Lighting Journal October 2021 by The ILP

Professional best practice from the Institution of Lighting Professionals

October 2021

PURCHASE HISTORY How retail lighting is needing to be rethought post Covid ROYAL REGARD New public realm lighting is refreshing the Royal Albert Hall on its 150th anniversary DAYLIGHTING THE PAST Don’t assume daylight harvesting is a no-go area for historic buildings

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Contents

DAYLIGHTING 06THE PAST

Even though lighting designers will inevitably be more constrained in what they can do, older and historic buildings can still lend themselves well to daylight harvesting, as a study by Historic England and Hoare Lea has shown. As Geraldine O’Farrell explains, this means substantial savings on energy and carbon may be able to be made without upsetting the historic fabric

SEEING HISTORY AFRESH

Like most places, museums and galleries around the world have been rapidly moving to LED in recent years. Yet they’re often using this flexible new technology alongside lighting methods and guidelines that are stuck in the past. Lighting designer Emrah Baki Ulas makes the case for a rethink of, and new approach to, museum lighting standards

ROYAL REGARD

The world-renowned concert venue of the Royal Albert Hall celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. As one of London’s best-loved landmarks, any works to the public realm lighting surrounding it have to be carried out with the utmost care and attention to detail, as the recent upgrade of the 18 lanterns on its grand staircase approach has shown, writes Gary Thorne

24DESIGN DISCONNECT

As ILP members will well know, light pollution can be mitigated by a combination of good design practice, and competent installation. As light pollution from public lighting installations starts to fall, how can we make sure private installations follow suit? YLP vice chair Toby Penter reports

28TECHNICAL TONIC

The ILP’s Technical Committee has not let the complications and challenges of Covid-19 get in the way of its important work for the industry, as Peter Harrison shows in this update from its latest meeting

34PURCHASE HISTORY

Lighting the venerable, and listed, 39 Brook Street in London, home to high-end retailer Browns, meant careful balancing of the modern and innovative with the heritage and constrained. Its focus on intuitive, selfservice technologies may also provide valuable food for thought when it comes to rethinking the post-pandemic retail experience, argue Philip Copland and Martina Alagna

40HEALTH MATTERS

The market for ‘healthy’, human-centric lighting is growing at around 35% a year. As light and health consultant Dr Shelley James argued in an ILP webinar, this means making the business case for investment comes back to lighting professionals truly understanding the costs, potential savings and value (in all senses) of taking a human-centric approach to lighting design

WAYS TO RECYCLE 44FOUR MORE EFFICIENTLY

46GLORIOUS ISOLATION

Isolators and cut-outs have a vital safety-critical role to play in street lighting design, specification and installation, especially as lighting columns become key conduits of smart city infrastructure. Yet, as Giles Davidson and Robert Ashworth write, too often they are either misunderstood or taken for granted

THE 50DIMMING MEMORY OF WAR

By the autumn of 1944, with the end of the war approaching and bombing raids becoming a memory, new brighter lighting levels were specified, leading to the creation of the ‘Dim Out’ or ‘moon lighting’. If the public was relieved to see light finally returning to the streets, not all within the industry embraced the transition, explains Simon Cornwell

EMINERE™

40 p COVER PICTURE

Sneakers on display at high-end London retailer Browns, showing the new lighting scheme by Nulty and design by Dimorestudio. Turn to page 34 for the full story, including how the scheme has asked questions about how retail lighting may need to be rethought post pandemic. Photograph by Bozho Gagovski

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Volume 86 No 9 October 2021 President Fiona Horgan

Chief Executive Tracey White 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 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

Editor’s letter

don’t know about you, but I’ve certainly been enjoying the release from Covid restrictions we’ve all experienced over the past four or so months. I’ve been to the pub, back on trains, flown to Europe (twice in fact), been to the cinema and so on. The fact any of this is even worth remarking on is of course remarkable in itself, and speaks volumes to just how unprecedented the past year and a half has been. One lockdown habit that I am finding difficult to break, however, is online shopping. In truth, I was never much of a high street shopper even before the pandemic but I’m still just not feeling the lure of the post-pandemic physical high street. For me at least, the sheer convenience and lack of hassle associated with online shopping is here to stay (unless it’s absolutely necessary to venture, grumbling, into a bricks-and-mortar shop). I expect I’m not the only one who feels this way. And that, of course, poses a serious problem for our high streets and, within that, the market for retail lighting. It is true the flight to online was a growing challenge for retailers well before Covid-19 but it is a trend and market shift that has been accelerated and amplified by the experience of the pandemic. It is for this reason that I found Philip Copland and Martina Alagna’s cover feature in this edition (from page 34) intriguing and thought-provoking. Phil and Martina describe their work at Nulty to update the lighting for high-end retailer Browns, which is located in the venerable and listed 39 Brook Street in London. The historic location, of course, posed its own challenges and the fact much of the planning for the scheme took place pre pandemic means it’d be a stretch to describe the lighting design as being a response to Covid changes. Nevertheless, the fact the lighting is focused on enhancing and complementing a retail experience rather than just being about the function of shopping and purchasing is, I feel, set to become an increasingly important part of the retail lighting conversation post-Covid, especially at the design and specification stage. The fact we’re going to be living with Covid-19 for the foreseeable means the ventilation and personalisation of retail spaces will likely become more important. This is because, first, retailers will still need to be mitigating the risk of virus transmission in confined indoor spaces. But, second, an airy, more personalised experience – one where browsing racks or shelves is just one part of an engaging day out of the house – is also simply a much nicer retail experience. If retailers are to lure shoppers away from their keyboards, this kind of ‘sell’ is, I’d venture to predict, going to become even more critical. Lighting’s ability to shape the feel and ambience of a space (often without breaking the bank) could therefore play an increasingly important part. Whether this leads to more investment in innovative and creative retail lighting designs remains very much an open question of course. It is self-evident that if footfall continues to decline, outlets continue to shut and high streets continue to struggle, there will need to be a much wider recovery conversation than just the value of better, more experiential lighting. The point I’m trying to make is that lighting, and the role great lighting design can potentially play in the new post-pandemic retail ‘normal’, needs to be part of that discussion. I’d certainly be interested to hear what ILP members who work in the retail space feel about this and what you feel the answers may be, so please do feel free to drop me a line at the contact details in the panel opposite. Nic Paton Editor

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.

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DAYLIGHTING THE PAST Even though lighting designers will inevitably be more constrained in what they can do, older and historic buildings can still lend themselves well to daylight harvesting, as a study by Historic England and Hoare Lea has shown. This means substantial savings on energy and carbon may be able to be made without upsetting the historic fabric By Geraldine O’Farrell

he impact of daylighting on our health and sense of wellbeing is now well understood. As diurnal animals (in other words, that we are awake during the day), sunlight supports our biological requirements by triggering our circadian rhythms or body clock via non-visual receptors in the eye. By increasing daylight within our working environments, we can create better, happier, healthier and more productive spaces. CIBSE has produced Technical

Memorandum 40:2020 Health and wellbeing in building services to demonstrate how these, along with other performance parameters such as acoustic, thermal and humidity can impact our health [1]. Also, by utilising more natural daylight we reduce our reliance on artificial electric lighting which in turn saves energy. As part of Historic England’s commit ment to reducing its carbon emissions, we decided to carry out daylight studies in two of our older, listed regional offices to see how they performed.

COMPARATIVE MODELLING PROCESS

For the initial study we chose the Grade I listed Bessie Surtees House in Newcastle upon Tyne. This site, comprising sixteenth and seventeenth century merchants’ houses, was picked because of the impending need to upgrade the services, including the lighting. We asked consultants Hoare Lea to carry out this study on our behalf. It did this by creating a model of the rooms chosen using a commercially available programme called Rhino 3D with a suite of

OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Daylight harvesting

Figure 1. An illustration of some of the modelling process for the Grade I listed Bessie Surtees House in Newcastle

daylight analysis plug-ins. In addition to the models, the context in which the building is located was also modelled, as shown in figure 1 above. We were also able to provide Hoare Lea with a great deal on information to assist in this exercise from our own Matterport camera scans to the plans and listing records from the Historic England Archive in Swindon. Also, we furnished Hoare Lea with details of the existing lighting installation and desk layouts plus the current office usage. The rooms chosen at our Newcastle offices were in two distinct parts of the building. Each was considered typical of all the rooms on the main façade. The first was in the sixteenth century Tudor half, which gives the site its name, and the second in the later seventeenth century Jacobean building called Millbank House. The room and window proportions are different, with the Tudor room having a higher ceiling but deeper footprint to the office space chosen in Millbank House. In addition, the window designs of the two rooms were also substantially different.

POTENTIAL FOR ENERGY SAVINGS

The first part of the analysis looked at the internal daylight in relation to current best practice standards and the second looked at the potential for energy savings with daylight dimming incorporated into the lighting controls for each room. Each of the detailed 3D models for the two rooms employed the same assumed material properties to be used in the daylight calculations. For light reflectance value, these were: • • • • • •

Ground 20% Surrounding buildings 20% Floors 20% Walls and partitions 30% Ceilings 50% Glazing visible light transmittance (VLT) 0.8

The analysis of the two rooms chosen for assessment used Climate-Based Daylight Modelling (CBDM). CBDM, for those who are unfamiliar with the term, is the prediction of various radiant or luminous quantities using daylight conditions derived from standard meteorological datasets. The metric used for the study was ‘Spatial Autonomy’ (sDA). This is a measure of how much of the room achieves daylight autonomy, in other words how much can be illuminated by daylight alone without artificial lighting. sDA measures how much of the space receives a given illuminance level from daylight alone for a given proportion of the occupied hours over an entire year. sDA targets also vary with the application, but the WELL Building Standard (IWBI 2020) recommends the following in order to ensure that a room is sufficiently well lit: • • •

The total energy consumption without daylight linking was 619 kWh per year. By comparison, the total energy consumption with daylight linking was 316 kWh per year. The daylight results indicated that the Millbank House room has an sDA 300.50 of 62.5%, which exceeds the minimum WELL standard of 55%. It has a favourable height-to-depth ratio, making it good for daylighting and, although it faces the Newcastle Guildhall across the street, its elevated position on the third floor makes it less susceptible to overshadowing. The results for Bessie Surtees House gave the following results. The total energy consumption without daylight linking was 1,184 kWh per year, while the total energy consumption with daylight linking was 602 kWh per year. The daylight results gave an sDA 300.50 of 37.9%, which falls short of the 55% target recommended by WELL. Although the façade is south east-orientated and the space chosen has ample glazing, the room’s layout makes it more challenging with its greater depth-to-window height and the position on the second floor means it is overshadowed by the building opposite. This has an obvious negative impact on the amount of daylight that the back third of the room receives. However, as the

Good sDA 300.50 ≥ 55% Excellent sDA 300.50 ≥ 75% The target illuminance was set at 300 lux at desk height

The above statements mean that, if 55% of the space achieves 300 lux for 50% of the occupied hours, then the room can be considered to have ‘good’ daylighting. If 75% of the space achieves 300 lux for 50% of the occupied hours it can be considered to have achieved ‘excellent’ daylighting. The results that came back for Millbank House, with its lower ceilings and shallower footplate, were very encouraging. For the purposes of this study an energy consumption density figure of 9W/m2 was used for the existing fluorescent lighting. As a comparison the typical energy density figure for LED lighting is 3W/m2 and for incandescent lighting it is 15W/m2.

Figure 2. Daylight modelling (showing sDA) comparisons for Millbank House (top) and Bessie Surtees House

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Daylight harvesting following figures illustrate, considerable savings can still be achieved for both typical rooms. In terms of financial beneficial, based on the current average cost of electricity of 16.3p/kWh, the achievable savings for each room would be: • •

Millbank House = approx £50year Bessie Surtees House = approx £95/year

In terms of carbon reduction and using a carbon factor of 0.233kg.CO2/kWh, the following is achieved: • •

Millbank House = 71kg.CO2 per year Bessie Surtees House = 136kg.CO2 per year.

These figures all confirm that, even with an sDA figure that does not meet any of the WELL standards, substantial savings can be made. The main contributing factor is the different architectural styles of the two parts of the building. Millbank has sash windows and a shallower room depth; Bessie Surtees has greater room depth and, although a higher density of fenestration, has associated finishes such as dark wood panelling (typical for the period) which absorbs more light than it reflects. The light reflectance values cannot be easily improved with such historic interiors and so the only avenue for improvement would be with the maintenance of the glazing and ensuring that the windows are not covered during daylight hours as much as is possible. These two rooms could be used to develop a larger daylight study of the building and, with it, hopefully expand our knowledge about the relationship between historic architecture, period interiors, artificial lighting usage and the present-day use to which these buildings are put.

ANALYSIS OF SWINDON HISTORIC ENGLAND OFFICES

As we had such surprisingly good results, we asked Hoare Lea to carry out a more detailed study at our Grade II listed offices at Swindon. In this second study, as shown in figure 3 above, we had them look at much larger spaces on two floors, one floor having the added complication of existing skylights. These offices would all be of the same general style and of the same period. Our Swindon offices (now called The Engine House) were originally started in 1842-43, with extensions added in 186970, followed by more alterations in the 1890s and in 1904-05. The building is therefore Victorian in design with high ceilings and large sash windows down both sides of the office space. The general www.theilp.org.uk

Figure 3. An illustration of the modelling process at the Historic England Grade II listed offices in Swindon

colour of all the surfaces is white, apart from the floor. As this was a more detailed study, additional metrics were used, including Useful Daylight Illuminance (UDI), which is the percentage of occupied time that a space can achieve useful daylight illuminances within a given range. The range chosen was 300-3,000 lux, graded as follows, and are also show in figures below and overleaf: • • •

UDI-a. Where light levels stayed between the range chosen of 300 lux and 3,000 lux UDI-s. Where the light levels did not reach 300 lux and supplementary lighting would be needed UDI-e. Where light levels were excessive and reached values over 3,000 lux

‘Cumulative annual sunlight hours’ were used to measure the summative number of hours of direct sunlight on each floor area.

Figure 4. UDI-a on level 2 without blinds

This assists in identifying which parts of the building receive the most direct sunlight throughout the year. ‘Temporal analysis’ of the sunlight was then carried out in sections of the space to identify the times of day and year when direct sunlight reached various parts of the rooms in the study and when glare was likely to occur. For this calculation, the working plane was raised to 1.2m, in other words to where most people’s eye level would be when seated. Finally, ‘annual daylight glare probability’ (DGP) was used. This is an analysis that helps us understand which of the desk positions would be likely to experience glare and for what proportion of the occupied hours they would likely experience this discomfort. Again, for this second study we were able to provide Hoare Lea with a lot of information on the use of the space and the furniture layouts. The first set of

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Daylight harvesting results that were analysed involve the daylight illuminance values with and without blinds. As expected, without blinds the third floor with the skylights had a consistent level of UDI-e, all above 20%. The results achieved when simulating the use of sensor-controlled blinds were also predictable, with the levels of UDI-a for the third floor increasing. However, for the second floor (where there was very little excessive light) they decreased, indicating that the office lighting would likely be switched on. Next the areas that would likely experience glare were established. For this, as already highlighted, the working plane was adjusted to 1.2m above the floor, where generally most people’s eye level would be when seated at their desk. Both levels two and three receive high levels of direct sunlight through the year, although the second floor receives less because of external factors such as surrounding buildings and internal factors such as the height of the room and the absence of skylights. The direct sunlight is concentrated along the south west façade and it is here that occupants are likely to experience glare more often. After temporal analysis was carried out, it was established that this would occur between midday and 3pm throughout the year and between 7am and 11am between April and August, thus demonstrating that the time of year as well as the time of day is also an important factor. The daylight results for the second floor of The Engine House were as follows:

supplementary lighting will be needed more of the time. Nonetheless the addition of daylight-linked controls would still deliver significant savings and, when mapped with temporal analysis that has identified the time and areas where blinds are needed to operate, would also help to prevent glare. We knew that the Swindon offices received a high amount of daylight throughout the year and that this has disadvantages as well as advantages. Thanks to the modelling and analysis, we now know where and when occupants are likely to experience glare and we know which areas will need the most use of blinds. We have also established that we can make significant savings and reduce the need for artificial lighting for substantial periods of time throughout the year.

•

CONCLUSIONS

• •

•

The total energy consumption without daylight linking = 4,211 kWh per year. The total energy consumption with daylight linking = 1,941 kWh per year. A saving of 2,270 kWh per annum for one small area of level two, and based on the same unit price of electricity of 16.3p/kWh, the financial savings could amount to £370 per year for just the level 2 area. For the areas on both floors this increases to £640 per annum. In terms of carbon reduction, and again using a carbon factor of 0.233kg. CO2/kWh, this would reduce carbon emissions by 930 kg.CO2 per year.

It should be noted that the energy savings outlined are based on daylighting the spaces without blinds. However, blinds are used by the occupants and therefore the quantity of daylight in the rooms will be reduced and, therefore in turn,

Figure 5. UDI-a on level 2 with blinds, with UDI-a being within the 300-3,000 lux range

In sum, the conclusions we reached are: •

Retain the roller binds for the vertical glazing and possibly adjust the design so that only the lower portion of the window is covered • Utilise the venetian blinds for the skylights • Install automated blind control to use the full potential of the available daylight • Install a manual override switch to give occupants the facility to take control for two hours to maximise their comfort and acceptance of the system • Make changes to the furniture layout to assist with the potential for glare on the south west façade and thus reduce the need for blinds – instead make the perimeter of the office the circulation route The large sash windows at The Engine

[1] ‘Technical Memorandum 40:2020 Health and wellbeing in building services’, CIBSE, https://www.cibse.org/Knowledge/CIBSE-TM/TM40-2019Health-Issues-and-Wellbeing-in-Building-Services

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House coupled with a shallow footplate means that daylight can penetrate deeper into the office. However, any adjustment to the glazing and windows must always be with the heritage of the building foremost in mind. Ultimately, this study shows that older buildings still lend themselves well to daylight harvesting and that substantial savings on both energy and carbon can be made without having to making much in the way of intrusion into the historic fabric. Control sensors for a daylight harvesting system would normally be installed within the luminaires, however other alternatives to automated blinds such as electrochromatic glazing would not be suitable for listed buildings if visible externally. They might yet be permitted in concealed skylights if the original glazing did not still exist.

FIND OUT MORE

Both Geraldine and Ruth Kelly Waskett, senior associate at Hoare Lea (who advised on the project), have said they are happy to be contacted by ILP members who wish to find out more about this project, or simply daylighting of historic buildings in general. They can be contacted on

Geraldine.OFarrell@HistoricEngland.org.uk

and ruthkellywaskett@hoarelea.com Geraldine O’Farrell DipConHistEnv(RICS) BA(Hons) CEng FCIBSE FIET FSLL is senior building services engineer within the technical conservation team and National Specialist Services Department at Historic England

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SEEING HISTORY AFRESH Like most places, museums and galleries around the world have been rapidly moving to LED in recent years. Yet they’re often using this flexible new technology alongside lighting methods and guidelines that are stuck in the past. Lighting designer Emrah Baki Ulas makes the case for a rethink of, and new approach to, museum lighting standards By Emrah Baki Ulas

OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Museum lighting

Harvard University Trust, Dumbarton Oaks Museum, Washington DC. The lighting here has been upgraded in the recent years using entirely LEDs while also harvesting controlled daylight. All images in this article show lighting designs by Steensen Varming

useums and galleries are spaces where collections are made available and where old or new information, heritage values, cumulative knowledge and experiences of individuals and communities can be shared and cultivated further to advance the society. At the same time, museums are the very institutions that safeguard and protect cultural heritage for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations. Often these two key objectives, presenting and preserving, conflict with each other. This is because exhibiting an object may cause ageing, damage and degradation of its materials, or it may have a detrimental impact on its integrity, significance or value. A museum’s decision to exhibit an item may mean that its future usable life is compromised to some degree. Museums and galleries have been dealing with this complex balancing act since the beginning of their existence. In this perspective, the design of lighting in museums is a task that requires numerous intertwined considerations that involve

Mural at State Library of Victoria, Melbourne. This is lit by a series of miniature high-colour rendering LED track fixtures. Light levels are adjusted carefully to minimise damage while showcasing this valuable work of art following the Library’s conservation guidelines

an understanding of the visual performance and comfort of the visitor and the livelihood of the presented cultural material. Lighting, of course, is important for the appearance of museum and gallery displays and is a fundamental element in shaping the visitor’s experience of an exhibition. On the other hand, lighting, as an environmental parameter, is one of the key issues in preventive conservation. It needs to be used delicately and often sparsely to minimise damage on the objects, as light may cause fading of pigments and may degrade objects over a long period.

THE DILEMMA OF DAYLIGHT WITHIN MUSEUMS

Before the introduction of electric lighting in museums and galleries, daylighting was the primary means of illumination. While the spectral characteristics of daylight have always been excellent, as the understanding of preventive conservation issues has advanced, the UV content of daylight has been of concern to protect collections.

Also, the dynamic and ever-changing characteristics of daylight have always made it challenging to use it in museum spaces due to its unpredictable nature. With electric lighting becoming more readily available and economically viable in the twentieth century, and with increasing knowledge around conservation, the use of daylight became increasingly excluded from the museum environment, often at the expense of visitor experience. In most cases where it was still used it has been carefully regulated and often kept to merely have a symbolic and supporting value for the spatial context rather than being the primary source of lighting for display purposes. Many museums and galleries of today therefore have strict guidelines on the use of daylight; however, carefully designed use of daylight helps save energy and increases the special quality of the exhibition spaces. Following many decades of electric lighting in museums and galleries that mainly utilised incandescent halogen (and to some extent discharge lighting) technologies, most museum and gallery www.theilp.org.uk

OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Museum lighting guidelines such as the international milestone document CIE2004:157 have been developed while these technologies were in use. There has long been a discussion in that lighting conservation guidelines have inherent issues, being based on illuminance (lux); in other words, based on human visual response rather than the actual damage response of materials, which can be argued to be an imprecise science altogether. In any case, these guidelines are still widely in use today even though lighting technology has moved on to LEDs. Let’s briefly touch on how the technology change happened in merely less than a decade. The change was quick. In the early days of the transition to LEDs as the mainstream architectural light sources in the building industry, conflicting views and lack of clarity of information on the characteristics of these sources contributed to unnecessary confusion and proliferation of wrong information. As the world of cultural institutions initially (and hesitantly) monitored this profound shift in lighting technologies, there has been some speculation on the possible dangers of using LEDs to light collections in the early days. One reason for this was the spike at the blue-end of the LED light spectrum which has a relatively higher damaging potential. This was of particular concern with the earlier LEDs with cooler colour temperatures and became less of a concern as warm white LEDs have improved. Another concern was around the standardisation of colour deviation and the inconsistencies of output. However, in the recent years, these sources have been better understood and more importantly market offerings reached a degree of maturity. LEDs’ favourable characteristics and performance as modern and superior sources of lighting are now well recognised. Good LEDs in the market today are reliable, they have excellent colour characteristics, almost no UV emission and are in most cases well-suited for displaying objects with their superior and precise controllability. Museums are now adopting brand-new lighting technologies; some have already done complete changeover of their lighting to LEDs. Yet, often, they are still using this flexible new technology employing lighting methods and following guidelines of the past. LEDs (as most Lighting Journal readers will be well aware) are semi-conductor devices that emit light and their working principles and characteristics have very www.theilp.org.uk

Display cases at Queensland Museum Discovery Centre, Brisbane. These have been lit using LEDs concealed into the framing as well as recessed at the top of each case

different attributes compared to their traditional counterparts such as tungsten halogen or fluorescent lights. Their spectrum is significantly different, their colour-rendering characteristics, damaging potential, controllability and so on, vary significantly from the older technologies. These differences render older guidelines less relevant than they ever were before. In the context of a wider discussion on the role and place of a museum in the cultural terrain of our cities and, as museums strive to represent themselves beyond just being places where collections are reposited or presented to the public, yet also during a time of continuing technological change in lighting and lighting controls, it seems imperative that the adoption of a newer approach to museum lighting standards seems somewhat well overdue.

mechanism – one that still embodies a degree of simplicity but also enables freedom in discussion and coordination between artists, curators, conservators and designer for more complex decisions – can now be possible. This new structure expands on the previous four categories of CIE 157:2004 guidelines (in other words, being irresponsive, low responsivity, medium responsivity, high responsivity) by separating them to eight levels of responsivity. Then the light exposure limits are separated to more bands to suit instead of the wider bands of the past guidelines. The general logic and the structure of the CIE 157:2004 standard is followed, based on the kluxhours/year guidelines, but in a more detailed manner. Most importantly for the modern structure is the proposed introduction of an ‘Individually Assessed’ lighting category for collection items that are not normally on display but can be accessed with special arrangements or under other circumstances. This category may include items that are in storage and are being exposed to light for a special occasion only, to then go back to storage. Or it can be for highly significant items, extremely light sensitive items or items in pristine condition where the colour information is of particular value.

THE CASE FOR NEW MUSEUM LIGHTING

A combination of recent research at the University of Technology Sydney and Steensen Varming’s work in a number of museum and gallery lighting projects underway offers a possible way in which a much-needed adjustment and modernisation can be made to the parameters of the CIE2004:157 standards for the use of LEDs. This means the strict exposure limits can change. Rather than a blanket approach across various sensitivity classifications, a more tailored decision-making

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Kaldor Gallery, Sydney. This is a rare example of an exhibition space lit using excellent colour rendering metal halide luminaires. These were an alternative to incandescent lights of the time while early LED offerings were in the market but had not yet matured in quality

OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

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Museum lighting

FOUR-BAND APPROACH

Other lighting categories are described in colour bands that signify their degree of sensitivity. For example, ‘Red Band’ is used for collection items that are highly light sensitive and should be displayed only for limited periods. In practice this means, if under permanent lighting, no more than 20 lux. If under limited periods of lighting, the lux level can be increased proportionately. Second is ‘Yellow Band’. This is for collection items that are relatively light sensitive and should be displayed only for limited periods. If under permanent lighting this will mean within a range of 20-200 lux depending on the kluxhour limit. If under limited periods of lighting the lux level can be increased proportionately. Third is ‘Green Band’. This is for collection items that are generally not sensitive to light and can be on permanent display at reasonably high illumination levels of 200 lux and, if under limited periods of lighting, the lux level can be increased proportionately. Lastly, there is the ‘No limit’ category. This is for collection items where light plays little or no role in their deterioration and for which the lighting levels should be determined by other factors. Figure 1 opposite shows the different bands and how they are applied in more detail. In conclusion, while this four-band approach is by no means an absolute resolution to solve the complex question around light, conservation and visitor experience, it could be one of the possible ways of an essential adjustment. In furthering improvements to museum lighting standards, future work may – indeed will – need to consider the validity of today’s metrics altogether and, in time, arrive at more suited metrics and methods.

Emrah Baki Ulas (PhD, Fellow IESANZ) is an award-winning lighting designer at Steensen Varming and senior researcher at University of Technology Sydney

HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT COLLECTION ITEM

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Figure 1. Proposed band-based museum and gallery exposure limits. This graphic is adopted from Ulas E B (2018) ‘Casting a New Light on Museums and Galleries: Towards Modern Industry Guidelines for Lighting in Museums and Galleries’, University of Technology Sydney (see references below for online link)

‘Textiles – Tests for colour fastness’. 2012. ISO105-B08 – 1995, https://www.iso.org/standard/21206.html Thomson G (1986). ‘The Museum Environment’. Second edition London: Butterworths. ‘Control of Damage to Museum Objects by Optical Radiation’. CIE Technical Report 157:2004, http://cie.co.at/publications/control-damage-museum-objects-optical-radiation Cuttle C (2007). ‘Light for Art’s Sake: Lighting for Artworks and Museum Displays’. First edition, Routledge. Ulas E B (2018). ‘Casting a New Light on Museums and Galleries: Towards Modern Industry Guidelines for Lighting in Museums and Galleries’, University of Technology Sydney, https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/123288/7/02whole.pdf

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ROYAL REGARD

The world-renowned concert venue of the Royal Albert Hall celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. As one of London’s most iconic and best-loved landmarks, any works to the public realm lighting surrounding it have to be carried out with the utmost care and attention to detail, as the recent upgrade of the 18 lanterns on its grand staircase approach has shown By Gary Thorne

OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Public realm lighting

n 1871, London’s Royal Albert Hall opened its doors for the first time to the British public as a venue for live performances. The Hall, as it is known, together with the monument in the park opposite were built to commemorate Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert, and it is now one of the best-known concert venues in the world, with performers from across the globe wanting to showcase their extraordinary gifts there.

LIGHTING HISTORY

When the Royal Albert Hall was constructed, the lighting both outside and inside was powered by gas – the new technology of its era. As with all technologies, things have moved on, and over the years the gas lanterns have all been replaced by electric lights, using the latest technology of each subsequent age: mercury filament, low-pressure sodium, high-pressure sodium and now LED. The latest upgrade took place this summer (2021), when we at FM Conway w e r e

tasked with replacing 18 lanterns on the grand staircase approach to the Royal Albert Hall from Prince Consort Road and the plaza that circles the building. The work was carried out under the firm’s longterm lighting contract with Westminster City Council. Throughout the building’s 150 years of history, the external lanterns have always emulated the original gas style, to reflect the appearance of both the Hall itself and of the surrounding Kensington Gore area, where the buildings are all of a similar architectural style. The lighting columns are set on top of York stone pillars that form part of the banister running the length of the staircase. The cast-iron columns themselves are only 1.2m high but contain some very attractive decorative detailing along their shafts, ending at the frog of the lanterns. The upgrade was needed because the glazing in the old high-pressure sodium lanterns had become opaque, resulting in very unreliable light levels. And, after an incident in which one of the 70-year-old cast-iron columns became detached from its stone pillar, an inspection found that they all needed replacing. WSP, FM Conway’s design partner for the Westminster lighting contract, developed a design that would allow the historic cast-iron columns to be reused. This was achieved by carefully removing each lamp column and then installing an innovative fixing inside that would not detract from the external visual impact yet provide a stable connection to the structural pillars.

INSTALLATION

Work started in the last week of May. The weather was perfect, and all the work was undertaken with the wonderful sounds of classical music drifting across from the Royal College of Music on the other side of Prince Consort Road. You couldn’t wish for a more perfect setting. Each York stone pillar had to be inspected before work could start, and a working platform was built around the pillar to create a safe working area, together with a pedestrian barrier to ensure that members of the public were kept safe but could watch the work being carried out. A lot of people live near the site, and they obviously had a vested interest in what we were doing. There are also lots of tourists, so we felt it was important that, if there were any questions, we were accessible to answer them. As each column was removed, we drilled into the York stone plinth and inserted a resin anchor to provide a secure fastening point for the purpose-built galvanized post, which was bolted down into the anchors. The cast-iron columns were then slid over the top and grouted into place. When each was completed, a full inspection was carried out to ensure the columns were installed exactly to the design specification. The new lighting is provided by Pudsey Diamond’s ‘Dickens’ lanterns, fitted with the manufacturer’s own Varoptic lens inside a faux gas mantle, and fixed on to the top of the columns before being con-

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OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Public realm lighting nected, tested and commissioned. All the new lanterns are fitted with Urban Control smart sensors, which enable Westminster City Council to control the light levels and give the FM Conway team up-to-the-minute information about each lantern, the power supply, and any maintenance issues they might have in the future. As this year is the 150th anniversary of the Royal Albert Hall, we wanted to ensure the lighting upgrade was completed to complement any celebrations the venue was planning. Working with the Hall’s timelines and following both company and government guidelines over Covid-19, the team made sure we hit the milestones required for promotional photos and videos, as well as the reopening date. The new lighting has been designed specifically to ensure the ambiance of the area has been retained and to complement the structural lighting that the venue has installed itself. I was lucky to attend the grand reopening-night concert 22 July, where I was able to enjoy an amazing performance of (turn to page 22)

View from Prince Consort Road looking up the staircase towards the Royal Albert Hall. The light frames the steps perfectly, with very little back-light. The colour temperature is set at 2700k, giving a warm light feeling, while also being good enough to clearly identify the colours of people’s clothing. People sat on the steps after the concert, talking about what they had seen and listened to, demonstrating that the lighting levels are very comfortable, enabling people to soak up the ambiance of the evening, as well as forming a perfect visual guide back up to the Hall

ROYAL ALBERT HALL THROUGH THE YEARS

Many famous names throughout history have performed at Royal Albert Hall, while the Hall itself has provided the backdrop to many top movies. Here is a selection:

View of the faux gas mantles from below. They come in a variety of sizes, from three to eight mantles, depending on the lighting levels required

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This picture was taken during the upgrade project and shows one of the old lanterns in the background with its opaque glass, contrasted by one of the new lanterns in the foreground on top of the original column.

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Public realm lighting Carmina Burana. The feel of the lighting was totally right, with limited spill light, which highlighted the steps perfectly, with no glare. In all, a very romantic feel has been achieved, which completely befits the area. The work was carried out by two FM Conway teams – lighting and structures – working closely together. Both have long-term contracts with Westminster City Council. We utilised both skill-sets to ensure the installation was completed on time and to the highest quality. As the lighting service manager, I feel very proud to have been involved with a project for such an iconic space as Royal Albert Hall. To have lit a structure that has such historic significance – and knowing it will be there for many years to come – gives me such joy. More widely, I have a real passion for street lighting, and the opportunity to be an influence on its future through this sort of project is not lost on me. Working on the Westminster contract is a real honour. Lighting the streets of our capital, ensuring the installations are completed to the highest standards as befits this historic location, and the feel of the lighting

is kept as close to its original form, are all very important. Equally, it is imperative to be future-proofing all the lighting, installing products that will stand the test of time both physically and aesthetically. Alongside this, it has been a privilege to be working with supply chains that have a long history in lighting Westminster as well as with companies that are helping to shape the future of Westminster’s street lighting landscape. To conclude, old and new companies have provided solutions and new ideas – working with FM Conway and the Westminster City Council lighting team – to install lighting that can be adaptive, is fit for purpose and ensures good lighting for the British public and millions of visitors from around the world.

Front view of the one of the columns, showing the Pudsey Diamond ‘Dickens’ lantern with its faux gas mantles. The quality of the product is evident and, we feel, very well put together

Gary Thorne CNEG is lighting service manager at FM Conway

BALANCING ACT

Upgrading the outdoor lighting at such an iconic site as the Royal Albert Hall was a complex balancing act, concedes Amparo Ferri, sales engineer at Pudsey Diamond. ‘It has been a real honour to collaborate with F M Conway, Westminster City Council and WSP to relight such a prestigious site,’ she says. ‘With the high number of tourists and Londoners passing through this historic area it was particularly important to not only supply very high-quality fittings but also achieve the required lighting levels whilst being sympathetic to the environment and maintaining the aesthetics and authenticity of the original fittings,’ she adds. Figure 1: Diagram of method used to stabilise the cast-iron column

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OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

DIS

C CONNE

Light pollution, ILP members will well know, can be mitigated by a combination of product selection, good design practice, and competent installation. As light pollution from public lighting installations starts to fall, how can we make sure private installations follow suit? By Toby Penter

OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Light pollution and obtrusive light

f you’ll pardon the pun, light pollution is under the spotlight at the moment. Concerted efforts have been made by the Campaign for Rural England (CPRE), the International Dark Skies Association (IDA) and a slew of other charities and organisations, including the ILP, to bring attention to the causes and effects of light pollution on individuals and the environment [1]. These efforts haven’t gone unnoticed within the lighting industry. Specifiers are spoilt for choice when choosing a manufacturer – with a wide range of luminaires available in more sensitive colour temperatures, lower peak beam angles, and offering a 0% ULOR (upper light output radio). For the particularly discerning buyer, the IDA provides its ‘Fixture Seal of Approval’ to guarantee the specification points outlined above. Many council specifications have begun to reflect this shift in attitude, with more sensitive lighting being installed for many large LED rollouts and maintenance projects.

ILP GUIDANCE

Industry bodies such as the ILP have produced essential guidance documents in GN01/2021 and GN08/18 that are instrumental in understanding how light can be controlled and applied sensitively [2]. The general public is now also much more attuned to issues surrounding light and light pollution than before. Online searches for ‘light pollution’ and ‘blue light’ have tracked steadily upwards over the past decade, and local authority lighting engineers face greater scrutiny than ever in their choice of product, colour temperature, and switching regime (residents and press alike). As one might hope, this increased interest from the public has been matched by legislative efforts in the form of the AllParty Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Dark Skies and its proposed ten key policies to update legal frameworks, bolster lighting standards, and incentivise darksky friendly governance [3]. Whilst preventing light pollution and protecting dark skies are not one and the same, this is unarguably a step in the right direction. The push towards lower ULOR luminaires in the context of street lighting is almost certainly having an impact on skyglow and light pollution. A 2017 paper from the US Department of Energy indicated that LED luminaires were uniformly producing lower levels of sky glow than their traditional counterparts [4]. However, the push towards better lighting in the public realm is not necessarily being mirrored in private lighting installa-

tions – where poor practice is rife. The advent of commercially viable dimmable LED lighting has presented a fantastic opportunity for lighting to become more tailored and better controlled. Luminaires can be dimmed down to exactly the level needed through a simple change in drive current; and smaller light sources make for easier directional control and shielding. Unfortunately, in a range of applications, these developments have not born fruit. The ‘race to the bottom’ in the pricing of LED floodlights, and their availability both online and from electrical wholesalers, has led to a proliferation of poorly implemented lighting. It is easier and cheaper than ever for anyone to install lighting, and this lighting is not always well designed or implemented. It is possible, and entirely reasonable, for a new lighting scheme to be installed by a small electrical contractor with no background in lighting; or via a homeowner who understands little about lighting design (or obtrusive light). Such poorly implemented schemes are unlikely to be for public highways – with private car parks, houses, industrial sites, and businesses having the greatest poten-

tial to generate obtrusive light.

MEASURES ‘LACKING BITE’

The enforcement framework to improve poorly implemented lighting also lacks the bite to effectively tackle the scale of the problem. The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act (2005) defines ‘artificial light emitted from premises so as to be prejudicial to health or nuisance’ as a statutory nuisance – but no prescriptive limits or rules were set for impact assessment purposes [5]. This places a burden on local planning officers, who do not necessarily have a background in lighting, to determine from their qualitative judgements whether an installation is appropriate. Whilst the government’s National Planning Practice Guidance provides some information on how light pollution should be considered, the advice contains ambiguities that leave significant space for interpretation [6]. This lack of clarity has turned the landscape of obtrusive light into a postcode lottery; with a scheme that would be inappropriate in one planning authority being considered appropriate in the next – and vice versa.

NEW ILP DARK SKIES DOCUMENT

ILP members may be interested to investigate a new dark skies’ document, Towards A Dark Sky Standard, a resource that is designed to encourage good lighting decision-making before the installation or planning process. The document is deliberately not overly technical and has been designed to cater for non-professionals as well as professionals, domestic and non-domestic users, regardless of the proximity to a dark sky landscape. It includes sections on internal and external lighting. This document has been created by the UK Dark Skies partnership, ukdarkskies.org.uk, which the ILP is part of. It can be downloaded at: https://www.darksky.org/towards-a-dark-sky-standard/

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OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Light pollution and obtrusive light

Manchester from the air at night, showing the extent of its light spill and light pollution, much of which will undoubtedly come from private installations

‘INSTALLER SEAL OF APPROVAL’?

In the first instance, where a lighting designer is involved, it is their duty to ensure best practice for the scheme at hand. Compared to a scheme where a dedicated lighting designer was not involved, the vast majority of designers will already by making an improvement to levels of obtrusive light. For private schemes that are being designed prior to planning permission, designers can ensure good practice in their lighting design is implemented by recommending that the key characteristics of their design are secured by planning condition.

Industry bodies may have a role to play as well. The IDA Fixture Seal of Approval has been successful in shortlisting suitable luminaires for sensitive applications, in both public and private lighting. Could the IDA offer an ‘Installer Seal of Approval’ alongside its fixtures’ kitemark, one that ensures light pollution will be considered in all aspects of a scheme? Is the ILP or the HEA better positioned to offer accreditation to responsible installers? A key concern is how best practice is promoted to individuals and businesses installing their own lighting. The availability of luminaires online and through electrical wholesalers limits the capacity of designers or contractors to have a positive influence on these installations – which may be in part due to the financial barriers to entry of good design practice. Does pressure sit on the industry to lower these barriers? Or would this simply lower the quality of design services? Does the burden sit with manufacturers? Should poorly controlled, cheap LED floodlights be so easily available?

NEED FOR LEGISLATION

Finally, I would advocate that the responsibility is legislative. The APPG for Dark Skies is a key component of any forward movement in the reduction of obtrusive light. The ten key policies the APPG has identified would, I feel, work to tackle many of the key issues around skyglow and light pollution. The increase in awareness of the issues surrounding light pollution as a result would, hopefully, increase the likeli-

[1] ‘Dark skies’, CPRE The Countryside Charity, https://www.cpre.org.uk/what-we-care-about/nature-and-landscapes/dark-skies/ [2] ‘Guidance Note 1 for the reduction of obtrusive light’, the ILP, 2021, https://theilp.org.uk/publication/guidance-note-1-for-the-reduction-of-obtrusive-light-2021/; ‘Guidance Note 8 Bats and artificial lighting’, the ILP, 2018, https://theilp.org.uk/publication/guidance-note-8-bats-and-artificial-lighting/ [3] ‘Ten Dark Sky policies for the government’, All-Party Parliamentary Group for Dark Skies, December 2020, https://appgdarkskies.co.uk/ [4] ‘An Investigation of LED Street Lighting’s Impact on Sky Glow’. Richland: US Department of Energy, 2017, https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2017/05f34/2017_led-impact-sky-glow.pdf

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hood of good lighting practice in the general public. The implementation of the policies outlined in the APPG’s Ten Dark Sky policies for government also has the potential to trickle downwards. Many planning authorities and statutory consultees, such as the South Downs National Park and the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, have implemented dark sky-focused policies into their local plans and management plans. Well-considered dark skies’ policies driven from central government have the potential to broaden, strengthen, and improve consistency in the obtrusive light policies of local authorities. However, whilst the APPG’s proposals are the most comprehensive route forwards, they lack clarity on what limitations on obtrusive light would be. Policies implemented would improve the nature of fixtures that are available, but they do not set a prescriptive limit on levels of obtrusive light or define what levels are likely to constitute a statutory nuisance. Therefore, without set national limits we risk leaving open the qualitative considerations that make planning policies as ambiguous as they are today. And the longer these policies are ambiguous, the more damage is done.

Toby Penter is a lighting designer at Designs for Lighting and is vice chair of the YLP

OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

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OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

TECHNICAL TONIC The ILP’s Technical Committee has not let the complications and challenges of Covid-19 get in the way of its important work for the industry, as this update from its latest meeting has shown By Peter Harrison

he ILP’s Technical Committee (TC) has responsibility for the production and updating of technical documents and advice for the membership and wider lighting community. It supports the membership through the work of the Technical Director by offering ad hoc technical advice and responding to issues as they occur, such as

blue-content LED or campaigns about radio transmissions from column mounted equipment. TC also appoints representatives to sit on other committees that produce national and international standards and codes of practice. Technical Committee consists of representatives from most of the institutions and organisations that make up the

lighting industry, namely: CIE (International Commission on Illumination), BSI (British Standards Institution), HEA (Highway Electrical Association), LoLEG (London Lighting Engineers Group), LCTF (Lighting Column Technical Forum), SLL (Society of Light and Lighting), LLG (Lighting Liaison Group), ADEPT (Association of Directors of

OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Inside the ILP Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport) and UKLTB (UK Lighting and Technology Board). Details of these organisations can be found in the ILP guide to the lighting industry [1]. In addition, each of the LDC branches has a representative by way of the regional technical liaison officer (RTLO) and the YLP is also represented. Meetings are held four times a year: January, April, July and October, usually at Rugby but since April 2020 these, unsurprisingly, have been held online. These meetings are a conduit from the membership through the LDC appointed RTLOs to those developing standards, codes and guidance notes. TC members review and comment on draft documents, determine priorities for workstreams and agree the appointment of panel chairs that produce documents. The most recent meeting took place in July and was chaired by Vice President – Technical Haydn Yeo and what follows is a summary for members of the issues that were discussed.

working for an independent connection provider undertaking street lighting works. Further details notyet available due to ongoing investigations. Sticking with the HEA, the association in June also published a statement about a global materials shortage because a combination of events [2]. Although the full effect of this has not been fully felt by lighting clients, the signs are they will be soon. It was reported that steel prices are volatile and some elec-

tronic components are in short supply. The message from TC therefore is for all involved in design, maintenance and construction to contact their suppliers urgently to discuss forecast quantities. Lead times for equipment are likely to go from a few weeks to several months soon, so being able to understand the forward requirements will help smooth out delays.

UPDATE ON THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY

This refers to government actions and legislation to encourage that products incorporate the circular economy principles of reuse, recycle, repair and reform. Some refer to this as ‘the right to repair’ and it has been subject of recent Lighting Journal articles by James Coton of OrangeTek, Allan Howard of WSP and Peter Hunt of the Lighting Industry Association (LIA) [3]. The discussion was around CIBSE/SLL document TM66 – Creating a Circular Economy in the Lighting Industry and The Circular Economy Assessment Methods (CEAM-Make and CEAM-Design). A model is being developed to accompany TM66, and which was recently demonstrated to UKLTB. This model is simple to understand and will gave a rating from 0 (the current situation) to 4 (outstanding). Versions of the model will be available for manufacture, design and

SAFETY ALERTS

The committee heard that the HEA reported the following: •

•

An 11kV service strike on 08 April by a breaker after carrying out a CAT scan, but not fully exposing the cable. Also in April, a recently installed motorway cabinet was found to be live by operatives following the correct procedures before commencing work. In May, a mobile elevated work platform came into contact with a live overhead line on the rail network. The operatives had not received G39 training and so were unaware of the safe proximity to overhead cables. In early June, tragically, a fatality occurred when an experienced cable jointer was electrocuted whilst www.theilp.org.uk

OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Inside the ILP projects. The model is supported by the LIA and it is hoped will be adopted by Lighting Europe.

•

HEA. It was reported that it is pretty much business as usual at the HEA. Plans are being made for its annual conference and dinner at Celtic Manor in Newport, Wales. Details have yet to be finalised but it is expected numbers will probably need to be reduced to be compliant with Welsh government Covid restrictions.

•

LLG, IET, CIE UK and Europe. For LLG, circular economy and global component shortages were the main issues discussed. There seems to be

ONLINE AND FACE-TO-FACE TRAINING

BS5489 Good practice in lighting design has been launched for delivery on demand. There is unlikely to be any face-to-face one-day training on this just yet, as we look to reset after Covid. However, there are dates in the diary to hold Exterior Lighting Design Modules A, B and C during the autumn (‘A’ will already have taken place in September, with ‘B’ running this month, October, and ‘C’ in November). The ILP has also been working with Engineers Ireland to develop training for lighting asset managers in Ireland where a skills gap has been identified. There will be two two-day courses.

RTLO AND YLP FEEDBACK

The RTLOs reported matters concerning their members and there was a common theme; that a lack of engagement through LDC seminars was badly missed. The work of ILP in delivering webinars and online contact through Hi Lights and so on was very well received, however it was accepted this sort of online engagement does not make up for the social interaction and value of live events. Most LDCs have vacancies either on their committee or for officer posts. Again, the lack of face-to-face meetings seems to have made the finding of suitable willing volunteers more difficult. Some concerns were expressed about the shared use of lighting columns for telecoms equipment and the continuing campaign of groups using freedom of information requests to suggest CMS nodes were 5G transmitters!

REPORTS FROM ASSOCIATED BODIES

This part of the meeting is where ILP representatives report back on the activities of other organisations. •

UKLTB and ADEPT. A presentation received at their April meeting about the spectral response and its effect on the natural world and a report by LightAware was discussed. At their June meeting, it was suggested that Department for Transport (DfT) funding may be available for research projects and a number of possible subjects were discussed. An ADEPT meeting in July discussed the circular economy as well as the global materials shortage. There is concern about the lack of competence and ways of determining lighting designer skills.

www.theilp.org.uk

some movement towards reconvening the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Lighting. When it came to Europe, Allan Howard of WSP had sent TC members details of new documents and issues. For example, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has announced its revised energy labelling scheme will be in place from 01 October (rather that 01 September) as had previously expected, so there have ben interim measures in place to cover this gap. Allan Howard also pointed out that

WORKFLOW AND PUBLICATIONS UPDATE

The Technical Committee received a report providing an update on its workflow and content pipeline for publication. Listed via document type (although most do not as yet have numbers), these are as follows: •

Guidance Note – car parks. Comments have been received from TC members, comprising a 10-page document, with some appendices still to complete. The committee will not be reviewing this document. • TR12 Lighting of pedestrian crossings. The panel chair has stood down from chairing this and so it will now be chaired by Peter Harrison as an interim measure. • Guidance Note – signs conspicuity. The core body of this document is almost complete and it is nearly ready for first review. • Guidance Note – overhead lines. This has now been uploaded to the TCs Teams channel for comment. The Energy Networks Association also will need to review and comment on it. • Guidance Note – surge protection. The panel chair has reviewed and rewritten this to take account of the latest thinking. At the time of writing (in July), the plan was for this be ready for review again by the end of the summer. • Guidance Note – total cost of ownership. Progress on this can be expected after completion of ‘designed for maintenance’ GN (see below). • Guidance Note – designed for maintenance. This has been reviewed and circulated for comment on the work completed so far and there has been positive feedback received on the format and content. • Guidance Note – architectural lighting. A meeting on this is to be arranged with the panel chair to agree roles and a programme, and so it is early days yet. • PLG 26 – Corrosion protection of minor structures. This has now been published and is available for members [4]. • Guidance Note 12 – The smart lighting column. This, as reported in Lighting Journal earlier this year, has been This has now been published and is available for members [5]. • TR25 Lighting for traffic calming features. A ‘light-touch’ amendment to the original has been made and is now being circulated available for review. A little work is needed for it to be completed, such as images. • PLG04 Guidance on undertaking environmental lighting impact assessments. The Institute of Environmental Management and the Landscape Institute have submitted their comments on this work so far. These are now being analysed. • Guidance Note 01/21 update: This has now been published and issued. • PLG05 The brightness of illuminated advertisements. Allan Howard sits on a CIE group that is reviewing recommendations for media screens, and so has agreed to form a team to review this document in line with new CIE recommendations. • Secured by Design. The ILP has accepted an invitation to participate in a review of this document.

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Inside the ILP he now represents the ILP on BSI panel EL01, the overarching lighting panel. Nick Smith represents the ILP on EL02 road lighting. BS5489 part 2: Lighting of tunnels had been considered for review by its panel, as it is five years since the last iteration, but it was judged fit for purpose and so will be considered for review again in five years’ time. For IET, its Guide to highway electrical street furniture is due for a light touch update, and due to be issued towards the end of 2022. This is delayed due to BS7671 second amendment, itself due to be issued early 2022. It will still be available as a free download. •

LCTF. Drafting of text for the latest version of PD 6547 is almost complete, LCTF reports. Some of the details in CD354 will be moved to the new standard, for example fatigue. Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) Series 1300 is being prepared for updating. CEN TC 50 EN 40 is in the process of drafting. Standards are drafted to follow a legal document called ‘a mandate’. The mandates for many standards need updating and there is a massive backlog of these being approved by the European Parliament. The EU has prioritised a list of mandates, including the one for lighting columns, Mandate M111. This is therefore now in the fourth phase of these, which could be four or five years away, so we cannot update Essential requirements for construction products until that is completed. Instead, we have requested changes of CEN TC 226 to revise the classes published in EN 12767. This is hoping to avoid needing what is known as a Delegated Act of the European Parliament (which currently adds around two years to publishing). It is not going to be possible to release the new draft of EN 40 until one or other of these solutions occurs. A new technical report is being prepared by CEN TC 50 WG6, which will provide guidance on the installation, operation and maintenance of lighting columns. This work is just starting and it will be a couple of years before we see any draft.

•

LoLEG. LoLEG highlighted a recent presentation from Power Data Associates to share information and annual energy and carbon savings. There was also discussion around EV charging and problems with nuisance tripping. As a city, London’s street lighting is consuming 40% less energy than the benchmark 2009 figure. There was also discussion on TT supply issues for street furniture and the use of earth proving units. A further issue is that streetworks’ closures are being refused because of the increase in al fresco dining and using pavements for drinking and dining. This is having a knock-on effect on works programmes. Finally, it was reported UK Power Networks is now putting a lot of its service requests online. Several London authorities, meanwhile, are undertaking smart city trials.

CONCLUSION

In sum, despite the complications and pressures of Covid-19, the ILP’s Technical Committee has had, and has still got, a lot on its plate. The next meeting will be later this month (October) and, again, we shall report back to members on some of its key talking points.

Peter Harrison is Technical Director of the ILP

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 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 will be published periodically in Lighting Journal. Here, then, are two examples of some of the great images we have been sent so far. So don’t be shy and do send in your ‘Light at the end of the tunnel’ pictures.

‘This family of bunnies that moved into our garden in the spring of ‘20 brought a smile to all our faces, early in the morning sun. #lightattheendofthetunnel #ILP’. Pat Redmond, Redmond Analytical Management Services

HOW TO CONTACT THE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

If you have any issues that you feel need to be addressed, the best way to contact the committee is via your LDC RTLO or though the head office ILP team at Rugby.

[1] ILP Guide to the Lighting Industry, https://theilp.org.uk/publication/ilp-guide-to-the-lighting-industry/ [2] ‘A Statement from the HEA looking at the Impact on the Industryof the Global Materials Shortage and Shipping Backlog’, HEA Statement, https://thehea.org.uk/hea-content/uploads/2021/06/HEA-Statement.pdf [3] ‘Circling the planet’, July/August 2021, vol 86, no 7; ‘CE the difference’, April 2021, vol 86, no 4; ‘Squaring the circular’, January 2021, vol 86, no 1 [4] PLG26 Corrosion protection of minor structures, https://theilp.org.uk/publication/plg26-corrosion-protection-of-minor-structures/ [5] GN12 The smart lighting column, https://theilp.org.uk/publication/ guidance-note-12-the-smart-lighting-column/

www.theilp.org.uk

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Lighting the venerable, and listed, 39 Brook Street in London, home to high-end retailer Browns, meant careful balancing of the modern and innovative with the heritage and constrained. Its focus on intuitive, self-service technologies may also provide valuable food for thought when it comes to rethinking the post-pandemic retail experience By Philip Copland and Martina Alagna

OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Retail lighting ocated just off New Bond Street in the heart of London’s designer shopping district, 39 Brook Street has been many things in its 300-year history. Built in 1720-33 by master carpenter Thomas Phillips, it is now a Grade II* listed building, principally for being an exemplar of early Georgian architecture. It is one of only a few pre-Victorian London houses still surviving in relatively unaltered form and was the home and offices of Sir Jeffry Wyatville, one of the principal architects of the reign of George IV. As well as housing Wyatville’s practice, in its time 39 Brook Street has been an antiques shop, an interior design firm and a bank, among other things. Its most recent incarnation, spread over four floors, is as the home of luxury London retailer, Browns. In 2019, Browns tasked us at Nulty with developing a new lighting scheme for this venerable building, but one that also provided a modern and immersive retail experience for its discerning clientele. With Milan-based design practice Dimorestudio, we’ve worked to ensure the new lighting scheme illuminates each accessory, and every clothing collection, in stylish yet functional quality of light, so as to create the best shopping experience possible. Of course, one of the biggest challenges was simply the fact we were working in such a heritage space. The key throughout was therefore cleverly to conceal and integrate lighting into the joinery and bespoke

Above: the Yellow Room at Browns, showing the new lighting scheme by Nulty. Below (left) Native at Browns and the Dimorestudio’s ‘shoe landscape’. All photographs for this article by Bozho Gagovski

frameworks in order to avoid any drilling into the ceilings. Everything had to be either free-standing or applied to the surface so as to minimise any damage. Another challenge of the scheme was simply the design of the building. There is a real mix of spaces, from big double-height, very grand, traditional British interiors right, including the so-called ‘Yellow Room’ created by interior designers John Fowler and Nancy Lancaster in the mid-twentieth century. The thirdfloor spaces, by comparison, which were

once servants’ quarters, have much lower, more intimate, ceiling-height spaces.

NEED FOR FLEXIBILITY

What this meant in terms of lighting design was the need for flexibility. As each room varies in style, a changeable approach was adopted depending on the size, colour palette or architecture of the room in order to retain the identity of each space. There is a mix of integrated lighting in hanging rails, shelving and niches, all designed to illuminate items on display. Various lighting scenes can be altered throughout the space to recreate different ambiences associated with day and nighttime. Spotlights in the Yellow Room and integrated direct and indirect light can be changed to accommodate various fashion events or parties that may be held in the building. In difficult areas where lighting couldn’t be applied in the ceilings, we got round this by supplementing the light with decorative floor lamps and wall lights.

FULL HEIGHT LIGHT STRUCTURE

Perhaps one of the most visually striking elements of the new interior is the breath-taking Dimorestudio/Nulty-designed light structure that extends from the floor drawing the eye up to the atrium. This connects the four floors in the building, creating natural movement throughout the space. The metal structure houses neo-looking LED lighting tubes, which evoke a contemporary ambience. The whole intent is about creating a big, bold feature but without actually having an impact structurally www.theilp.org.uk

OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Retail lighting

The Focus Room and, below, the new sneaker displays. The focus throughout is on the retail experience as much as simply displaying items for sale

on the building. At the top of the structure, at the skylight, there was a set of hanging points, originally for chandeliers, but the structure is actually self-supporting. At a practical level, it also carries all of the power supplies for the various lighting elements that are attached to it. For the grand staircase, again, the challenge was how not to touch as much of the interior as humanly possible, other than painting the whole thing. It was even about keeping a lot of the imperfections in the joinery and walls; and then having this big installation down through the centre. Both ourselves and Dimorestudio were looking to create something of a juxtaposition between the traditional and bolder, more industrial elements; we also wanted to keep things quite geometric and simple. So there are very simple and efficient LED batons attached to the structure, which also run through the staircase and across the ceiling

DYNAMIC AND FUNCTIONAL ILLUMINATION

As you carry on through the building, light boxes grace the ceiling in various rooms, so creating dynamic and functional illumination, perfect for observing and trying on garments. Wayfinding light boxes are located outside rooms on the VIP floor : ‘The Club’. These automatically switch on or off, depending on whether a room is occupied, www.theilp.org.uk

to prevent disruption of the shopping experience. There are other innovative interactive solutions, too, such as touchscreen-connected mirrors in the private changing rooms (of which more later), seamless checkout with pay-by-link and delivery options, all without a cashier desk in sight. Browns also houses ‘Native at Browns’. This is a zero-waste sustainable and ethically sourced restaurant that extends from the interior into the outside courtyard. Here, waterproof light tubes have been suspended at different lengths and fall within the trees to provide a subtle glow. Spotlights within planters illuminate the trees while wireless integrated table lamps promote intimate warmth between diners. Particularly with Native, one of the keys was not overdoing things. It was all about paring it right back to the bones of what we needed to do to get the quality of light and the atmosphere we were looking to achieve in the space; keeping the space as clean and as minimalist as possible. What, then, did we learn or take away from this experience? For us, it was about trying to break away from the normal ways of thinking about retail and retail lighting. You can get so sort of entrenched in doing things a certain way because it is the ‘good practice’. So, it was about really stepping back and thinking about what it was we really wanted to achieve, what the

essentials needed to be plus, of course, what the client wanted to achieve. What was it we really needed to light? How could we work with the space in different ways to achieve those levels within the constraints of such a heritage space, particularly in some of the display areas

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OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Inside the ILP

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OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Retail lighting levels, all had to be completely tailored to suit that individual application. That means you end up with this really wonderful experience of just moving through all of these different spaces, each of which has a different feel and experience from a lighting perspective. For example, on the one hand there is lots of integrated illumination into the floor-toceiling standing displays, but on the other there are spaces that are lit with just a very few, highly decorative, elements.

COVID-19 AND THE RETAIL EXPERIENCE

Above and right: ‘The Club’ VIP floor. This area of Browns includes wayfinding light boxes located outside rooms, touch screen-connected mirrors and seamless checkouts. Below: the new menswear section

around the first and second floor? There was quite a lot of looking at spaces and thinking, ‘well, actually, the options are all sort of ruling themselves out because of the constraints of the interior, the building, the way that we’re looking to develop the lighting and the interior design’. It was about trying to be innovate in how we integrated lighting into the space. With all the spaces, every room in the building is completely different, and therefore the lighting approach to it, the

Because a lot of the planning and design work was carried out pre pandemic, Covid19 didn’t have a massive practical impact on the scheme, although of course there was some operational disruption, especially during the first lockdown of 2020. More widely, however, it is clear the pandemic may reshape how we shop and our expectations around the retail experience, some of which is still not yet clear. From the perspective of this project, I think one of elements we are likely to see much more of elsewhere is what was achieved in The Club, with its focus on a technology-based retail experience. To recap, its focus is about ensuring an experience that is totally tailored to the individual. So, you can still come into the store and shop in the traditional way but, if they don’t want to do that, you can go straight up to those rooms, to your prebooked space, where you can try on the clothes that are waiting for you on the racks. You can then order more things through the interactive mirror system, pay through the mirror and leave without

really having to interact with anyone in the store, should you so wish. Of course, at the moment this is very much a high-end, almost celebrity, shopper experience; it’s not going to be a retail experience that works, or is even viable, for every shopper. But it does maybe provide food for thought. If the retail experience long term is going to be around managing ‘bustle’ and exposure to others; if social distancing (whatever that looks like in the longer term) is still going to need to be a factor in that experience; if ventilation and outdoor spaces are going to become more important, how is that all going to work in practice? And, within all this, how will the lighting, and the lighting experience, therefore need to work? These are interesting questions that, over time, we as an industry are going to need to discuss and work through.

Philip Copland is associate lighting designer and Martina Alagna is lighting designer at Nulty

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By Nic Paton

r e t t y much this time last year, Dr Shelley James, founder of specialist light consultancy Age of Light, gave a fascinating exposition of how light and lighting

can be used to ‘nudge’ and change behaviour in a space, in everything from gambling to hospitality, retail to healthcare and beyond (‘Behavioural science’, September 2020, vol 85 no 8). Returning to working with the ILP over the summer, Shelley presented a fascinating webinar for LDC Manchester on ‘What’s healthy lighting really worth? The million-dollar question!’. The webinar was

hosted by ILP Manchester Chair David Coldron and the question-and-answer session was run by ILP Technical DirectorPeterHarrison. As Shelley explained, this is an important

OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Lighting and health question for lighting professionals to be considering, and articulating, simply because of the sheer focus, interest – and potential for investment – in this area right now. ‘The market for human-centred lighting, or HCL or healthy lighting, is just spinning almost like a slot machine. It is growing at an annual rate of around 35%. So there is a lot of it out there; the market is absolutely buzzing,’ she told members and others attending the webinar. ‘We can see lots of webinars about healthy lighting; you can’t move for webinars or CPD about healthy lighting. We can also see that the building standards, including the WELL standards, which has been a key part of this project, are really passionate about light and how an overall building strategy can change the environment not only for the people in the building but also the environment around it. So, healthy lighting, “green” lighting, human-centred lighting is very much on the agenda,’ she said.

NEED TO BE MAKING THE BUSINESS CASE

Yet, at the same time, there can still be an education piece around convincing decision makers and, particularly, budget holders that making this sort of investment, especially in a challenging financial or economic climate, is the right call. ‘The bottom line for so many people I speak to who are buying lights, but for whom it isn’t their profession, is they believe it [healthy lighting] is just too complicated and too expensive. And it is slightly overwhelming when you first go in there. ‘The other concern is you might just get ripped off because one panel looks very much the same as another, in the same way that a car tyre does. It is only really when you start to make that work over time that you see the difference in performance. ‘The bottom line is there are split incentives. So, the person who pays for the lights doesn’t pay for the electricity; they don’t pay for the human resources or sick leave; they don’t pay for the person who goes up a ladder to replace the light bulbs. Even though we are awash with webinars and white papers and CPD and everything, people just don’t know where to begin to find something that is independent, clear and relevant to their particular question, which talks their language,’ she added. The first place to start, she argued, is to recognise that healthy lighting is not just about specifying, buying and then installing a particular product. ‘The first question people always ask is, “what is healthy lighting?”. We’d argue it’s just good-quality lighting and everybody agrees that it is

PSYCHOPHYSICAL

PHYSIOLOGICAL

IMMEDIATE (seconds or minutes)

Brightness perception Visual amenity Visual discomfort Attention response

Pupil Size Acute melatonin suppression Luminance adaption Short term chromatic adaptation

DELAYED (hours, days or weeks)

Mood Cognition Motivation

Circadian phase shift Sleep quality Long term chromatic adaptation

LONG-TERM (months or years)

Productivity Depression

Stress Poor health Seasonal affective disorder Depression

Figure 1. During the webinar, Dr Shelley James highlighted research by Houser and Esposito showing how ‘good’ light can make a difference in both psychological and physiological ways

an approach; it is not a product.’ The value of healthy lighting, therefore, is much more intangible than simply updating an inventory or fitting out a space. She cited the CIE’s approach, which is to talk about ‘integrative’ rather than ‘healthy’ lighting, or lighting ‘that is designed to integrate visual and nonvisual effects, producing physiological and psychological effects on humans’. [1] ‘We also know that good light does make a world of difference but, actually, the effects are not immediate. Some of the effects are instant – the watery eyes and racing heartbeat response to glare, or the headache caused by flicker. But many are longer term. For example, there is growing evidence that disrupted sleep patterns among nurses accumulate over many years, increasing their likelihood of premature death from cancer,’ Shelley pointed out. [2]

NO ‘SILVER BULLET’ APPROACH

‘A lot of the claims about transforming your mood, actually, it takes a little while for those things to happen. The “silver bullet” discourse around human-centred lighting is problematic and does us all a disservice, because people just end up feeling they are being sold something that isn’t true,’ Shelley said, citing the work of academics Houser and Esposito [3]. ‘Good’ light makes a difference in both psychological and physiological ways, she emphasised (see figure 1), again citing Houser and Esposito. So, how much more are we talking about when it comes into savings from investing in healthy lighting? What sorts of arguments or what sort of business case can you be making? Based on a retail space costing approximately £2,000/m2 and a hospital as much as £3,750/m2 the additional cost above the bare minimum could be around 5% of the total, Shelley highlighted. That could sound like a lot – but if you set it in context of the other expenses in your business, it could turn out to be a

great investment – both in terms of energy savings but in the recruitment and retention of your team. ‘The standard Jones Lang LaSalle 3:30:300 guide to business costs (that, for every £3 you spend on utilities you spend £30 on rent and £300 on people) is a great way to look at this. If you can improve productivity by just 1% you have a potential upside of £3 per sq m. ‘If we’re talking to facilities people, we know that a cheap side-lit panel is around £35 and if you think about that as a cost per hour, you’re looking at about 12p an hour, or £0.0012/hour. For a £50 mid-range side-lit panel you might get your hourly cost down to 10p, or £0.0010/hour,’ she said. ‘If you go for a £70 good-quality back-lit panel you’re looking at around the same price/saving as the cheaper one – £0.0012/ hour – but the time when it is still working well is longer. The other thing to factor in when you talk to people in facilities is the cost of downtime. One of the arguments they make is the cost of that plus getting somebody up a ladder to change the lights is a hassle, as well as the time you spend with the thing not really working well enough. ‘The other thing is the energy costs. We know that most of the mid- to high-range panels have some kind of sensor in them that allows them to switch off. A basic “motion” or timing sensor will already save costs – estimated to be from 5% and more. But if you have something that is predictive but also integrates things like daylight you can actually save up to 41% on your energy bill,’ Shelley added. ‘Another area is the drive towards zero carbon. When we look at the cost of a cheap versus a medium or good-quality panel, a lot of the good-quality panels now have some retrofit capability. This means, if you have a cheap panel, you need to throw the whole lot away. If you have a mid-range panel there will be some minimal retrofit capability. And the good-quality panels are www.theilp.org.uk

OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Lighting and health actually allowing you to retrofit a whole lot more. ‘When I have been speaking to these different audiences about why better-quality lighting is really worth having, let alone tuneable and all of the rest of it, these are some of the arguments that really land with them and they can start to see why it makes sense,’ Shelley emphasised.

IMPORTANCE OF NOT CUTTING CORNERS

As the webinar came to a conclusion, Shelley turned to the words of ILP member and Speirs Major co-founder Mark Major: ‘Most big projects will have a lighting budget – worst thing you can do is spend the money and get a miserable result… if you really want to save money, don’t use poor-quality lights, use plasterboard instead of high-quality stone.’ ‘If we are to say, “what is healthy lighting really worth?”, it’s like buying a cheap tyre versus a better-quality tyre when you’re thinking about taking your family on

decisions and understand why they might do something differently. ‘So, I think better-quality lighting can and should be the new baseline and it doesn’t have to be a choice between people, profit or planet. We can actually do all of them if we simply make the arguments in a way that people are ready to understand,’ Shelley concluded. holiday,’ Shelley argued. ‘You don’t want to be stuck on the side of the road trying to change a tyre. It really is a no-brainer. When you cut corners, it ends up really being a false economy. ‘Healthy lighting or good-quality lighting is not expensive, and it is not difficult. It could just be the best investment you make. What has been really interesting is to see how, when you start to speak the language of the people who make those investment decisions, you can really start to help them to make different sorts of

[1] ‘Position Statement on Non-Visual Effects of Light - Recommending Proper Light at the Proper Time, 2nd edition’, CIE, October, 2019, https://cie.co.at/publications/ position-statement-non-visual-effects-light-recommending-proper-light-proper-time-2nd [2] Yuan X et al (2018). ‘Night Shift Work Increases the Risks of Multiple Primary Cancers in Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of 61 Articles’. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, January 2018. Available online at: https://cebp. aacrjournals.org/content/27/1/25 [3] Houser K W and Esposito T (2021). ‘Human-Centric Lighting: Foundational Considerations and a Five-Step Design Process’. Frontiers in Neurology, 2021 Jan 27;12:630553. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2021.630553. eCollection 2021. Available online at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33584531/

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OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

The WEEE regulations have now been in force for 14 years. While you would have thought this would be long enough to ensure the process is fully optimised for street lighting, this isn’t necessarily the case, argues Nigel Harvey of Recolight. He outlines four practical ways for street lighting professionals to make their recycling more efficient By Nigel Harvey

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OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Street lighting recycling s most lighting professionals will know, the WEEE regulations require producers of new street lighting to take financial responsibility for the recycling of their ‘obligated’ WEEE. They do this by joining a producer compliance scheme (PCS). The word ‘obligated’ here has quite a technical meaning in the regulations. However, for simplicity, most street lighting depots should expect to receive a free-of-charge WEEE collection and recycling service from the PCS whose members are providing the majority of the new street lanterns. One challenge comes when a depot is buying from several different producers, each registered with a different PCS. In this scenario, it is reasonable to expect the PCS with the largest market share of new lanterns to provide collections of all the WEEE arising. But regardless of the producer, or producers who supply the lanterns, here are four ways you can make your collection and recycling more efficient: 1. Separate the lamps from the lanterns. It is important depots remove the waste lamps from the lanterns and place them in a dedicated container before putting the lanterns into the WEEE skip. Sodium lamps should always be stored in a lidded container. At Recolight we recommend this is placed within a building. This is to avoid any risk of fire, were damaged sodium lamps to come into contact with water.

2. Make a clear choice of your container. Street lighting depots may not realise they usually have a choice of containers. In our experience, most prefer larger skips (for example, 40-yard) rather than flimsy builders’ bags, although these are also available. Using a large on-site skip reduces the carbon footprint of the collection service, as fewer pick-ups are required. It also reduces the physical collection container footprint – a 40-yard skip holds far more t h a n t h e e q u i v a l e n t f o ot p r i n t of bags. 3. Be proactive in your collection requests. PCSs will generally offer a specially

designed web portal in which depots can input and track their collection requests. This avoids the need for emailing to and fro. It also keeps all records visible and instantly available for monitoring and audit purposes. 4. Use the free service available! At Recolight, we still occasionally come across contractors who choose not to use the free service available under the WEEE regulations, preferring to deal with scrap merchants instead. This creates multiple problems. It means the waste is not treated with the checks and controls that are applied to WEEE recycling. Scrap-metal dealers are often not concerned by the presence of waste lamps, which means they risk being recycled along with the lanterns, resulting in uncontrolled mercury release. Scrap-metal dealers are also not under a legal obligation to prioritise reuse, meaning opportunities for circular economy approaches are reduced. Finally, It also means that the tonnage statistics are not included in the national WEEE data.

SUMMARY

The WEEE system has been designed to help the holders of waste electricals get them properly recycled. By asking a few questions of the PCS used by their supplier, street lighting depots can maximise the benefits they receive, and the environmental impact of the service they use.

Nigel Harvey is chief executive of Recolight

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OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

GLORIOUS ISOLATION Isolators and cut-outs have a vital safety-critical role to play in street lighting design, specification and installation, especially as lighting columns become key conduits of smart city infrastructure. Yet too often they are either misunderstood or taken for granted

By Giles Davidson and Robert Ashworth

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OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Street lighting

ou’d be forgiven in the current pandemic climate for associating the term ‘isolator’ in a conversation with an unlucky individual who’d just been pinged by the NHS Covid19 contract tracing app. However, in the world of lighting, isolators and cut-outs (otherwise known as fused products) have an important job. Yet, one that is too often taken for granted. Isolators are responsible for protecting and terminating a supply cable and providing electrical protection and isolation for the wiring and light on a column; fused products improve safety for those maintaining and upgrading lamppost infrastructure, while making the installation quicker.

UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCES

Recognising a lack of clarity on the subject, we at Lucy Zodion are on a mission to raise greater awareness around isolators and cut-outs, in the process ensuring specifiers understand when and why you would select one product over the other. And that’s what this article is all about. From materials used in manufacture to the way they are engineered to function, this article intends to break down the considerations that everyone involved in street lighting should know. This is especially important for those involved in smart city initiatives, where ‘the humble lamp post’ is now of course very much more than just a lighting column but, instead, an integral asset host to a wide range of applications, including air-quality monitoring sensors, Wi Fi, CCTV for public security and, more recently, electric vehicle (EV) charging.

CUT-OUTS

Cut-outs are needed in every distribution network operator-supplied (DNO) streetlight in the UK. In addition, they are often used on private networks as the sole method of protection and isolation. They have their own British Standard, BS 7654, which covers all aspects of the cut-out, from its construction (even stating its physical size), to a series of tests relating to temperature, ingress protection, current and mechanical strength [1]. Manufacturers must prove this through an independent certification, which buyers should always ask for. The cut-out comes with a set of terminal blocks, designed to accept cables up to 25mm². Where used on private networks (such as a motorway) they are available with a suite of accessories that include extension pieces, brass and plastic cable entry plates to suit different types of cable and to make

installation as easy as possible. The fuse (or fuses) in the cut-out is contained within the cover of the unit, the action of removing this cover disconnects the fuse (so it can be replaced) which also isolates the load from the supply. Higher quality cut-out designs (such as our models) have a lever cam action handle on the cover, which improves operator access to terminal connections. Although the supply terminals are isolated in a separate compartment, removing a cover from a cut-out to change the fuse should only be done by suitably authorised and trained personnel. Available in either single or twin-fuse versions, cut-outs do not provide the option of using digital timers or RCCDs to control or give additional protection not covered by the standard and, if required, are often included in secondary isolation (provided by an isolator).

ISOLATORS

Isolators are used for secondary isolation and add an extra layer of electrical safety; providing isolation without disturbance to the DNO circuit. They are not required in all street lighting columns but do offer forward-thinking local authorities greater flexibility – including the option to increase the number of outputs (enabling the column to be upgraded in the future). It is important to note that the main body or casing of an isolator isn’t covered by the same British Standard as a cut-out, however there are other standards that relate to them, which the switch-disconnector, fuse and fuse carriers must meet. To assure quality, manufacturers should produce the body to the relevant standard for isolators (BS EN 60947-3 and BS 7671) and independent certification should be available [2]. The isolator includes a switch-disconnector which is operated in order to electrically isolate the load, allowing maintenance and for a blown fuse to be replaced. This makes changing fuses and isolating circuits simple and helps to prevent risk of injury. Additionally, to increase safety, covers can be made lockable. Most isolators have an interlock device that automatically slides over the fuse carrier(s) when the isolator is moved to the ‘ON’ position, ensuring that a fuse carrier cannot be opened with the circuit energised. Both isolators and fuse carriers should be independently tested by a third party, in KEMA laboratories or the equivalent, to meet the relevant standards. Factors such as a high tracking index and self-extinguishing plastics are vitally

important when it comes to safety. Equally, so is using a robust and durable thermoplastic enclosure, with high anti-tracking properties. Well-manufactured isolators often have a safe and transparent front access cover to offer clear visibility, so reducing the need to open up the isolator. In terms of flexibility for different use cases, isolators can be thought of just like mini distribution boards. An isolator usually consists of a 32A double pole (DP) isolator switch and one or more fuse carriers. Most isolators provide a DIN rail to allow flexibility of configurations, enabling different components to be fitted, for example surge protection, MCBs, RCBOs and RCCBs. For example, too, an isolator can be configured to supply an output for festive decorations by including a digital timer. Typically, isolators provide space for up to two, three, or four 17.5mm modules, with larger versions available for specialist applications. A suite of accessories includes extension pieces, brass and plastic cable entry plates to suit different types of cable and to make installation as easy as possible. Something the installer should consider is that additional terminal blocks sometimes need to be added to the final assembly to aid installation; this, in some instances, can make the isolator assembly quite long in length.

An isolator: isolators offer forward-thinking local authorities greater flexibility, including the option to increase the number of outputs

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OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Street lighting TESTING FOR QUALITY

Used products that abide by British Standards indicate that a company takes its responsibilities seriously. Compliance is often taken as evidence of due diligence and doing things properly. However, it is important to highlight that standards aren’t the same as regulations. Following a standard doesn’t guarantee that the relevant laws are met. This is because of the fact legislation changes. However, companies that follow the standard do give customers and collaborators confidence that measures are being taken to provide a high level of quality in the products they produce. For cut-outs the relevant standard for compliance is BS 7654. This is for single-phase street lighting cut-out assemblies for low-voltage public electricity distribution systems – 25A rating for highway power supplies and street furniture. This standard covers the whole of the product and not just parts. From constructional and performance requirements through to normal service and mounting conditions over all sizes, the standard requires the designed unit to pass the tests prescribed within it. This is to ensure firstly that the unit is safe. In reference to the design of the unit, a simple part of the standard gives the layout of the terminals, stating that ‘phase neutral’ and ‘earth’ shall be positioned from left to right and viewed from the front, so that an operative will instinctively know their way around the cut-out unit. A large part of the standard is the type testing that the designed unit has to pass; these tests will prove that the unit will be fit for purpose in service. Tests include: 1.

Terminal torque test. This is a test that proves terminals have the strength to be tightened onto a conductor to a given torque and to show no signs of cracking or distortion; thus proving its durability in the field. This assures both good electrical connection, and longevity of the product.

2. Impact test. The impact test prescribes a method of reviewing the strength of the product to ensure physical integrity is maintained even at freezing temperatures (especially important for thermoplastics often used in electrical housings). This will prove the suitability of the given

material and design; it proves both its durability and that the given materials will not break and create a fault or expose live parts. 3. Creepage and clearance. To prevent faults, it is important that there is appropriate separation of live parts. The shortest distance in air between live parts (clearance) and the shortest surface distance between live parts (creepage) is assessed and has to meet strict minimum distances. 4. Resistance to tracking. Tracking is the propagation of an electrically conductive path along an insulator and all insulating materials used in fused products must be resistant to tracking, there are defined test methods to evaluate these materials. It is vital to use appropriate plastic to prevent tracking, which otherwise could lead to a serious fault. Assessing resistance to tracking is an important part of the testing process and evaluates the characteristics of the materials used, as well as their ability to withstand environments similar to those in the field. Without such testing and the supporting certification, safety and performance cannot be assured. 5. Flammability. The flammability of materials used in the products is assessed to make sure they prevent propagation of flames and self-extinguish if lit (for example by an external fault). Test methods vary between standards but seek to ensure that the products remain safe under specific fault conditions. 6. ‘Hot ball’ test. The durability and susceptibility of plastics used within the construction is assessed to ensure that integrity is maintained, under specific overload conditions. The heated ball pressure test simulates a force applied to critical elements of the construction to make sure that suitable materials are used to maintain rigidity even under temperatures likely to be experienced in a fault condition. The temperature of the ball is defined by the criticality of the elements within the construction of the product.

[1] BS 7654:2010, BSI, https://shop.bsigroup.com/products/specification-for-single-phase-street-lighting-cut-out-assemblies-for-low-voltage-public-electricity-distributionsystems-25-a-rating-for-highway-power-supplies-and-street-furniture?pid=000000000030181291 [2] BS EN 60947-3, BSI, https://shop.bsigroup.com/products/lowvoltage-switchgear-and-controlgear-switches-disconnectors-switch-disconnectors-and-fuse-combination-units-2; BS 7671, The IET, https://electrical.theiet.org/bs-7671/

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A cut-out: cut-outs are vital pieces of kit needed in every distribution network operator (DNO) UK streetlight

7. Temperature rise. Units are operated under specified load conditions to ensure that any rise in temperature due to current flow does not impair the structure of product. This is particularly important considering fuselink contacts, as it is important that sufficient contact pressure is maintained.

SUMMARY

In summary, both isolators and cut-outs are an essential (safety-critical) part of street lighting installations, and both have their place. They perform the same function and while the choice between isolator or cutout is often dictated by the end user, local requirements, or consultant specification, an isolator does bring more flexibility in terms of additional outputs and types of protection. Importantly, an isolator is more capable of meeting the changing demands of today ’s smart cities; future-proofing investment. One final point. It is worth remembering that both isolators and cut-outs are available to cater for most types and sizes of supply cable, and varying methods of earthing. So, getting the specification and configuration correct (before you get to site) will make the termination of the cable quicker and more hassle-free. Finally, as we can all appreciate, time is money so it is worth talking to your supplier to get the right product specification first-time. Giles Davidson is an area sales manager and Robert Ashworth is international account manager at Lucy Zodion

OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

DIMMING THE MEMORY OF WAR By the autumn of 1944, with the end of the war approaching and bombing raids becoming a memory, new brighter lighting levels were specified, leading to the creation of the ‘Dim Out’ or ‘moon lighting’. If the public was relieved to see light finally returning to the streets, not all within the industry embraced the transition By Simon Cornwell

ublic lighting engineers were growing steadily more optimistic during the early months of 1944. This new enthusiasm was evident in the pages of their journal Public Lighting. Members were told to get their street lighting installations ready; manufacturers were dusting down their old lighting catalogues and thinking about new designs; and regular prophetic articles appeared in which the big new post-war lighting ideas were outlined. And then the government intervened, surprising everyone with a partial lifting of the blackout rules. www.theilp.org.uk

These new rules were stipulated in Home Security Circular No 9, issued in July 1944. They relaxed some of the requirements of blackout by specifying new lighting levels and distributions for street lighting. The measly 0.0002 foot candles (fc) as permitted under BS/ARP 37, known as ‘star lighting’, was increased to an almost blinding 0.02 fc. Extra rules changed the light distribution directly below the lantern and prohibited any flux emitted above the horizontal. In an additional concession, if central control was used, then the illumination level could be increased to 0.2 fc, with the

OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Light on the past proviso that this higher-level lighting could be extinguished immediately if an air raid occurred.

‘DIM OUT’ OR ‘MOON’ LIGHTING

The lighting under these new regulations became known as the ‘Dim Out’, although it was also referred to as ‘moon lighting’, a nod to the star lighting it was going to replace. The circular allowed the new lighting to be formally started on 17 September, 1944, so giving lighting engineers a few weeks to get prepared. However, London and the south east had to continue with the old star lighting (where fitted) for security reasons. The development of star lighting in 1940 was a measured, cautious affair with manufacturers extremely careful to produce lanterns and fittings which adhered exactly to the strict blackout rules, as discussed in this column within Lighting Journal back in 2019 (‘Starry Night’, May 2019, vol 84, no 5). This was not the case with the ‘Dim Out’, as local lighting engineers either got out paints and semi-opaque tints to paint the glassware themselves; or ripped out the carefully designed shielding around star light lanterns; or, in one case, even improvised with low-wattage lamps and tin cans. The electrical and gas concerns also got in on the act, issuing pamphlets on how to convert their respective lighting sources. With this gung-ho attitude amongst the lighting engineers, it was not surprising that the majority of manufacturers stayed clear – quietly switching from wartime production back to their pre-war lantern designs. The exception was British Thomson-Houston (BTH), which was the only manufacturer that made and promoted ‘Dim Out’ equipment.

AD HOC APPROACH

The Institution of Gas Engineers published some ‘useful hints’ for modifying gas lanterns to adhere to the new levels. It all seemed rather ad hoc as, ‘since installations throughout the country differ considerably, it is only possible to give a general outline of the necessary alterations.’ This general guidance was to fit the gas lantern with a single mantle, paint the top of the glass panels or bowl black down to the mantle and then whitewash the rest. Leaving small unobscured slits to improve the illumination and bring it up to the specification, was left mainly as an experimental option for the lighting engineer. So, the normally conservative gas lighting engineers stated work with gusto, painting the interiors of their

Cambridge was one of the cities to switch on ‘Dim Out’ lighting in September 1944. This picture shows it was less than perfect, with large amounts of lateral banding on the roadway. Yet it was clearly a massive improvement on the old star lighting. Despite the rule that no light should be emitted above the horizontal, the building at the end of the road is clearly illuminated and allows me to identify the location as Peas Hill looking towards Market Square.

lanterns, and taking night-time drives to test the performance of their modified installations. Electric lanterns were spared the paint. Conversion normally required the reinstatement of the pre-war equipment fitted with lower wattage lamps. Some engineers, who had installed star lighting fittings simply butchered the lanterns, removing baffle plates and covers, thus allowing more flux to escape. Others modified their existing lanterns in ad hoc manners, with the lighting engineer of Wigan stating that old tin cans around the lamps ‘gave satisfactory results.’ (He got an additional pat on the back as removal of the tin can restored the lighting back to its prewar standard.) So, the carefully considered and cautious approach with star lighting was gone – the new ‘moon lighting’ was a rushed, improvised affair. Yet with the end of the

war approaching, the bombing raids becoming a memory, and after years of almost total darkness in the winter months, then the need to be so restrained was now largely absent.

APLE RELUCTANCE

The Association of Public Lighting Engineers (APLE) advised against the installation of Dim Out lighting. It felt the new specification was just a temporary matter, and that lighting engineers should be using their limited resources (in both equipment, manpower and finances) to prepare for unrestricted lighting which, surely, was about to be imminently announced? This position was taken by some lighting engineers, particularly those in London and the south east, who were prohibited from installing Dim Out lighting anyway. www.theilp.org.uk

OCTOBER 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL

Light on the past

Only British Thomson-Houston (BTH) attempted to sell any lanterns and adaptors for the new ‘Dim Out’ standards. Other manufacturers simply saw no market, as many lighting engineers were converting pre-war or ‘star light’ lanterns themselves, or saw the Dim Out as a short interlude before the return of full-scale lighting, and so concentrated on readying their pre-war designs.

They got on with the job of preparing unrestricted lighting, and so felt suitably aggrieved when the Home Office suddenly changed its mind a week before the restrictions were relaxed and allowed London to light up – this was largely ignored. Yet, those who embraced the concept, and had the thumbs-up from their council committees were engaged in a race to convert as many lanterns as possible before the big switch on, scheduled for 17 September. Many councils, despite resource issues, managed to convert thousands of fittings, concentrating on main roads, shopping centres and bus routes. In Leicester, the ever-resourceful Thomas Wilkie managed to convert the whole city to moon lighting in five weeks! Strangely, as a major advocate of central control, a vocal proponent of its use for blackout, and organiser of the trials of wartime lighting before the war, Wilkie elected not to use his centralised control www.theilp.org.uk

Many young children would never have seen the street lighting lit before. This caused some problems when ‘Dim Out’ started, as the children were fascinated and congregated on the streets at night. One lighting authority had to light additional lanterns along side streets to redirect groups of children away from the already-lit main roads.

and instead installed lighting to the lower standard of 0.02 fc. No explanation was given! On 17 September 1944, therefore, various parts of the UK were lit to a standard that had not been seen for five years. The public reaction was unanimously positive, and the only grumblings were that the local authorities were not getting on with it fast enough! Citizens would leave their houses and promenade through their neighbourhoods, just to experience the partially restored lighting. In Motherwell, for example it was reported that, ‘when the lights went up on the evening, a considerable body of our douce, phlegmatic townspeople, who were gathered for the occasion at Motherwell Cross actually raised a cheer!’. Yet it was the children who were most affected, as many had never seen the streetlights lit at night. They gathered in large crowds or were taken on tours with their parents. Wigan’s lighting engineer

observed the bizarre spectacle of crowds of children following the lamp lighter around the district, ‘like the Pied Piper of Hamelin.’ Did the APLE therefore miss a trick? In concentrating on the bottom line, did its hard-nosed approach forget the psychological effect of the restored street lighting on the war-torn, scared, and exhausted general population? Dim Out lighting was always going to be a short-term answer, but the boost in morale was probably unmeasurable. After five long years of almost total darkness in the winter months, Dim Out represented a tangible, visible sign that the war, at long last, was finally coming to an end.

Simon Cornwell BSc (Hons) is an R&D development senior manager at Dassault Systems

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