Dersingham School, Norfolk

The Client

Dersingham VA Primary and Nursery School near Sandringham in Norfolk is a thriving educational environment and recognised the need to investigate ways of cutting expenditure to help pressured budgets.

The school community of 295 pupils was formed in 2013 through a merger of the village’s junior and infant schools, with building extension and some renovation of the junior school.

With the building constructed decade before, the lighting in the school was also in need of an upgrade to improve overall quality.

Headteacher Gayle Platt was introduced to energy efficiency experts SaveMoneyCutCarbon through the Norwich Diocese and Anglian Water Business.

A full survey was carried out, which identified that a full LED lighting upgrade would provide excellent energy and carbon savings with the capital cost of the project covered by lower energy bills.

SaveMoneyCutCarbon has successfully delivered scores of energy-saving projects in schools of all sizes across the UK over the past two three years.

It used its extensive expertise within the education sector to specify high-quality replacement LED lighting, and fully managed the process of installation and testing.

The Consultative Sales team at SaveMoneyCutCarbon minimised the complexity of the financial side of the LED project by completing the Salix funding application on behalf of the school, at no cost to them.

The Salix Finance loan secured is 100% interest-free and is only offered to projects that can guarantee repayments will be covered by savings on energy costs.

The survey and specification team proposed that quality LED lamps be retrofitted because this type of lighting uses an exceptionally low amount of energy and well as being highly reliable and having a long working life of around 50,000 hours.

As a comparison, traditional light bulbs typically last around 1,000 hours and fluorescent tubes will work for around 5,000 hours before light degradation occurs.

The LED lamps need little to no maintenance which is another budget benefit as the school should not need to replace these for a decade or more. The quality of the light will also remain, unlike traditional fixtures like tubes that degrade badly with extended use.

The upgrade also resolves issues of failed tubes and other fittings. The lighting is fully supported with a no quibble five-year warranty.

The SaveMoneyCutCarbon Field Services team replaced 210 lights, including panels, tubes, 2D fittings and floodlights across the whole school.

The installation team – all fully DBS checked – worked closely with the school to minimise disruption, completing the project during half term.

Summary

• The LED retrofit will reduce lighting bills by £2,825 a year
• Carbon footprint will be cut by over 70%
• Full Salix financing at zero interest means project should be self-financing over 8 years