of course consecrated and itself also Grade I listed.

That brought with it massive oversight and governance issues, quite rightly. We had to report regularly to a public advisory committee as well as to the cathedral architects. We had to use the same fixing positions; we had to involve companies which understood that, if we came across any cracks or any problems, we had to stop works; we had to follow the same cable routes.

We were also very mindful of the fact we were trying to leave a legacy. Out of all the projects marking the Year of Culture, St Michael’s is and was the one we knew would be the most important for the people of Coventry.

EMINERE™

While at St Michael’s the emphasis has been about retaining the original warmwhite ambience, at Christchurch we have been able to incorporate some colour. One Sunday a month, for example, a different coloured light now illuminates the front of the church.

LUCKY ACCIDENT

At Holy Trinity, one innovation is that the church has two stained-glass windows, one over the western front door and one at the east end. With the west window, it is now lit from inside the building, so when you’re approaching the church from Trinity Street you can see the whole window lit.

But, for the east window, we’ve taken the novel approach of lighting from outside, from a lantern located on Cuckoo Lane.

OUR NEW LINE UP www.theilp.org.uk

anolislighting.com

18

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Public realm lighting

Greyfriars Green and, below, Holy Trinity spire. Overleaf: one of the new playful, three-legged Urbis Schréder columns in Bull Yard

The idea for this actually came about by accident. Andy was working on St Philip’s Cathedral in Birmingham. His team was testing the external lighting and was intending to locate the lanterns against the church’s stanchions. One lantern, however, was accidentally moved to the middle of the window.

The church’s Very Reverend Catherine Ogle came outside and said, ‘I don’t know what you’ve just done, but come and look’.

When he went in to see, the whole stainedglass window was lit up. So, we’ve taken that lucky accident and replicated it at Holy Trinity, to amazing effect.

The light for all three spires is now a whole lot crisper. You can stand at the bottom of all three buildings and make out metres of brickwork that you couldn’t before; you can see the crevices. It is stunning; it is absolutely breath-taking.

It is, of course, all now LED, meaning the maintenance factors are improved because we don’t need to go there so often to change lamps and there will over time be considerable energy savings. For the control, the lighting is all fibre connected, meaning it is all handheld and digitalised.

The schemes were switched on in June and, we’re very pleased to say, the public reaction has been amazing. People have commented, ‘it is so good to see them back again in all their glory’. I think what is going to be the best thing is now the clocks have changed and people will be leaving work when it is dark and being able to see the three spires once again as they travel home.

More widely, the three spires are, as our articles this year have made clear, the culmination of a much wider ambition. There are subtle nods and connections between the different projects. At Bull Yard, for example, the bespoke three-legged Urbis lighting columns echo the fact there are three spires. Bull Yard, in turn, links visually through to the ‘The Wave’, the adjacent multi-million-pound indoor water park. www.theilp.org.uk

Imagine better

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

How much do you care about who you buy from?

If your decision is based on great service (the kind you tell your friends about) and quality products (on short lead times)...

Trust in our small and mighty team at Acrospire.

For further information on our StreetCare luminaire (pictured) or any of our heritage range contact hello@acrospire.co or visit:

We’re so confident in our performance we offer an industry-leading 12-year warranty.

12

YEAR WARRANTY

www.theilp.org.uk

19

20

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Public realm lighting CONNECTING SPACES THROUGH LIGHT

It is also about physically connecting places and spaces through light. The three spires’ lighting connects to new lighting down St Michael’s Avenue. When you arrive at the train station, you now walk up through Greyfriars Green, with its potentially 52 million colour-change LED scenes to choose from.

That then leads you to Hertford Street, with its Morag Myerscough artworks and LED-wrapped trees; people now say, ‘I’ll meet you at the trees at Hertford Street.’

The Upper Precinct shopping area, then, pays homage to its original ‘Festival of Britain’ lanterns; there is new lighting in Pepper Lane. All over Coventry now, there are just avenues of light, wherever you go.

The whole programme has been about developing and embedding the role of lighting as a place-maker, something that can shape and colour (both metaphorically and literally) a place, how it is used and perceived at night. Throughout, we’ve wanted to balance adding colour and fun with maintaining our much-loved heritage.

We also ought to stress here the importance within public realm lighting of working with and alongside great lighting designers such as, in our case, Speirs Major.

We wouldn’t have got to where we are without Speirs Major feeding us ideas and creativity. It was Mark Major who encouraged us to think about creating a ‘journey’ through the city in terms of light, of being bold and brave in our thinking, of reimagining how to link the city together through lighting. His input in particular was instrumental in making the colour-changing LED scheme at Greyfriars Green as effective as it is.

Ultimately, we’ve wanted to create spaces that are welcoming yet also functional; to give people a feeling of security and safety at night. We’ve wanted to create a place – a city – in which people feel a sense of vibrancy, yet one that is inviting, fun, safe and secure.

Throughout, we’ve wanted to get rid of that old perception of ‘grey Coventry’ and restore vibrancy and, yes, pride back into the city. We truly believe we have done that, whilst also leaving, and preserving, within our heritage sites a legacy that, hopefully, lighting professionals of the future will in time be able to build on afresh.

Jo Shore is head of public realm and Andy Hart is consultant project manager working for Coventry City Council

www.theilp.org.uk

‘LIGHTING IS THE SPINE THAT BRINGS EVERYTHING TOGETHER’

I

lluminating the three spires was part of an over-arching lighting masterplan originally developed for Coventry city centre in the run-up to the millennium, writes Mark Major.

It was a scheme we were very proud of at the time. It won several awards and used the best technology then available, a combination of metal halide and fluorescent.

We also lit the Council House (town hall) Coventry Cross and a number of other features; it was effectively the lighting of the historic core of Coventry.

Skip forward the best part of two decades and I was only too pleased to get reacquainted with Coventry and to work with Jo Shore, Andy Hart and the team at Coventry City Council to produce and support a new lighting vision in the run-up to Coventry being UK City of Culture. This not only included the idea of resurrecting the three spires project but also a wider vision within the ring road to help inform the extensive upgrading of the public realm in response to Coventry being the UK City of Culture in 2021.

The three spires scheme itself is, at one level, quite simple, in that it is an LED upgrade of the original lighting scheme. To that end much of the detailed work around locations, bracketry and cabling, all of which can impact the historic fabric, had been thought through and previously approved, but still needed work to bring things up to date. We were certainly delighted, as the original designers, to be heavily involved in and fully consulted by the Coventry City Council team on the relighting proposals. For us it showed a mature approach, with one lighting professional seeking the input and advice of another with the view to retaining the vision of the original scheme whilst still adding value. The continuity of what has been achieved has been very rewarding.

At Greyfriars Green, too, the idea of a

changing coloured ‘path’ of light was a concept we developed in close collaboration with the client. The council and the contractor Balfour Beatty developed the idea and made it a reality. It is aims to be an and artistic response, as a landscape lighting scheme, that acts as a playful gateway to bring you into the city from the station.

There is always an inherent danger in using saturated changing coloured light in the public realm so we were part of the testing on site to develop the colour palette and timings of the shifting light to bring about what we hope is a sensitive aesthetic experience.

Lighting is of course more ephemeral than architecture; for me one of its advantages is the speed at which a project can become reality. Unlike constructing a building, you’re not generally waiting for years for a lighting project to be realised.

The flipside of this, however, is that it is all-too-easy for older lighting schemes to either be badly refurbished, altered piecemeal or ‘upgraded’ so much that they eventually lose their integrity. That was why I was so pleased Coventry City Council took the oppositive view and consulted us fully throughout and, with the three spires, very much stuck to the principles and the integrity of the original scheme.

The power of light to contribute to place-making after dark is hugely important. What you now have in Coventry is a series of connected spaces, with lighting acting as the spine that brings everything together throughout the city centre. If Coventry after dark is a series of exciting experiences and well-loved places, the public lighting is the ‘visual glue’ that binds them together.

Mark Major is a senior partner and co-founder of Speirs Major

dwwindsor.com

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Daytona All-round performance. All-round confidence.

With replaceable light modules, an elegant design and the power to adapt to the needs of its surroundings, Daytona is set to transform the illumination of urban environments.

The need for versatile lighting and sustainability has never been more important for urban living and our environment. Daytona balances style, efficiency and practicality to deliver a luminaire capable of maximising performance while providing outstanding service life to support the circular economy.

Featuring Tunable White technology, advanced control options and superior light quality, including 0% ULOR, Daytona allows you to specify a high performing, futureproofed product with complete confidence.

Want to learn more?

Discover the range now

Tunable White Technology

www.theilp.org.uk

21

22

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Between working with Grade 1 listed structures, managing health at safety at height and having to deal with nesting peregrine falcons, relighting Coventry’s three spires brought with it some serious practical challenges.

But, as Sean Turner of Balfour Beatty Living Places outlines, it was one of the most rewarding projects he has ever worked on.

By Sean Turner

W

e have such a great relationship with Coventry City Council, what with also being the PFI contractor for the city’s street lighting. Rather than being client/contractor relationship, it is a real partnership. That has very much come through in the past year for the City of Culture programme. We have seen it is an opportunity to shine with them.

With the three spires project, we led on both the design and the installation on all three spires. The aim was to design and build a modern lighting system that complemented the historic architecture. The amount of work that went into it, and how it is has come out now, it has just been so rewarding.

Although it was a replacement based on

the old Speirs Major concept, it was still all new luminaires and there were modifications in areas. It was a really in-depth scheme, and we’re delighted it has come out so well.

With each spire we assessed the location closely. St Michael’s and Holy Trinity are both of course located in the historic cathedral area, so it was imperative we ensured the lighting was in keeping. We kept to a single colour temperature, 3000K, and we focused on highlighting the beauty within the structure.

CITY BEACONS

With Christchurch, it is in the more vibrant Bull Yard area, so we took a different approach that allowed for more creativity, while still focusing on the detail of

the structure. The windows and the entrance arches all have different but stunning architecture, which we have now been able to make a feature of during the hours of darkness. By using multiple warm-white temperatures, it gives that added visual interest.

With the tower, it is kept in warm white light for the majority of the time so we can keep the historic feel of the structure. The fact we used RGBW luminaires to wash the tower, however, means that when there is an event on and they want a more vibrant feel, they can change it.

The fact the colours on the towers are duller than the lighting on the spire, combined with the window arches (which, as they go higher, change to a lighter shade of white) means your head is naturally lifted

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Public realm lighting

to focus on the spire. There is also a golden ball and weathervane at the top of the spire, which our lighting reflects off. That highlights it like it is the final piece of beauty.

All three spires are now used as beacons towards the city centre, with each spire being visible from multiple areas across the city. That is one thing that has been really rewarding, to see the difference the scheme has made on the night-time appearance of the city.

There have been many practical challenges, as you would expect. One, for example, is the fact there are peregrine falcons in St Michael’s. They nest there and fly between St Michael’s and Holy Trinity.

We got the sign-off that we could do the work, with council getting in expert opinion; they’re city birds and the lighting wasn’t going to affect them.

EXTENSIVE SURVEY WORK

Extensive collaboration during the design phase ensured we were able to reduce the modifications that needed to be made to the Grade 1 listed structure, with the cabling and luminaires hidden wherever possible. Different colour cabling was installed where possible in order to help reduce its noticeability.

Extensive survey work was undertaken to understand what equipment could be reused. This included luminaire brackets, cable clips, cable trays and underground ducting. Where any of the originals were in

poor condition and needed replacing, we reused existing holes within the structure wherever possible. The team worked tirelessly to minimise any modifications.

Another major challenge was managing health and safety risks. This included removing old luminaires 40m in the air, climbing time-worn stairwells in the dark and working on church rooftops. So there was a lot of work and assessment required to reduce risk.

For me, one of the most satisfying elements of the work was the night angling.

This is of course one of the final stages www.theilp.org.uk

23

24

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Public realm lighting

after all the equipment has been installed.

We angle each luminaire so the light is directed in its optimal commission. We tinker with the lenses to get the best effect.

So, after all the hard work that had been put in by the team, it was extremely rewarding to watch the spires come to life one luminaire at a time.

HIGHLIGHTING DETAILS

In sum, by following the Speirs Major original vision, we built the effects by using different layers of light that came together to highlight the details of each spire. Local lighting in the windows, turrets and at ground level is then selectively applied to highlight delicate architectural detail.

Floodlighting has then been installed at a distance on the rooftops and the columns to give a wash effect.

The luminaires selected, we feel, work incredibly well, as the warm white brings out the red within the tiles of each spire.

That looks amazing; we have had some really good feedback and we feel we got the colour temperature spot on.

By using a higher-powered fitting with a narrower beam on the spire, you’re able to see the formation of the tiles. This is something that you would struggle to see in the day but now at night, is highlighted.

Finally, there is the dynamic lighting control system, as Andy and Jo have highlighted in their article. This covers multiple sites, gives secure remote management and provides instant modification. It has been used on all three spires and enables each luminaire’s output to be modified to create a variety of scenes for each spire. So each spire hasn’t just got the one look, but multiple scenes to choose from.

Sean Turner is assistant asset manager and design engineer – lighting at Balfour Beatty Living Places

www.theilp.org.uk

‘IT WAS A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY’

L

iving local to Coventry, the opportunity to work with Speirs Major and play a small role in the 2021 City of Culture celebrations was an exciting opportunity that filled me with great pride, writes Rob Marsh, regional sales manager for WE-EF. The project had historical significance for WE-EF, as we had supplied fittings for the original project around 20 years earlier.

To be invited back to update the lighting with our new LED-equivalent fittings is testimony to how well the products performed on the original scheme.

For the latest projects, WE-EF supplied projectors from our FLC range, FLC220, 240 and 260, which offer precision lighting that was able to highlight the architectural features of the buildings perfectly.

I was delighted to see the results on the Christchurch spire. Working with the client and design team I am so pleased they were brave enough to introduce the use of colour into the project.

This certainly wasn’t the initial intent, but I think, by using colour in a sympathetic way, it created a link to the historic importance of the building and connecting it with the vibrant landscape that has built up in the area adjacent to the church.

In contrast, the lighting of Holy Trinity Church was very traditional. It was also a very hands-on process and provided me with some once-in-a-lifetime view of Coventry city centre.

When you find yourself climbing a medieval, narrow, winding staircase to get to the roof of the cathedral, you do find yourself asking the question – is this what I signed up for?!

Overwhelmingly the answer to the question was ‘yes’! Having the confidence that the product could meet the challenges set certainly helped to create that positive feeling but also seeing the satisfaction on the client and lighting designers’ faces certainly made the process worthwhile.

Finally, the lighting of St Michael’s was a truly amazing opportunity to highlight what our projectors can do.

By using a range of optics and accessories we were able to focus the light on where it needed to be without producing any light spill or wasting energy.

Even though we were using our largest, most powerful projector, it was still consuming 50% less energy than the fittings that had been installed 20 years ago. And, thankfully, this site test took place at ground level!

FLC200 LED PROJECTOR Lighting Architecture

Dynamic and precise, the new FLC200 projector series pushes architectural lighting boundaries to a new level.

A powerful tool that enables tailored lighting designs for buildings, monuments, and landmarks as never seen before.

WE-EF LIGHTING Ltd // 33-34 Dolben Street London SE1 0UQ // www.we-ef.com

26

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Research published over the summer arguing that street lighting, in particular LED, was having a detrimental effect on insect population has, understandably, caused something of a stir within the lighting community. The ILP’s Peter Harrison has provided a response

By Peter Harrison

M

any will have read with some concern the recent publicity surrounding the publication of the research article in Science Advances, ‘Street lighting has detrimental impacts on local insect populations’ [1].

The scientists evaluated the impacts of night-time lighting on wild caterpillars in southern England (Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire) using a matchedpairs design, comparing habitat directly lit by existing streetlights with carefully matched unlit habitat located nearby.

TWO STUDIES

The team concentrated on the caterpillar stage of moths in hedgerows and adjacent grass verges. The light sources compared high-pressure sodium (HPS), LED and a small number of low-pressure sodium (LPS) installations.

In an additional separate experiment, LED and HPS lighting rigs were installed in field grass margins with no history of lighting to test the hypothesis that artificial light at night (ALAN) would disrupt the feeding behaviour of nocturnal caterpillars.

Caterpillar numbers were substantially lower in habitat areas illuminated by street lighting; by up to 47%. There were fewer caterpillars in lit hedgerows at all sites lit by LED and HPS and generally fewer caterpillars in grass margins.

However, monochromatic LPS lighting had a non-significant impact on caterpillar numbers.

In the separate experiment, lighting rigs were erected along homogeneous, previously unlit grass field margins one hour before sunset. Sampling was conducted between one and two hours after dusk to test whether ALAN disrupted the normal feeding behaviour of nocturnal caterpillars.

Fewer caterpillars were sampled under white LED lighting compared to unlit.

However, there was no statistically significant difference under HPS lighting compared with the unlit margin.

Previous research suggested LEDs tend to attract similar numbers of (or slightly fewer) moths than sodium lamps.

LEDs would, therefore, be expected to be less damaging to moth populations, but the additional experiment found that the LEDs had greater impacts than HPS lamps.

This could suggest that flight-to-light behaviour is not the principal mechanism via which moth populations are negatively affected by ALAN. The report suggests this hypothesis requires further confirmation and research.

QUESTIONS FOR LIGHTING

So, where does that leave the lighting asset manager? We have known for some considerable time that ALAN does affect insect populations, but not the extent to

which they are affected.

Indeed, we still don’t know exactly what feature (or features) of ALAN is detrimental: intensity, spectral power distribution or persistence. However, it does say that the additional field-based experiment used 5000K LEDs and HPS light sources Don’t, however, jump to the conclusion that the higher LED lighting level and a cool correlated colour temperature (CCT) must be the answer. Most LED street lighting uses a blue LED on to which there is a coating to adjust its output to produce a warmer CCT. However, they still produce a considerable amount of light in the blue area of the electro-magnetic spectrum. Though this can be outside the visual range of human sight who knows if this is the same for insects?

This report just investigated the effect of ALAN on nocturnal moth caterpillars and may not be representative of wider inspect populations. It was also restricted to rural street lighting installations.

The range and availability of LED outdoor lighting products encourages their proliferation in domestic and commercial outdoor installations was not discussed.

We know from driving through our towns and cities at night that many unoccupied offices and commercial premises leave their lighting on all night. In addition, it seems the vogue in rural areas for glass to be used in properties to bring the outside in.

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Lighting and insects

All well and good during the day but at night there can be massive light spill if the curtains or blinds aren’t closed.

IMPORTANCE OF ‘GOOD’ LIGHTING

The ILP mantra of ‘right light in the right place for the right time’ has probably never been more important. There is, it seems, a common belief that brighter is better.

Security lighting is being sold without installation advice as to the amount of light or how the product should be mounted.

Lighting asset managers have been acting responsibly when changing luminaires

to LED; introducing variable lighting and part-night regimes.

As for mitigations, the article suggests dimming and presence switches could be options to reduce the impact of ALAN on insects. Most UK LED street lighting installations incorporate dimming and ILP’s PLG08 Guidance on the application of adaptive lighting within the public realm has been advocating this since 2016 [2].

With regard to presence detectors, this is currently impractical for unmetered supplies, unless CMS can be used for metering.

The article does not suggest warmer colour temperatures are less harmful nor any illuminance thresholds, flicker or glare as being significant.

It would be churlish for us to use these factors to suggest our street lighting isn’t a factor in altering insect behaviour or populations.

Let’s use this as an opportunity to demonstrate our responsible use of ALAN. • Please turn over to read a response from to Peter’s article by research author Douglas Boyes.

Peter Harrison is Technical Director at the ILP

[1] Boyes, Douglas H et al (2021). ‘Street lighting has detrimental impacts on local insect populations’, Science Advances, August 2021. Available online at: https://www. science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abi8322; [2] PLG08 ‘Guidance on the application of adaptive lighting within the public realm’, The ILP, 2008. Available online at: https:// theilp.org.uk/publication/plg08-guidance-on-the-application-of-adaptive-lighting-within-the-public-realm/

www.theilp.org.uk

27

28

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Lighting and insects

In response to the ILP’s statement on the Science Advances research on lighting and insects, report author Douglas Boyes outlines answers to what he argues are some of the key questions facing the lighting community

By Douglas Boyes

I

n August, many of you will have seen the press coverage of a new study about insect declines and street lighting [1]. I was the lead author of the work published in the journal Science Advances (25 August, 2021). I have since been contacted by a number of concerned lighting professionals, and the research has also prompted a response to be written by ILP Technical Director Peter Harrison, discussed on the previous pages.

I would encourage those with an interest to read the study itself (search: ‘Street lighting has detrimental impacts on local insect populations’ or go to the link in the references below) [2]. It is open-access and, hopefully, written in an accessible way. Reading the study itself will remove interpretation and spin added by journalists (which, unfortunately, of course we had limited control over). I would like to address several questions that have been raised.

WHY DID YOU FOCUS ON STREET LIGHTING? We acknowledge that street lighting is not the only, or even the main, source of artificial light at night (ALAN). Industrial units, airports, car parks, commercial districts, www.theilp.org.uk

and residences can all be substantial contributors of ALAN. Ultimately, we set out to understand the impacts of ALAN on insects, not the impacts of streetlights specifically. As it happens, the most practical way to do this is by looking at street lighting.

Street lighting exists in rural areas, which gave us the opportunity to robustly compare adjacent lit and unlit habitats.

Our general findings are applicable to other light sources, and we very much hope our research will be used to guide decisions in other lighting contexts, as well as act as an impetus for future research.

HOW IMPORTANT IS LIGHT POLLUTION FOR EXPLAINING LONG-TERM INSECT DECLINES? We do not fully understand the relative importance of ALAN to insect declines.

Our study shows it can clearly have a severe negative impact on local populations of insects; however, how this effect scales up across landscapes is more of an open question.

As quoted from the study, ‘we conclude that the effect of direct illumination by streetlights has probably been a minor

contributor to long-term national moth declines to date’.

In some local, more urbanised, areas it is likely to have had a much more pronounced impact.

I would argue that the importance of ALAN, relative to other causes of decline, is somewhat irrelevant because insects are in trouble and they need all the help they can get.

Light pollution is unique amongst threats to wildlife. There are easy, cheap solutions available. Furthermore, ALAN leaves no lingering, residual impacts (unlike climate change, nitrogen deposition, pesticides and so on).

WHY CAN BE DONE TO MINIMISE THE IMPACTS OF NIGHT-LIGHTING ON INSECTS? The evidence to support the effectiveness of various mitigation approaches is limited. We can, therefore, only wholeheartedly recommend avoiding the use of outdoor lighting where possible. Where necessary, lighting should only be as bright as is it needs to be to achieve its aims.

Lighting should be switched off or dimmed when it is not beneficial.

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

PULS, the Perceptive Urban Smart Lighting System

www.garex.si

info@garex.si, +386(0)82050622

Increase the quality of life in your surroundings with an advanced smart lighting solution.

The efforts of the consortium partners GeoEnergetika, Impedanca, and Garex to enter the Irish market is co-financed by the Republic of Slovenia and the European union under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

www.theilp.org.uk

29

30

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Lighting and insects Careful attention should be taken to avoid light spilling into adjacent habitats.

This was a clear problem at many of my field sites, with bright lighting intruding into flower-rich margins, hedgerows, field margins and crops (1 lux was detectable 25m from the base of the pole in some cases). I am informed that shielding could solve this particular problem with negligible costs.

Adjusting the CCT or colour of the lighting may help, with reduced blue light (‘warmer wavelengths’) perhaps being beneficial, because we know that the majority of insects are most sensitive to blue light. Ultra-violet is especially harmful and should be avoided (for example, metal halide lamps) Further work is needed to understand how variable lighting (through motion sensors, intelligent street lighting and so on) might affect ecosystems. Nonetheless, if it reduces the exposure of wildlife to light, it is likely to confer some benefits.

I hope that our study will help open a dialogue about how we can maximise the benefits of outdoor lighting to society, whilst minimising its harms to wildlife.

DOUGLAS BOYES

Above: Douglas Boyes surveying moth caterpillars. Below: LED streetlights at a rural roundabout and (top) at a field site

Douglas Boyes was a PhD student and scientist working with the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. Tragically, he died suddenly in September.

A tribute to him was published by the centre in October. In it, the UKCEH emphasised his work on light pollution on moth populations ‘was already ground-breaking, and his potential enormous’.

It added: ‘He showed that streetlights have a big impact on the local abundance of moth caterpillars, reducing numbers on grass verges by onethird, and by almost a half in hedgerows – the first real-world evidence that light pollution is reducing moth populations. He also found that “environmentally friendly” LED lights were even more detrimental to moth populations than old-style sodium streetlights.’

The full tribute to Douglas Boyes can be found at https://www.ceh.ac.uk/news-andmedia/news/tribute-douglas-boyes

KEY FINDINGS FROM THE RESEARCH

For the study, Douglas Boyes, who led the research with the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), Newcastle University and Butterfly Conservation, spent more than 400 hours sampling for caterpillars along roadsides at a total of 55 lit and unlit sites in the Thames Valley over the previous three years.

The study concluded that street lighting strongly reduced moth caterpillar abundance compared with unlit sites (47% reduction in hedgerows and 33% reduction in grass margins) and affected caterpillar development.

A separate experiment in habitats with no history of lighting revealed that artificial light at night (ALAN) disrupted the feeding behaviour of nocturnal caterpillars.

Negative impacts were more pronounced under white light-emitting diode (LED) streetlights compared to conventional yellow sodium lamps ‘Almost all previous research on light pollution has focused on adult insects, but studying caterpillars, which are a lot less mobile, enables researchers to get more precise estimates of the impacts of street lighting on local populations,’ the UKCEH highlighted.

‘The authors add the large diversity of moths means they are broadly representative of nocturnal insects, with any negative impacts from a threat likely to also be experienced by other species,’ it added.

[1] ‘LED streetlights decimating moth numbers in England’, The Guardian, August 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/25/led-streetlights-mothengland-eco-friendly-sodium-insect-decline [2] Boyes, Douglas H et al (2021). ‘Street lighting has detrimental impacts on local insect populations’, Science Advances, August 2021. Available online at: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abi8322; ‘LED streetlights reduce insect populations by 50%’, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, https://www.ceh.ac.uk/press/LED-streetlights-reduce-insect-populations-50-percent

www.theilp.org.uk

JULY/AUGUST 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Distribution Cabinets For EV Charging • Capability to supply power to EV charging units.

• Complete bespoke design service.

• Pre-wired for your specific project.

• Full test and technical document pack.

Ingenuity at work Wessex Way Wincanton Business Park Wincanton Somerset BA9 9RR

CharlesEndirect.com +44 (0)1963 828 400 • info@CharlesEndirect.com

• www.CharlesEndirect.com

31

32

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Lighting and insects The over-enthusiastic adoption of LED presents a threat to nocturnal wildlife around the world, especially moths and insects, argues former Lighting Journal editor Carl Gardner. It is even having an impact in an obscure and once pristine corner of northern Sicily

By Carl Gardner

F

or the last eight or nine years, my partner and I have lived for four to five months of the year in the Madonia mountains of northern Sicily, a protected 400sq km regional park rising to almost 2,000m (6,500f ).

Never having been treated with herbicides or pesticides or intensely cultivated, and having thousands of hectares of intact oak, pine and beech forests, it is a little-known idyll for hikers, naturalists and all those who love stunning vistas and all forms of wildlife. It is true that, recently, global warming has started to reduce the abundant water supply trickling out the park’s limestone rocks – and wildfires have become all too frequent in the hot, summer months. But I want to highlight another potential threat to the area’s natural stability that is much more banal… and much less understood by people around the world, as well as in my small corner of Sicily.

When we first moved here, it was not just daytime wildlife that impressed us; at night we were amazed by the variety of moths and other nocturnal insects, including inevitably mosquitos, that would assail

you after dark.

If you left a porch light on as you went out for the evening when you returned the door would be covered with all shapes and size of nocturnal fauna… and woebetide anyone who left a window open and a light on inside, as rooms would be rapidly invaded by crickets, moths, shield bugs and other small beetles.

Coincidentally, when we looked across the 3kms of dark woodland, scattered houses and smallholdings, that lie between us and our local town, Polizzi Generosa, set on a rocky promontory, we would see the odd dim wall light and soft warm glow of indoor lighting; and the streets of Polizzi itself were lit by the deep yellow tone of low-pressure sodium lamps.

CHANGING NIGHT-TIME SCENE

In the last few years this has all started to change. Firstly, the town council moved to poorly controlled high-pressure sodium sources for the impressive row of heritage lanterns that adorn the outermost boulevard facing the mountains. Then, about three or four years ago, the lure of energy efficiency made them move to ‘cold’

(possibly 6000K it’s not 100% clear) LED lanterns.

At the same time, powerful LED floodlights were added to the square at the end of town, supposedly to illuminate a prominent statue. But poorly aimed and shielded as they are, the direct glare of these can be almost eye-watering, even experienced on our terrace 3kms away.

Over the years, many of the small properties that dot the green landscape around us have been refurbished for summer holiday homes or sold to more affluent owners from Palermo and other cities (the summer climate here at 800m/2,700ft is a welcome several degrees cooler than on the coast).

At the same time, artificial lighting, using increasingly cheap, long-lasting and efficient LED sources became the easiest, most prestigious way to show off your garden or house or driveway.

Today, therefore, when we look out at night, and particularly at the weekends, the vista more closely resembles a chunk of suburbia rather than what should essentially be a dark, rural location. Some of the schemes are horrendously bright

The stunning town of Polizzi Generosa in the Madonia mountains in Sicily. Home to Carl Gardner, it has nevertheless in recent years become much less of a home to moths and insects, and artificial light at night could be one important factor to blame, Carl argues

www.theilp.org.uk

33

34

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Lighting and insects and many are kept illuminated until the early hours of the morning.

During the same period, based on my crude empirical observations, the numbers of night-time fauna has definitely decreased in the last ten years, although daytime numbers of bees, wasps, butterflies and other insects have remained prolific.

We can lie in bed at night with the light on and a window open and attract only a fraction of the numbers of moths and other nocturnal invertebrates of former years; gone are the days of large, attractive moths hovering around illuminated windows or outdoor lights.

The night-time scene has definitely been degraded. From my time as a designer and writer in the field of lighting, I had long known about the connection between increases in artificial lighting and the disruption of nocturnal insect feeding and breeding cycles.

I would argue these two noticeable trends are linked, even here in an obscure corner of the Sicilian mountains... and the advent of the LED has intensified both these problems.

STREETLIGHTS IN THE LINE OF FIRE

Ironically, the day after I started writing this article, The Guardian newspaper carried a major feature about the deleterious effects of LED street lighting on moths in the UK, based on a study by the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology [1].

As the previous pages have shown, that study prompted a response from the ILP

by Technical Director Peter Harrison and, in turn, a commentary on some of the key questions facing the industry from study author Douglas Boyes.

We have long known about the deleterious effects of all forms of artificial lighting at night (ALAN) on nocturnal wildlife, including insects, some birds, moths and bats. Awareness dates back to the ground-breaking conference ‘Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting’ in California in 2002, which later spawned a major book, published by Island in 2006.

When I was editor of Lighting Journal 12 years or more ago, we ourselves carried a number of studies looking at this growing problem in our pages. Recently, the stakes have doubled as LED lighting has taken the world by storm. The problem is not limited simply to road lighting, as The Guardian article implies, but also sports stadia, buildings, gardens, security lighting, promotional purposes and entertainment. This has hugely intensified the problem.

The most obvious contributory issue is that very little of this new lighting is regulated by planning law, in terms of type, location, brightness or intensity; and much of it is badly designed and badly installed, so it spreads its illumination indiscriminately well beyond its intended object area.

Interestingly, the UK is probably the only country in the world to have limited legislation against light intrusion into properties, but this is (a) aimed primarily at alleviating human visual discomfort, and (b) is difficult for non-lighting specialist planners to measure and prevent.

KNOCK-ON EFFECTS

The longer-term knock-on effects for both humans and the natural world are obvious: moths and other nocturnal insects are important pollinators, including for agriculture, and provide essential food for birds and animals. So nocturnal mammals, such as bats, that feed on these creatures (although some species might benefit in the short term) are in turn faced with food shortages.

The figures are stark. The abundance of moths in Britain has dropped by a third

over the past 50 years. ALAN almost certainly affects many other species that have evolved to be night-active, timing their activities to exploit the benefits of darkness.

As the earlier statistics on moths demonstrates, streetlamps can change the composition of insect and invertebrate communities roaming beneath them. So light-sensitive species (including several species of bats) will retreat to the dark areas and find less food, while visual predators become abundant and increase their activities at night… or extend their activities into the day.

Day-active predators may also extend their feeding times into the night. Spiders, for example, stay close to lamps and benefit from insects attracted to the lights that end up caught in their webs; while invertebrate pests such as slugs increase in abundance, attracted to artificial lights.

The scale of the potential problems caused by ALAN is underlined when we realise that an impressive 30% of vertebrates and 60% of invertebrates, including half of almost 900,000 currently described species of insects, are night-active.

Recent reports of a potential ‘insect

ILLUMINATING INTERIORS WARMING COLOURS & ADJUSTABLE WHITES

anolislighting.com

AMBIANE™ AP

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Part of the

plc

group of companies

Distinctive Products, Outstanding Service 01623 415900 | sales@kingfisherlighting.com www.kingfisherlighting.com www.theilp.org.uk

35

36

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Lighting and insects Armageddon’, particularly in developed countries, have largely concentrated on habitat loss and the use of chemicals in the environment as the major causes. Perhaps the growth of ALAN could, and should, be more widely recognised as another habitat destroyer and form of environmental pollutant, which could be making an equally powerful contribution to invertebrate loss.

A PRECIOUS RESOURCE

The night-time environment is a precious resource for most living beings on our planet. But erosion of darkness by the use of artificial lights is one of the most rapidly increasing forms of environmental degradation.

In the second half of the 20th century artificial illumination quickly became widespread, increasing globally by an average of 6% per year (0%-20% depending on the region). Urban centres have become flooded with light that reflects and scatters in the sky, extending hundreds of kilometres from its source as low-intensity ‘skyglow’.

The decreasing view of the night-time stars is an evident aesthetic and cultural effect of ALAN for humans: but some researchers believe that even the faint presence of low-level skyglow (rather than direct illumination from lighting) can impact significantly on nocturnal wildlife.

Today, almost a quarter of the world’s land is affected by unnaturally bright skies due to artificial lights. This includes 88% of Europe and almost half of the USA. So rare ‘dark’ areas such as the Madonia mountains need to be protected from the incursion of ALAN, not invaded by thoughtless night-time pollution.

Moreover, the world keeps getting brighter. Although the spread of lighting into new areas has slowed down to 2.2% over the last five years, the radiance (total brightness) keeps increasing globally by

1.8% per year. This increase in radiance coincides with the ‘lighting revolution’ outlined earlier, the transition to solid-state technology in the form of LEDs, which originally aimed to reduce the costs and energy consumption of artificial lighting.

However, the low costs of LEDs have instead resulted in greater lighting use; paradoxically, greater luminous efficacy throughout history has tended to produce this same destructive rebound effect.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Getting a grip on the increasing use of lighting and resulting light pollution, particularly in rural areas, is not going to be easy. Most people regard more and brighter lighting as a human right – and an unalloyed benefit to mankind.

Very few people understand the insidious side-effects of direct light spill and indirect skyglow that increased lighting creates for crucially important invertebrates, as spelt out in this article, particularly when produced by cooler-temperature LEDs. Science and biology teaching in schools needs to include this issue; agricultural bodies need to recognise the medium-tolong-term threat to their business and pressure governments to take measures against it; nature and conservation bodies need to give the issue of lighting a higher priority in their campaigns.

Finally, much more design and installation guidance, backed up by legislation, along the lines of the existing ILP guidance needs to be available [2]. In particular, the ILP’s GN08, in partnership with the Bat Conservation Trust, is very useful guidance relating to lighting for the conservation of bats, which are, of course, protected under UK law.

See the panel opposite for more details on this, but, in essence, in all areas where bats are present any lighting proposals

[1] ‘LED streetlights decimating moth numbers in England’, The Guardian, August 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/25/led-streetlights-mothengland-eco-friendly-sodium-insect-decline [2] Guidance Note 8 ‘Bats and artificial lighting’, 2018, The ILP and The Bat Conservation Trust. Available to download at https:// theilp.org.uk/publication/guidance-note-8-bats-and-artificial-lighting/; this guidance can also be accessed through the Bat Conservation Trust (which also has many other useful resources) at https://www.bats.org.uk/our-work/buildings-planning-and-development/lighting; another useful ILP resource in this area is GN01, ‘Guidance Note 1 for the reduction of obtrusive light 2021’, again available to download at https://theilp.org.uk/publication/guidance-note-1-for-the-reduction-of-obtrusive-light-2021/ [3] Owens, Avalon C S and Lewis Sara M (2018). ‘The impact of artificial light at night on nocturnal insects: A review and synthesis’, Ecology and Evolution, October 2018.

Available online at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.4557; Irwin, Aisling (2018). ‘The dark side of night: how artificial lighting is harming the natural world’. Nature, issue 553, January 2018. Available online at: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-00665-7/

www.theilp.org.uk

have to be meticulously assessed in planning law. This applies to bat roosting, migration and foraging areas, so nocturnal insects may also benefit from such legally enforceable restrictions in all those areas.

However, to date, the issue of controls on lighting to expressly conserve our much-neglected moths and insects, has been sadly neglected.

Carl Gardner is a retired lighting designer and former editor of Lighting Journal

WHY LED LIGHTING IS ESPECIALLY DISRUPTIVE TO NOCTURNAL INSECTS

Compared to other forms of lighting, LEDs are increasingly cheap to buy, they are very durable and offer a very long life – and they are much more energy-efficient than older light sources, explains Carl Gardner.

In particular of course, ‘cooler’ white LED lights (with a colour temperature up to 6000K) are the most efficient of all, which is why they are often adopted in preference to ‘warmer’ light sources.

However, therein lies the major problem because ‘cool’ LEDs produce more light at the blue end of the spectrum, which is the colour predominantly perceived by nocturnal insects, say biologists. By contrast, insects barely register the deep orange-yellow spectrum of ‘old-fashioned’ low pressure sodium sources.

The reason why bugs, and in particular moths, are attracted to ‘cool’ LED lights is that they mistake the bulbs for the moon.

Insects converge around a light bulb because they use the moon as their navigational compass.

Since many bulbs are omnidirectional light sources, the insects circle around the lamps to keep them at a steady angle and can remain there for many hours, often exhausting themselves in the process.

This seeming ‘addiction’ to these lights will obviously have a destructive effect on their normal feeding patterns and their breeding habits – and it also makes them much more visible and accessible to predators

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

37

Quick, Easy & Intuitive …and now Automated

Automate - a component of LR Studio - enables you to automate more design processes when using Reality Roadway & Outdoor. Find out what LR Studio can do for you.

✓

Define Projects in Excel with the ability to integrate with 3rd party databases

✓

Batch Project Submission – let the calculations run while you do something else

✓

Powerful Calculation Engine delivering thousands of calculations per second

✓

Automated results in Excel for quick and easy analysis

✓

Available October 2021

lrstudio@lightingreality.com

https://lrstudio.lightingreality.com

www.theilp.org.uk +44 (0) 1299 382100

38

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Public realm lighting

England may have been denied glory in the Euro 2020 finals in the summer, but the championship did serve to highlight and showcase the stunning new lighting scheme now running down Olympic Way to Wembley Stadium

By Nic Paton

E

ven now, the agony of England’s so-near-yet-so-far penalty heroics in the final of July’s Euro 2020 Championship is still raw for many of us, even if there is the World Cup in Qatar to look forward to next year.

Away from the football, the championship nevertheless served as a showcase for Wembley Stadium and, in particular, the new lighting scheme that is now a central element of Olympic Way running from Wembley Park Station to the stadium.

What’s more, as Mark Searle, project manager at Urbis Schréder, explains, it has transformed what was once a rather soulless and unwelcoming space into

something both functional in terms of wayfinding yet also visually spectacular.

‘Before, there were just short 6m nothing-special columns with retro-fit media banners. There was really nothing there, just normal dull grey columns and the twin Wembley ramps coming down. It was all a bit uninviting as an area,’ he says.

The project, led by developer Quintain (which is overhauling the whole Wembley Park and surrounding area) with architects Dixon Jones, lighting design by Speirs Major, principal contractor Volker Fitzpatrick and manufacturer Urbis Schréder, has completely changed the space.

BESPOKE, MULTI-PURPOSE COLUMNS

A total of 34 bespoke, multi-purpose columns now run the length of Olympic Way. At 13.5m tall, each column holds an illuminated banner and supports five different custom-made projector types along a 4.5m outreach arm, along with dedicated banner lighting, and RGBW finials. There is also future-proof provision for beyond-lighting capabilities, many of which have been used by the client from day one, including wireless access points, footfall cameras and CCTV. The lighting can be dimmed remotely to vary the balance of distribution, creating different moods and ambiences, while the

39

40

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Public realm lighting

The new Olympic Way lighting scheme running up to Wembley Stadium. This image, main image on previous page and all images on pages 42 and 44 by Alex Bland for Urbis Schréder. Opposite: details of the new bespoke columns as well as the approach to the illuminated handrails. All images on page 41 by James Newton for Speirs Major

dedicated banner lighting evenly illuminates the banners, which during ‘normal’ times, are changed more than 50 times a year. On top of this, there are a further seven 16m columns and nine 12m on the deck area outside the stadium, while new LED handrail lighting (360 separate lighting points) has been installed on the steps leading up to the stadium. Lighting within the ceiling of the under-croft beneath the deck has also been incorporated improving the ambience and safety.

‘The architectural concept came from Dixon Jones who were the principal designers and the lighting design concept from Spiers Major,’ Mark tells Lighting Journal, and there is an additional view from Speirs Major at the end of this article.

‘The design process involved weekly design meetings co-ordinated by Volker Fitzpatrick, where the designers and www.theilp.org.uk

relevant stakeholders would attend, develop and detail the design. Co-ordination and effective communication with all stakeholders especially around the interface of different elements (for example, column interface with deck) was paramount to the success of the project,’ Mark continues.

‘All parties worked to the client’s BIM execution plan, which is key, especially on larger projects, and document control and management was via Viewpoint for Projects. In terms of lighting alone, the brief was white light for the main area, RGBW finials, with complete control. The fittings on each column are controlled in groups via CMS nodes on top, with the finials and handrail controlled by a connected Cloudbased DMX solution,’ he adds.

The lighting very much recognises the need to be adaptive, the need to be able to respond to massively changing densities

of users, from the vast crowds expected on high-profile match days through to the much smaller numbers of residents who use the route and surrounding area day in and day out.

‘It is the whole of that public space as it takes you from Bobby Moore Bridge right the way up to Wembley Stadium. I took my son there and that whole urban environment that is where, as a fan, you get to the stadium. As a resident, this is also very much part of your main community and social space within the area,’ agrees Clare Thomas, head of applications and solutions at Urbis Schréder.

‘These columns are designed to take a 1,700kg additional loading for future attachments, which is a significant extra load that had to be considered from the start along with the need for fixing points, power and data points for these,’ Mark continues.

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Public realm lighting

CLOSE CO-ORDINATION REQUIRED

‘It took a lot of back-and-forth design and development to get a solution all stakeholders were happy with. There are a lot more elements that have been designed into the columns than you would normally expect from a “typical” lighting solution.

Most are cleverly concealed to the o b s e r ve r b u t p r ov i d e v a l u a b l e future-proofing and additional functionality for many years to come.

‘Within the column, as well as lighting, there is provision for speakers behind

bespoke doors, data connectivity for cameras, sensors, wireless access points and footfall cameras. There are a lot of elements that had to be incorporated within the column,’ adds Mark.

Intriguingly, the project was completed before publication by the ILP of its GN12 The smart lighting column guidance, which Mark concedes, would have been valuable for the project though, in the event, the project totally ticks the guidance’s boxes anyway [1].

The structures on the deck also host traffic signal cameras (plus all associated traffic signal equipment internally), as well as microphone stations and speakers, he points out. ‘The drainage on the deck even runs directly through the base of the columns, which sounded crazy initially. But on review is a very neat architectural solution that has worked despite initial reservations. The co-ordination required to get these columns installed was phenomenal and an amazing team effort,’ Mark says.

As well as the lighting, the columns are a key element in Quintain and Wembley’s future marketing plans, Mark highlights.

For the Euro 2020 championships, the columns were adorned with conventionally illuminated media banners, but the intention at the design stage was that these will in time be replaced with large, 2m by 7.3m, digital media screens.

‘The 13.5m columns have designed and built-in power and data provision along with numerous hidden fixing points. This means the banner arms can be removed, and then if the client chooses to in the future the banners can be replaced with digital media screens,’ Mark explains.

For a project as high-profile as this, effective collaboration between the various multiple parties and stakeholders involved was a key element. ‘It isn’t just about the lighting. It is all the design, all the participation, being an integral part of that delivery team and being able to www.theilp.org.uk

41

42

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Public realm lighting

engage and deliver it and project manage it. It is about engaging with the client to understand what, actually, is the vision?’ highlights Clare.

‘Throughout the project, we were engaging across the supply chain with people who were not necessarily directly part of that same contractual supply chain as us, but the whole point of this is it needs to be fit for function, form and to deliver the lighting concept. It has to do all of those things and, of course, be structurally sound.

‘Due to the different needs of the space, during normal usage the lighting is dimmed to over 50% and even less during times of low usage. The handrails, for example, normally run at 20%, though it ranges,’ Clare adds.

‘The best way to think about the lighting solution is to think of it as layers. The lighting scheme for normal day-to-day use, they call it curfew lighting. But then they have got enhanced levels, up to 200 lux on the steps approaching the stadium when whacked up full.

‘That allows Wembley Park to think about the space as a room with flexibility for different functions. You have got many different layers of lighting that you can use, but that gives you the ability to remotely manage and set different scenes for different uses without physically having to reconfigure. So that, if you have for those periods of time when you are trying to move tens of thousands of people down there really safely it gives you that flexibility to adjust the timings or ramp it up as you need.

‘Another good thing with how the lighting system operates is you have the ability to remotely have emergency lighting on. If something goes wrong or there is an incident, even during normal operation, the client has the ability to remotely turn everything on in real time,’ Clare continues.

FOR COMMUNITY AND FANS

Finally, as touched on earlier, the new lighting makes the walkway a social space www.theilp.org.uk

ADDITIONAL VIEW FROM SPEIRS MAJOR

For the lighting design team at Speirs Major, the Wembley project has been all about creating ‘an exceptional public realm experience’ as well as a ‘positive immersive experience’ through a blend of media and light art.

The tiered steps at the entrance to the stadium have become ‘a glowing vertical plane of light’ while, at the stadium end, the demolished original ‘pedway’ has made way for the elegant new terrace of steps connecting two new plazas, top and bottom.

As already highlighted by Mark Searle and Clare Thomas, the steps and plazas are lit from rows of projectors mounted vertically on the 16m and 12m tall masts The team from Speirs Major has added about the scheme: ‘In combination with a controls system, the light levels are easily adapted to meet the changing demands for public safety and ambience in response to the time of day and volume of users.

‘Additional lighting is integrated into the handrails. At the tip of each mast, an RGBW colour-changing beacon creates a colourful visual link to events and matches when desired.

‘Beneath the steps, a new public space is flooded with natural light from a series of roof lights. As daylight fades, fixtures cross light the inclined internal surfaces to reflect light into the space, boosted by additional downlighting.

‘From the plaza above, the disc-shaped domes of the roof lights appear to glow, gently animating the scene.’

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

www.theilp.org.uk

43

44

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Public realm lighting

for the Wembley community as well as a destination for visiting fans. ‘It is about providing that infrastructure spine, going down that central walkway, so that Wembley Park now can deliver the services for the residents as well as fans,’ explains Clare.

‘As a lighting professional, you have to put yourself into that space and think about how you engage with it. I think, as an industry, we are guilty sometimes of designing and providing stuff that ticks the box according to what the standard says we should be delivering.

‘But, actually, we don’t think often enough about how we feel in that space and how we engage with that space and what the purpose of that space is. That, for me, is one of the most important things that, as an industry, we maybe need to get to grips with, and something that has very much been achieved within this space.

‘Yes, it is about connecting the station to the stadium but it is also about providing an engaging space at the heart of a community, about connecting the community to the space. The structures we have provided, and the engagement we have had, has been to facilitate the connection of that infrastructure to that wider public realm, and that is cool,’ Clare adds.

PROJECT CREDITS

Client: Quintain Limited Customer: Wembley Park Architect: Dixon Jones (and vPPR) Lighting design: Speirs Major Lighting manufacturer: Urbis Schréder Principal contractor: Volker Fitzpatrick [1] Guidance Note 12: The smart lighting column, is available from the ILP, at https://theilp.org.uk/publication/guidance-note-12-the-smart-lighting-column/

www.theilp.org.uk

Partnering with designers for over 30 years, providing lighting to create spaces and places that people love to live, work and play in.

• • • •

Project Design and Realisation Bespoke Structures Project Management and Installation Connecting Spaces

Agnostic Approach | Connected Design | Adaptive Lighting | Field Services Get in touch with us to find out more at sales@urbis-schreder.com

www.schreder.com

Client: Quintain Limited | Architect: Dixon Jones | Lighting design: Speirs Major | Principal contractor: Volker Fitzpatrick

46

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Street lighting Two webinars held by LDC Bristol over the summer provided an update on the European Union’s Interreg 2-seas Smart Light Concepts (SLIC) research project, including some preliminary conclusions on how municipalities and councils can maximise the benefit from smart public lighting

By Nic Paton

B

ack last summer, Lighting Journal introduced readers to the Interreg 2-seas Smart Light Concepts (SLIC), a European Union-funded project that is aiming to develop and test tools and concepts to encourage energy savings, efficiency and renewable energy use in public lighting (‘Future thinking’, June 2020, vol 85, no 6).

The project, including Portsmouth University and Suffolk County Council in the UK, has been supported by the ILP, with Technical Director Peter Harrison attending a workshop in Portsmouth to discuss the project and how it can benefit the lighting community.

The ILP’s support and encouragement for the scheme continued over this summer, with LDC Bristol running two webinars for members on the SLIC project. The first saw Portsmouth University’s Ramazan Esmeli explain how SLIC’s decision support tool for public lighting worked.

As he highlighted: ‘The tool integrates the economic, environmental, social and technical sustainability aspects of public lighting in different aspects of public lighting in different surroundings (urban, rural, industrial, nature, historical site and business).’

However, Ramazan emphasised the tool is not a decision-making or lighting design tool, only a decision-support tool. It can show likely cost, CO2 and energy savings from taking different approaches, all of which can be shown via a dashboard. The whole intent is about arriving at the right combination of lamp and the dimming level for your municipality, he pointed out. ‘The user can look at the details of the scenarios and then can decide whether it is acceptable for their case or not, or they can decide which scenario can go ahead.’

The second webinar was led by Yves Prevoo, a researcher at Avans University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands as well as Portsmouth University and outlined preliminary conclusions so far. The project is due to conclude at the end of this year and a final report and conclusions will follow.

technologies and concepts around smart lighting. For the purposes of the webinar, he focused on the four that were the most advanced.

The first was the Roeselare municipality in Belgium. Here, an off-grid lighting system for a bicycle path had been installed. ‘In this project, we placed 32 LED light posts, each one of them equipped with a motion sensor, and all those light posts light a small bicycle path of about 800m. On an adjacent building we put 10 KWp (kilowatt peak) of PV panels, and those PV panels generate all the energy needed to power this lighting system,’ Yves explained.

‘The energy is stored in a 14 KW/h battery storage system, installed next to the PV panels. This system together generates enough energy to keep the system running, even during winter. Although there is a back-up system to the grid in case of failure or in case of the battery draining unexpectedly. You obviously do not want to have a bicycle path without light,’ he added.

During its one-and-a-half years of operation, however, the scheme had never had to resort to the back-up, he pointed out. ‘Whenever a cyclist passes, the light intensity

THE SLIC PARTNERS

The Smart Light Concepts project partners include: • The University of Portsmouth, UK • Avans University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands • The municipality of Mechelen, Belgium • The city of Bruges, Belgium • The municipality of Amiens, France • The municipality of Etten-Leur, the Netherlands • The municipality of Veurne, Belgium • Suffolk County Council, UK The find out more about the SLIC project go to: https://smartlightconcepts.eu/ increases. Overall, it has been quite a successful project,’ he said.

The second pilot highlighted was the city of Bruges, also of course in Belgium. ‘This is very much an urban area, with busy traffic and lots of cyclists and pedestrians. In this city, the city really decided it didn’t want to invest too much in the smart part of lighting, but they did want to get some help with their LED replacement of the existing lights,’ explained Yves, with 2,700 columns upgraded to LED. ‘This was quite difficult in this case because there are certain quite stringent aesthetic requirements on those lights, so it was quite a challenge for the city,’ he added.

FOUR PILOT SCHEMES HIGHLIGHTED

Yves highlighted how the project is working with seven pilot partners, all municipalities and all of whom are looking at different www.theilp.org.uk

47

48

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Street lighting previously would have expected.

‘That enabled them as well to achieve much greater savings, because the light level they can currently run at night is much lower than they would have had previously, before they switched to LED lights. Even on the streets that don’t have those motion sensors,’ Yves added.

The fourth and final pilot project highlighted was that being run by Suffolk County Council. This scheme was profiled in Lighting Journal earlier this year (‘Adapting to the future’, June 2021, vol 86, no 6) and has involved the installation of radar-based traffic-dependent dynamic streetlight dimming on a number of arterial routes within Ipswich.

VARIABLE OUTCOMES

Some of SLIC pilot sites. This image and below right: Bruges. Below left: the Roeselare municipality, both in Belgium

The third pilot was the predominantly rural region of Etten-Leur in the Netherlands. ‘What Etten-Leur has done is they have replaced all light posts in 26 streets, which they have partially fitted with motion sensors.

Not every street has motion sensors but a number of them,’ Yves outlined.

‘What Etten-Leur has done, which is quite unique in this project, is they were very active in involving inhabitants and road users in the municipality to try to determine optimal www.theilp.org.uk

dimming schemes for their streets,’ he said, adding this had led to some surprising findings.

‘One of the most interesting things we found was that the inhabitants of the area were actually happy with a much lower light level than we would have expected. There are of course national rules and guidelines for the light level. But when they started asking and doing surveys and meetings, they found that, actually, they could go much lower than they

So, what have these various pilot schemes found so far?

There were, Yves conceded, some fairly self-evident general conclusions, including that you do see CO2 and energy reduction through LED replacement, and that you can further reduction through dynamic (as opposed to static) dimming. Or, at least, by and large.

The ‘by and large’ caveat is, however, interesting. As Yves pointed out, you shouldn’t complacently assume that switching to LED and dynamic dimming will automatically lead to enhanced energy and emissions savings.

On switching to LED, he pointed out that the pilots reported some quite significant variations. ‘In general, we have had a reduction of CO2 emission and also energy reduction, which ranges between 30% to 68% in a yearly reduction of the energy costs and the CO2 emissions,’ he highlighted.

This wide differential was down to a number of factors. In Bruges, for example, the municipality decided to replace all its old streetlights with lower light-intensity and lower light-yield LED lights, and so was able to achieve the 68% reductions.

Another (unnamed) municipality took a different tack, however, and decided to go with a more rigid rollout of just two to three types of LED. ‘In some streets that meant they replaced their old high-pressure sodium lights with a higher wattage LED light. And of course if you install a higher-power LED light, then you expect to not reduce your energy consumption. The small details can make a really big difference,’ Yves pointed out.

There was the same evidence of variability when it came to dynamic dimming. ‘Here the results get quite interesting,’ Yves said. ‘We see a varying reduction of CO2 emissions, of between -47% and 40%. And, yes, the -47% is not a typo!

‘We actually had one pilot project that saw its energy consumption increase by almost 50% after they started using a dynamic

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Modern designs.

Years of experience.

Exceptional quality.

Follow us @WSuggLighting #williamsugglighting

William Sugg & Co Ltd Sales T: 01293 540111

E: sales@williamsugg.co.uk www.theilp.org.uk W: williamsugg.co.uk

49

50

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Street lighting dimming scheme. It turned out something was not quite right, but it also goes to show that dynamic dimming is quite hard to get right. If you want to introduce smart lighting/ dynamic dimming, it is difficult to get it right.

That is probably the biggest takeaway we have had so far from this project,’ Yves emphasised.

‘What was going on was there was an estimation of the amount of traffic that would flow on a certain road. Based on that they installed motion sensors and those motion sensors had a certain delay time. A car would pass by and they would switch to 100% brightness and they would switch off after a couple of minutes.

‘It turned out the municipality that installed those lights got those settings mixed up; those lights were on almost all the time.

They were functioning and working well, the dynamic part was working OK, but the settings were too complicated and it caused them actually to use a lot more power for a number of months.

‘On the other hand we have seen there are also projects that get it right the first time, and they are able to achieve a further reduction of almost 40%. We’ve seen that not in one but multiple projects. So it is possible to get it right, but it takes a lot of attention to detail,’ Yves added.

SUCCESS AND FAILURE FACTORS

Yves then concluded his presentation by outlining what were, for him, the key success or failure factors to take away so far.

The first of these was to recognise there are likely to be variables depending on the location. For example: urban versus rural,

differences in national regulations, and the role that network operators have (and, in turn, the freedom, or lack of, that municipalities have to make their own decisions) can all play a part.

The extent, or lack of, existing infrastructure also needed to be taken into account.

This needed to be not just the existing light infrastructure but also the infrastructure around data collection. ‘This is something we have seen that can cause a lot of problems.

Municipalities are not generally used to running these sorts of smart projects,’ Yves highlighted.

‘If municipalities already have their LED replacement projects complete or largely complete then what we have seen is those projects to introduce smart lighting generally went a lot smoother,’ he added.

Alongside this, the technical knowledge, capacity and skill-sets available to the municipality are potentially important, Yves argued.

‘If you have technical knowledge available, preferably in-house, preferably not from an external consultant or company, then you have definitely an advantage over the other municipalities. This is definitely the biggest point that we found out during this project,’ he said.

‘If it is not possible to have that technical knowledge available in-house, because your municipality is small or your project is too small or whatever other reasons there might be, then it is important that the project has budgeted support from external suppliers.

‘However, try to keep the number of external parties small. We see in municipalities that control most of the installation and design process themselves tend to be more

successful. When working with a lot of contractors, sub-contractors, things can get a more difficult.

‘The last point is basically that the project owner, the municipality, needs to have ownership of the complete public lighting system.

This might seem quite obvious but we have seen big differences between the different pilot projects,’ Yves highlighted.

This could be, for example, where a network operator owns part of the public lighting system. ‘So, basically, the municipality is not in charge of their own projects. The municipality starts a project but for everything they want to do they need to have approval from the network operator. Yet the network operator is not a stakeholder in the project and does not stand to benefit from the project,’ he explained.

‘Those projects tend to go a lot faster because the municipality itself can make all the decisions and can make sure everything is executed according to their plans; they do not have to wait for external permission from people who might not be involved in the project at all,’ Yves added in conclusion.

FIND OUT MORE

Both LDC Bristol webinars are available to be viewed in their entirety on the ILP website.

SLIC decision support tool (DST) for public lighting https://theilp.org.uk/ ilp-bristol-cpd-webinar-slic-decision-support-tool-for-publiclighting/

One of Suffolk County Council’s radar-based traffic-dependent dynamic streetlights, as being piloted through the SLIC project.

Photograph by Dr Hannah Steventon. Above: the rural region of Etten-Leur in the Nether­lands

www.theilp.org.uk

Technical challenges in smart public lighting https://theilp.org.uk/ ilp-bristol-cpd-technological-challenges-in-smart-public-lighting/

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

EXTERIOR. TUNNEL. ROAD. TRT is the specialist amenity, tunnel and road lighting division of FW Thorpe Plc Group. Established in 2012, we are now approaching 500,000 installed units globally.

• The TRT Via bollard and Optio full cut off lantern ranges are now available in 2200K and PC amber • Full photometry for these options is now listed on Lighting Reality • Provides the option to design with less sky glow, blue light scatter and potentially reduce the impact on nocturnal fauna

We focus on the quality of light, we don't just design, manufacture, test & supply leading edge lighting solutions, we innovate.

TRT Lighting Ltd is one of eight companies within the FW Thorpe Plc group, and evolved from parent company Thorlux Lighting.

Building on more than 80 years of experience, we are proud to manufacture our products in the UK, providing energy efficient, long lasting lighting solutions with excellent returns on investment.

For more information

+44 (0) 1527 521 162 www.trtlighting.co.uk INNOVATE | ILLUMINATE | INTEGRATE

VISION DELIVERED ROAD & TUNNEL SYSTEMS www.theilp.org.uk

51

52

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

In June, a consortium spearheaded by lighting firm TRILUX launched the two-year project called ‘SUMATRA’. Funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, it is exploring new ways of efficiently reusing, repairing and recycling LEDs beyond their primary ‘end of life’

By Dr Sebastian Knoche and Vick Nanthan

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

The circular economy

F

or a long time, the term circular economy has been the subject of many manufacturers’ nightmares.

Still, as the earth’s resources are rapidly depleting and we face a climate emergency, we must all meet more stringent requirements from all our stakeholders.

Until now, the circular economy has focused on recyclable parts, with many manufacturers making headway towards what circularity could be. But have we been working in the dark? Excuse the pun.

Our work and research around, and focus on, sustainability was kick-started in 2017 when the European project ‘Repro-light’ was born, with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

It investigated sustainability and the circular economy, the modularisation of luminaires, and moving to a ‘smart’ production scheme. The researchers conducted a life-cycle assessment that aimed to quantify the environmental impact of a luminaire’s entire life cycle (from production to use, through to end of life), as shown in figure 1.

Materials and energy

Energy

Waste and emissions

Production Cradle

The environmental impact was, naturally, quantified in different metrics. As we might expect, materials’ consumption and energy consumption were two key factors. Two other important factors identified were: 1. The ‘abiotic depletion potential’ (ADP) of elements. This is, essentially, the increased extraction of resources leading to depletion of mineral reserves.

This assessment also considered the resources needed for material mining and energy generation. Material usage, the programme concluded, is therefore quantified not just by the physical weight of the components. All materials are rated according to their world reserve and their current extraction rate. They are made comparable by converting them to the unit of antimony equivalent (kg Sb-eq).

2. The ‘primary energy demand’ (PED) of a product. This, calculated in megajoules, is the increased energy consumption that comes from using renewable and non-renewable energy sources.

Materials and energy

Emissions

Use Gate

Waste and emissions

End of life Gate

Grave

Figure 1. The life cycle of a luminaire, showing environmental impact from production through to end of life

The Futurium, or ‘House of the Futures’ in Berlin. The building has been illuminated by TRILUIX, among others, and the company argues it symbolises the future of the European lighting industry

As an aside, there were other metrics that came into play, the Repro-light project concluded – four in fact – but these were all highly correlated to PED. In other words, they had the same cause (energy consumption) but quantified different effects on the environment, such as global warming or acidification.

The key to the project, however, was that it provided measurable ways of assessing a product’s environmental impact. It also acted as a springboard to our current project, ‘SUMATRA’, which we’ll come to shortly.

By putting into practice what we learned from the Repro-light project, we at TRILUX were able to significantly reduce material consumption and enabled considerable energy savings compared to our benchmark LED luminaire. In sum, achievements included: • A 61% reduction in the ADP of elements • A reduction of LED module width and use of flip-chip LEDs without gold bond wire • Improved luminous efficacy from 157 lm/W to 179 lm/W • Improved light management (daylight and presence control), with approximately 30% savings, yet with negligible extra materials’ use The main lesson from the project was that an improved product design can save material while also keeping performance high. The project has also provided the vehicle and framework to deliver data that sustainability managers need to report on.

The project also concluded that the greatest environmental burden was seen in the use-phase of a product’s life. Therefore, with modifications to the product design and high-quality technology, it is possible to significantly reduce energy and material consumption .

However, while the Repro-light project was definitely a success, the phase that remained elusive from a sustainability perspective was the end-of-life of a product.

Repro-light left many unanswered questions about how to deal with LED luminaires at the end of their product life cycle. For example, why are the luminaires replaced at all? What path do they take after disposal?

Can the ecologically relevant parts be recycled or even reused nowadays? How can we facilitate this through design?

To try to answer these critical questions, we created the ‘SUMATRA’ consortium and research project.

Why, SUMATRA? You might of course at this point be visualising images of Sumatran tigers. It wouldn’t be a bad guess, given that Sumatran tigers are an endangered species, in part because of climate change and habitat www.theilp.org.uk

53

54

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

The circular economy degradation – so, clearly, this chimes with the message that all of us need to become more sustainable and work together to preserve the planet. But SUMATRA in fact stands for SUstainable use of MATerials in future luminaire designs – from Recycling back to Application.

WHAT IS BEING RESEARCHED?

A combination of past research and numerous manufacturer claims has argued that modern LED luminaires are already making an essential contribution to climate protection, thanks to their high energy efficiency compared to conventional solutions.

That’s all fair enough, but the potential for further sustainability gains from LED is far from exhausted. Another key lever is the more economical and sustainable use of limited material resources. This is where SUMATRA picks up from the Repro-light.

PROJECTS GOALS

SUMATRA has three core goals: • To develop a demonstrator of the most sustainable lighting system • To create a database for the environmental life-cycle assessment of LED luminaires • To develop concepts for the circular economy, which shall ultimately lead to industry-wide solutions

CALL FOR ‘SYSTEMIC CHANGE’

The project is looking for opportunities to improve the resource efficiency of lighting solutions on three levels.

1. Level one. Here, the entire LED product life cycle is investigated, from the manufacturer to the user, through to the disposer or recycler.

What new usage concepts are conceivable to reduce resource consumption, for example? What about renting instead of buying or using pay-per-use models?

The principle here is that the lighting remains in our possession after the end of the contractually agreed usage relationship, and so can be recycled by us as industry experts in the most ecologically optimal way rather than relying on the user to do so.

This puts the responsibility for the end-of-life into the manufacturer’s hands, meaning a more sustainable solution.

2. Level two. The second level is all about what we call ‘inverse production’, or looking for ways optimally to recycle luminaires at the end of their service life. This could be, for example, through alternative application scenarios, the targeted recycling of certain components or the recovery of raw materials.

The lighting industry will need ‘systemic change’ if it is to fully adopt circular principles and practices, WEEE compliance body Recolight has warned, writes Nic Paton.

That was the conclusion of a gathering of lighting designers and industry executives in a webinar on ‘The specifier’s role in the circular economy’ organised by Recolight in September.

Manufacturers will have to reassess their business models for a time when reuse of products is normalised; designers will have to reconcile the inherent conflicts in creating a high-quality interior that’s demountable and reusable; and clients will have to challenge the traditional ‘take-make-waste’ consumption of building and refurbishment projects, the event concluded.

New business models – such as specialist ‘remanufacturing’ firms that upgrade, test, sell and warranty reused lighting products – may also need to be created.

Separately, Recolight in September announced it will be launching two services intended to increase reuse and re-manufacture in the lighting industry, by diverting more product from recycling.

The services will address the reuse of used lighting equipment, and also the supply of end-of-line or remaindered stock held in its producer members’ warehouses.

Recolight chief executive Nigel Harvey was also arrested over the summer during climate action protests in London (pictured).

Nigel was part of a group of Extinction Rebellion (XR) climate activists protesting in August to raise awareness of the climate crisis.

He was ‘locked on’ for over 20 hours to a giant pink table erected by XR at a busy junction near Leicester Square tube station.

It is the third time he has been arrested for taking part in climate change protests and direct action. www.theilp.org.uk

3. Level three. The focus here is very much on improving the sustainability of product design. How should the luminaire be designed so that components and raw materials can be efficiently recycled and returned to the material cycle? How can we get a grip on buzzwords such as ‘design for recycling’ or ‘design for disassembly’?

At TRILUX, we’ve been pushing the subject of material research for years and already test environmentally friendly renewable raw materials with partners as an alternative to classic plastic-based luminaire bodies. So it is working to build on that.

CONCLUSION

In recent years, we all have heard the term circular economy bandied about freely. At the moment, however, manufacturers are often talking about using a circular economy approach without a defined end-of-life application.

If we continue on our current path of resource depletion, the world will be facing a catastrophic disaster. SUMATRA will allow us to employ concepts such as design for disassembly, remanufacture, reuse and recycle for useful end-of-life application of materials and components, in the process avoiding disposal and loss of economic and ecological value. Ultimately, we’re aiming that SUMATRA will help us to close the loop on circularity.

The SUMATRA project, we hope, may provide a definitive blueprint on how circularity can be achieved in lighting in a scientific, quantifiable way.

We certainly look forward to seeing the results, which are expected to be published during 2023.

ABOUT THE CONSORTIUM

The Sumatra consortium comprises lighting specialists TRILUX and ams OSRAM; recycling company Interseroh; The Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration; and lighting design company Kardorff Ingenieure. It is being funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

Dr Sebastian Knoche leads the research and development department at TRILUX and Vick Nanthan is head of sustainability at TRILUX UK

WHERE THERE IS LIGHT, THERE IS LIFE.

Job Vacancy Available Joint Authority PFI Manager Salary: £47,830 - £50,784 Closing date: Monday 6th December Shortlisting & Interview Dates: Week commencing Monday 13th December Providing Street Lighting across Oldham and Rochdale. At Oldham Council we are seeking a Joint Authority PFI Client Team Manager. Working with our PFI provider you will lead and develop the service in contract management and service delivery. Driving outcomes that demonstrate best value for money you will ensure the project objectives for both Councils are fully met.

Overview of role • • • • • • • •

To lead the partnership between Rochdale and Oldham Council, the Service Provider and their Operating Sub Contractor, to ensure effective delivery of the street lighting project across 29k assets in Rochdale and 29.7k assets in Oldham.

To lead, coordinate, and manage the work of the Client Team in monitoring the performance of PFI in line with contractual requirements.

To liaise with Members, clients, directorates, members of public bodies and all other stakeholders using various means of communication and strategies giving a clear understanding of the objectives and outcomes.

To contribute to the Strategic vision of both Councils, through masterplans, regeneration, transportation, highway improvement projects, housing and retail developments, ensuring that they link seamlessly with the PFI Contracts.

To develop and implement business cases in relation to new technology and innovation to further reduce Co2 emissions and energy consumption of the street lighting infrastructure through the PFI Contract to meet the Councils Co2 emissions and financial targets.

The Councils have replaced 80% of their street lighting infrastructure from 2011 to 2016.

From 2023 we will see the remaining 20% of columns replaced, and you will oversee the PFI to manage and deliver the program in all respects, through stakeholder engagement, consultation, and PFI contractual provisions, including design, installation, certification.

To be actively involved local and national street lighting networks.

This is a great opportunity fully apply your degree / Higher Electrical Engineering Qualification and Street Lighting/Electrical design, construction, and maintenance. You will already be in a senior strategic role and be seeking to develop that still further by demonstrating your experience of working in a large and complex organisation, giving specialist advice and guidance and successfully delivering projects, strategies, and plans For more details visit www.greater.jobs If you require further information please get in contact with John Mcauley at john.mcauley@oldhamrochdalestreetlights.co.uk

56

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

In her latest book, veteran lighting designer Sally Storey has addressed how lighting designers can elevate residential lighting from the humdrum to the visually stunning. Lighting designer Sunny Sribanditmongkol investigates

By Sunny Sribanditmongkol

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Book review

R

ecently a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Prize from the LIT Awards, Sally Storey’s career in lighting spans four decades, including her current positions as a founding director at Lighting Design International and creative director of John Cullen Lighting.

She is the author of five books on lighting, including her latest Inspired by Light, published by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Inspired by Light consists of three parts. In the first part, Sally takes us through the basic technical aspects of lighting in a personal and engaging way, with an emphasis on LED technology.

Lighting requirements for residential projects are, of course, different from those for commercial projects. For lighting designers who do not always work only on residential projects, this section is a useful recap of some of the technical and aesthetic requirements lighting professionals should consider in residential lighting design.

This first section also introduces the reader to the layering of light effects, which is a key practice in lighting design and is emphasised throughout the book.

Photographs by (clockwise from top): Breed Media, Nick Kontou, and Hebanon Fratelli Basile

CREATING LUXURIOUS SPACES

In the second part, Sally reveals her techniques in lighting each area of the house and how the layering of light is put into practice.

This section provides practical advice on how to add a luxurious feel to spaces using lighting. With the help of extensive high-quality photographs of Sally’s projects, the lighting effects being described are clearly and effectively illustrated.

In the third and final part of the book,

‘Inspired by Light: A design guide to transforming the home’, by Sally Storey, is published by RIBA Books, price £35. It is available from https://ribabooks.com/

Sally takes us through a few of her projects with different scales and architectural styles, everything from a contemporary villa in Dubai to an alpine chalet.

We learn how lighting schemes develop from the briefs, address the challenges that make each project unique and turn into final solutions that bring together practicality and aesthetics.

In sum, Inspired by Light is a carefully written book that both informs and inspires. It is an easy read whilst also being informative.

I’d say this book is suitable for young lighting designers who want to learn key lighting principles or lighting professionals working on residential projects who would like a quick revisit to the key elements or a peek into ‘Sally’s secret’.

Contractors and suppliers may also benefit from the design principles and ideas included in the book, all of which can add value to their products, services and projects.

As a result, more homes would be

sympathetically and elegantly lit, in turn creating better environments for people to live – this is the ultimate dream for every lighting designer.

Sunny Sribanditmongkol is a lighting designer with Studio 29 Lighting Design as well as architectural representative for the YLP

FIND OUT MORE

In the January edition of Lighting Journal, Sunny will be sitting down with Sally Storey to discuss all-things residential lighting and finding out her tips and advice for what makes a successful residential lighting project. Watch this space!

www.theilp.org.uk

57

58

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Inside the ILP

‘WE MUST ENGAGE WITH THE NEXT GENERATION’ With the departure of Tracey White, this month sees the arrival of a new Chief Executive at the ILP, Justin Blades.

Lighting Journal fired up Microsoft Teams to find out all about him and his likely priorities for the Institution

By Nic Paton

T

his month sees the departure of ILP Chief Executive Tracey White, who is pursuing her dream of living permanently with her husband Miles in Cyprus and, after the 18 months or so we’ve just had, who can blame her?

The new arrival at the helm is Justin Blades, who comes to the ILP following a six-year stint as deputy chief executive of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), among (as we shall see) a wide range of other roles.

Lighting Journal touched base, virtually, with Justin in September. Although that was before formally getting his feet under the desk at Rugby, Justin was already working to get to know the industry. In fact, he’d spent the day before with Tracey, the Executive Board and other lighting professional bodies at the Houses of Parliament to attend an event to discuss lighting, sustainability and the circular economy, which will be followed up in these pages early next year.

‘It was good; all the feedback was very positive and I felt we made an impact.

However, with this being one of the ILP’s first post-pandemic physical events, there was an element of “what are the rules?” – can you shake hands, how close should you stand to people? Working out the appropriate etiquette of this particular phase can be tricky,’ Justin laughs.

DIGITAL-FIRST FOCUS

Working out the intricacies of lighting, the lighting industry and the ILP itself will also be a steep learning curve, he concedes. But leading the ILP as we emerge from the pandemic into what is likely to be a very changed personal and professional world for all of us is a challenge he is very much up for.

‘Like all individuals coming into somewhere new, the first thing you have got to do is look and listen. I will of course need to get to know the ILP and its membership. Having said that, there are some overarching issues for professional bodies that the ILP, like others, has to address if it is going to be successful,’ Justin says.

‘In the last 18 months to two years the

‘I AM GREAT BELIEVER THAT COLLABORATIVE MODELS WIN OVER COMPETITIVE, PARTICULARLY WHEN YOU ARE IN A NOT-FOR-PROFIT SPACE. SO, I AM VERY MUCH UP FOR COLLABORATIVE AND CO-OPERATIVE CONVERSATIONS WITH THE OTHER LIGHTING INDUSTRY BODIES AND ORGANISATIONS’ www.theilp.org.uk

world has turned on a dime. Everyone has been forced to become web-enabled, even those who didn’t really want to.

There has been a fundamental change in terms of people having to adopt digital approaches. Making decisions, sharing communication, developing business and professional relationships, just making stuff happen – it has all totally changed.

‘I think there is therefore now a real window of opportunity. Not to drop the tried-and-tested ways – I am a people-orientated person; I always want to interact with people and I am a great believer that you build trusted relationships through face-to-face human interaction – but for even small organisations to embrace a digital-first approach,’ Justin explains.

So, who is Justin Blades? Following a degree in marketing and management at the University of Central Lancashire, Justin began life in commercial sales, before moving through a range of marketing roles and then a stint working for the European arm of the US professional organisation The Association for Intelligent Image Management, his first taste of working within the industry body/ association arena.

‘It helped me to understand some of the issues faced by professional and membership bodies. In particular, there was the question of “mission versus market”. More often than not, you are a charitable, not-for-profit organisation formed for public, societal or sector

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

59

Premier Member Advertorial

Das gute Licht.

For natural accents.

BEGA Lighting UK Ltd · Suite 9 · Milton Heath House · Westcott Road · Dorking · Surrey · RH4 3NB · UK · Tel. No. +44 (0) 1306 882 098 info-uk@bega.com · www.bega.com

NEW PRODUCT Lumisphere® Active RGBW Festoons DMX Controllable

ARCHITECTURE | FESTIVE | TREES | MARINE | SIGNAGE | SEAFRONT | RGBW | MORE

Delivering Decorative Lighting Festoons for over 30 years

Advertise in the Lighting Journal 2022 Andy Etherton andy@matrixprint.com

01536 527297

www.theilp.org.uk

07518 754462

60

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Inside the ILP ‘WE MUST ENGAGE WITH THE NEXT GENERATION, AND THAT IS THROUGH DIGITAL. FUTURE GENER­ATIONS ARE SUCH THAT THEY WILL ACTIVELY CHOOSE ORGANISATIONS VIA DIGITAL SCREENS, AND WE HAVE TO MOVE TO ADDRESS THAT’ benefit. Yet, while, yes, you are not-forprofit, you are absolutely not-for-loss, either,’ says Justin.

‘So, the tension is that you still have to have a financially sustainable model; you need to be successful at what you’re doing to give you the resources you need to enable the community you are serving to do the good stuff it wants to do,’ he tells Lighting Journal.

In the mid-noughties, Justin was headhunted to become membership manager at the IChemE. That role gradually expanded into events, training and CPD, and the development of a new IT strategy. He also took on various international membership roles, working in Australasia and the Far East before eventually, in 2012, becoming the institution’s deputy chief executive.

When, four years later, the chief executive Dr David Brown retired, Justin took on the role of interim CEO for several months whilst the search and appointment of a permanent successor took place. Once Jon Prichard, the current CEO, took over Justin took the decision to leave IChemE and step into a role helping to support his father’s engineering and fabrication business in the Black Country. But returning to membership and professional organisations was always the longer-term goal.

With the IChemE located just down the road from the ILP in Rugby, Justin had occasionally met Tracey’s predecessor at the ILP, Richard Frost.

‘I wouldn’t say we knew each other well, but we had interacted over the years, both locally and at things like Engineering Council meetings. So I knew of, first, the ILE and then the ILP. When I heard that Tracey was leaving, I threw my hat into the ring and applied to be considered,’ Justin says.

‘For me, it is an exciting opportunity to get back into the professional development/professional body space and do what I love and, hopefully, am quite good at,’ he adds.

ATTRACTING THE NEXT GENERATION

What, then, are likely to be Justin’s priorities? As well as his digital-first focus, engaging with and attracting the next generation of lighting professionals, www.theilp.org.uk

both within design and engineering, will be high on his priority list, Justin highlights, a theme that of course chimes with the digital-first focus anyway.

‘Whether you are a professional body or a commercial organisation or anything else, to be successful you have to develop your strategic thinking. We must engage with the next generation, and that is through digital. Future generations are such that they will actively choose organisations, or the ability to get what they want, via digital screens, and we have to move to address that,’ Justin says, though emphasising that, in practice, there will probably need to be a blended approach.

Another big issue for him is sustainability, and the role that lighting and the industry can play in making the case for more sustainable lighting and energy use, the circular economy and (topical right now of course) more sustainable supply chains.

‘How is the ILP going to do what it does, and how are our members going to do what they need to do – which is all about providing a fairly basic human need, after all – in a sustainable way? As the human race we now have to make decisions in a different set of paradigms,’ he argues.

‘Finally, I am great believer that collaborative models win over competitive, particularly when you are in a not-forprofit space. So, I am very much up for collaborative and open conversations with the other lighting industry bodies and organisations,’ Justin adds.

It sounds like it could be quite a journey.

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

As we highlighted in last month’s Lighting Journal, during the ILP’s virtual annual general meeting in June an initiative called ‘Light at the end of the tunnel’ was launched.

This, very simply, is encouraging ILP members to share an image, video or piece of writing that sums up what they are looking forward to most post pandemic, illustrates a positive side-effect that has come out of the pandemic, or ‘reminds us that we can continue to get through this with each other’s support’, as the ILP said.

Members are also being encouraged to post their images and words of social media, on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, with the hashtag #LightAtTheEndOfTheTunnel and tagging the ILP. Alternatively, members can email images and words to Diane Sterne, at diane@theilp.org.uk Images are being published periodically in Lighting Journal, and so here is a further selection for you to enjoy and reflect on.

A vividly decorated lighting column, sent in by Andrew Gooding

A butterfly and a lighthouse ‘to cut through the dark’, both supplied by Jo Bell

A woodland scene, by Karen Owens

GET IN TOUCH •

Justin is keen to get out and meet, as well as speak to, as many members as possible over the coming months. But if you would like to drop him a line and introduce yourself, Justin can be contacted at the ILP at justin@theilp.org.uk

A stunning rainbow over the beach, sent in by Marcus Woodbridge

LIGHTING CONSULTANTS

This directory gives details of suitably qualified, individual members of the Institution of Lighting Professionals (ILP) who offer consultancy services

HERBIE BARNIEH

JASON MCNULTY

ALISTAIR SCOTT

PROJECT CENTRE

4WAY CONSULTING LTD

DESIGNS FOR LIGHTING LTD

BEng IEng MILP

BSc (Hons) CEng FILP MHEA

BEng (Hons) MIET

LONDON WC1X 9HD T: 0330 135 8950, 077954 75570 HERBIE.BARNIEH@PROJECTCENTRE.CO.UK

WWW.PROJECTCENTRE.CO.UK

WINCHESTER SO23 7TA T: 01962 855080 M: 07790 022414 E: ALISTAIR@DFL-UK.COM

LEAMINGTON SPA, CV31 3RG T: 01926 832799 E: JASON.MCNULTY@4WAYCONSULTING.COM

WWW.DFL-UK.COM

WWW.4WAYCONSULTING.COM Providing exterior lighting and ITS consultancy and design services and specialising in the urban and inter-urban environment.

Our services span the complete project life cycle for both the public and private sector.

Professional lighting design consultancy offering technical advice, design and management services for exterior/interior applications for highway, architectural, area, tunnel and commercial lighting.

Advisors on lighting and energy saving strategies, asset management, visual impact assessments and planning.

STEVEN BIGGS

STEPHEN HALLIDAY

ANTHONY SMITH

MILESTONE INFRASTRUCTURE

WSP

STAINTON LIGHTING DESIGN SERVICES LTD

Efficient, innovative, and bespoke lighting design services from an award winning consultancy.

Experienced in delivering exterior lighting projects from feasibility studies to post construction.

Whether it’s highway, street, or public realm lighting, let us assist you to realise your project goals.

IEng MILP

PETERBOROUGH PE1 5XG T: 07834 506705 STEVEN.BIGGS@MILESTONEINFRA.CO.UK

MILESTONEINFRA.CO.UK

Award winning lighting design specialists, delivering innovative design, installation and maintenance solutions in highways, public realm, commercial and architectural environments.

Our HERS registered team provide design strategies, impact assessment, technical & certifier support.

BONNIE BROOKS

BA(Hons) BEng (Hons) MSc CEng MSLL MCIBSE MILP

ILLUME DESIGN LTD

IEng FILP

EngTech AMILP

MANCHESTER M50 3SP T: 0161 886 2532 E: STEPHEN.HALLIDAY@WSPGROUP.COM

STOCKTON ON TEES TS23 1PX T: 01642 565533, E: ENQUIRIES@STAINTONLDS.CO.UK

WWW.WSPGROUP.COM

Public and private sector professional services providing design, technical support, contract and policy development for all applications of exterior lighting and power from architectural to sports, area and highways applications.

PFI technical advisor and certifier support, HERS registered personnel.

WWW.STAINTONLDS.CO.UK

Specialist in: motorway, highway schemes, illumination of buildings, major structures, public artworks, amenity area lighting, public spaces, car parks, sports lighting, asset management, reports, plans, assistance, maintenance management, electrical design and communication network design. Registered personnel.

STEPHEN HIGHAM

NICK SMITH

SHD LIGHTING CONSULTANCY LTD

NICK SMITH ASSOCIATES LIMITED

IEng MILP

IEng FILP MIES

CHESTERFIELD, S40 3JR T: 01246 229444 E: MAIL@NICKSMITHASSOCIATES.COM

EXETER EX4 1NF T: 07840 054601, E: INFO@ILLUME-DESIGN.CO.UK

BOLTON BL2 6SE M: 07834 490 192 E: STEVE@SHDLIGHTING.CO.UK

WWW.ILLUME-DESIGN.CO.UK

WWW.SHDLIGHTING.CO.UK

WWW.NICKSMITHASSOCIATES.CO.UK

SIMON BUSHELL

ALLAN HOWARD

ALAN TULLA

SSE CONTRACTING

WSP

ALAN TULLA LIGHTING

Professional independent lighting design consultancy providing designs for all exterior applications, including street lighting. Specialists in assisting at the planning application stage with designs, strategies, lighting impact assessments, and expert witness, with a focus on mitigating ecological and environmental impacts.

MBA DMS IEng MILP

Outdoor lighting consultancy specialising in adoptable highway and private lighting designs.

Our services include Section 38, Section 278, Car Park lighting designs, Commercial floodlighting schemes and environmental impact lighting assessment reporting. Qualified design team with 24 years’ experience in exterior lighting.

BEng(Hons) CEng FILP FSLL

PORTSMOUTH PO6 1UJ T: +44 (0)2392276403 M: 07584 313990 E: SIMON.BUSHELL@SSE.COM

WWW.SSECONTRACTING.CO.UK

Specialist exterior lighting consultant.

Private and adopted lighting and electrical design for highways, car parks, area and sports lighting.

Lighting Impact assessments, expert witness and CPD accredited Lighting design AutoCAD and Lighting Reality training courses.

IEng FILP FSLL

LONDON WC2A 1AF T: 07827 306483 E: ALLAN.HOWARD@WSPGROUP.COM

WINCHESTER, SO22 4DS T: 01962 855720 M:0771 364 8786 E: ALAN@ALANTULLALIGHTING.COM

WWW.WSPGROUP.COM

Professional artificial and daylight lighting services covering design, technical support, contract and policy development including expert advice and analysis to develop and implement energy and carbon reduction strategies. Expert witness regarding obtrusive lighting, light nuisance and environmental impact investigations. registered personnel.

WWW.ALANTULLALIGHTING.COM

LORRAINE CALCOTT

ALAN JAQUES

MICHAEL WALKER

IT DOES LIGHTING LTD

ATKINS

MCCANN LTD

Professional consultancy from the UK’s and Irelands largest external lighting contractor.

From highways and tunnels, to architectural and public spaces our electrical and lighting designers also provide impact assessments, lighting and carbon reduction strategies along with whole installation packages.

IEng MILP IALD MSLL ILA BSS THE CUBE, 13 STONE HILL, TWO MILE ASH, MILTON KEYNES, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, MK8 8DN T: 01908 560110 E: INFORMATION@ITDOES.CO.UK

IEng FILP

Site surveys of sports pitches, road lighting and offices.

Architectural lighting for both interior and exterior.

Visual Impact Assessments for planning applications.

Specialises in problem solving and out-of-the-ordinary projects.

IEng MILP CMS

NOTTINGHAM, NG9 2HF T: +44 (0)115 9574900 M: 07834 507070 E: ALAN.JAQUES@ATKINSGLOBAL.COM

NOTTINGHAM NG9 6DQ M: 07939 896887 E: M.WALKER@JMCCANN.CO.UK

WWW.ITDOES.CO.UK

WWW.ATKINSGLOBAL.COM

WWW.MCCANN-LTD.CO.UK

MARK CHANDLER

PATRICK REDMOND

PETER WILLIAMS

Award winning lighting design practice specialising in interior, exterior, flood and architectural lighting.

Emphasis on section 278/38, public realm, ecology receptor mitigation and supporting Councils with planning approvals, CDM2015 and SBD accredited.

Specialists in circadian spectrally specific lighting design.

EngTech AMILP

Professional consultancy providing technical advice, design and management services for exterior and interior applications including highway, architectural, area, tunnel and commercial lighting.

Advisors on energy saving strategies, asset management, visual impact assessments and planning.

HDip Bus, EngTech AMILP, AMSLL, Tech IEI

MMA LIGHTING CONSULTANCY LTD

READING RG10 9QN T: 0118 3215636 E: MARK@MMA-CONSULTANCY.CO.UK

WWW.MMA-CONSULTANCY.CO.UK

Exterior lighting consultant’s who specialise in all aspects of street lighting design, section 38’s, section 278’s, project management and maintenance assistance.

We also undertake lighting appraisals and environmental lighting studies

Design for all types of exterior lighting including street lighting, car parks, floodlighting, decorative lighting, and private lighting. Independent advice regarding light trespass, carbon reduction and invest to save strategies.

Asset management, data capture, inspection and testing services available.

EngTech AMILP

WILLIAMS LIGHTING CONSULTANTS LTD.

REDMOND ANALYTICAL MANAGEMENT SERVICES LTD. M: + 353 (0)86 2356356 E: PATRICK@REDMONDAMS.IE

BEDFORD, MK41 6AG T: 0 16 0 8 6 4 2 5 3 0 E: PETER.WILLIAMS@WLCLIGHTING.CO.UK

WWW.REDMONDAMS.IE

WWW.WLCLIGHTING.CO.UK

Independent expert lighting design services for all exterior and interior lighting applications. We provide sustainable lighting solutions and associated electrical designs. Our services include PSDP for lighting projects, network contractor auditing, and GPS site surveys for existing installations.

Specialists in the preparation of quality and effective street lighting design solutions for Section 38, Section 278 and other highway projects. We also prepare lighting designs for other exterior applications. Our focus is on delivering solutions that provide best value.

Neither Lighting Journal nor the ILP is responsible for any services supplied or agreements entered into as a result of this listing ARCDOT™

ARCPIX II™

MEDIA IN MOTION anolislighting.com

Lighting

groupsales@mallatite.co.uk Directory

Connecting Infrastructure Delivering Decorative Lighting Festoons for over 30 years We create bespoke low energy, durable festoon lighting for architects, designers, retail chains, sign makers, ship builders, and more.

Contact us to discuss your lighting project.

Lighting For Roads & Spaces Traf f ic Products & Signage Intelligent Road Products Road Maintenance Materials Traf f ic Signal Poles Passively Safe Products www.mallatite.co.uk

01525 601201

ILD ADVERT 2 .indd 1

www.lumisphere.co.uk sales@lumisphere.co.uk

LIGHTING DIRECTORY

01245 329 999

18/11/2020 15:17

info@PowerDataAssociates.com www.PowerDataAssociates.com Wrest Park, Silsoe, Beds MK45 5HR

Meter Administrator Power DataData Associates Ltd are Power Associates Ltd are the leading the leading meter administrator meter administrator in Great Britain. We achieve in Great Britain. We achieve accurate energy calculations accurate energy calculations assuring you of a assuring you of a cost effective cost effective quality service. Offering independent quality service. Offering consultancy advice to independent consultancy adviceensure correct inventory to ensure correct inventory coding, coding, unmetered energy forecasting and impact unmetered energy forecasting and of market development impact of market developments.

01525 601201

info@PowerDataAssociates.com www.PowerDataAssociates.com Wrest Park, Silsoe, Beds MK45 4HR

Midlands Lighting Solutions

European distributors of StormSpill®, only system specified by:

From Concept to Construction in One Simple Step

We have over 40 years experience in the street lighting industry and are a leading manufacturer and supplier to UK and International markets.

• • • • • • • • • •

Isolators Cut-outs Earthing, Accessories Photocells Surge Protection CELtek CMS Distribution Pillars In-ground Distribution EV Charging Smart City, IoT Lighting Management

• Providing Lighting and Electrical Consultancy • Full Design Services Including On-site Presence

• London 2012 Olympic Games

• Feasibility Studies and Obtrusive Light Assessments

• Glasgow 2014 Commonwealths

• Visual Surveys and Electrical Testing • Light Performance Tests including for Televised Events t: 07757 830436 e: enquiries@midlandslightingsolutions.co.uk w: www.midlandslightingsolutions.co.uk

ISO 9001 - ISO 14001 ISO 45001

Patented Raised Lamppost Banner System that significantly reduces loading on columns and prevents banners twisting and tearing.

Column testing and guarantee service available.

E: info@charlesendirect.com T: +44 (0)1963 828 400 W: www.charlesendirect.com Wessex Way, Wincanton Business Park, Wincanton, Somerset BA9 9RR

The most approved system by Highways Engineers

0208 343 2525 baymedia.co.uk

UNDERWATER...UNDER CONTROL LJ Directory rev3.indd 1

04/01/2021 11:00:56

ARCSOURCE™ SUBMERSIBLE

anolislighting.com

NOVEMBER/ JULY/AUGUST DECEMBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Examplary running head

www.theilp.org.uk

63

PROUDLY MADE IN THE UK

SINCE 1923

E950 Next Generation LED Luminaire

- Low Power (LP) and High Power (HP) Options - SR Driver Ready - Post Top or Side Entry - 2200K | 2700K | 3000K | 4000K - Dark Sky Friendly - No upward Light - Contractor Friendly

+44 1920 860600 | www.cuphosco.co.uk | enquiries@cuphosco.co.uk