The Client
Nicholas Hawksmoor Primary in Towcester is a forward-looking school with 500 pupils aged 3-11 which has a strong reputation for high academic success, excellence in the arts and a wide variety of sporting achievement.
The Brief
The school sought to reduce energy consumption and related costs in powering the lighting within the school.
It was also keen to reduce its carbon footprint and cover all this through solutions that had a rapid payback period.
It wanted to improve lighting to ensure better quality and more uniform levels, so enhancing the learning and teaching environment.
There was also a need to find solutions for end-of-life fittings installed, halogen and fluorescent lighting, which are scheduled to be phased out, starting with halogen lighting in this year.
The school wanted to cut the cost and time involved in replacing and fixing broken lamps and fittings, also reducing health and safety risk
It was also focused on freeing up funds spent on electricity bills, to be used for on pupil focused activities and resources.
The Solution
Full survey with business case for retrofit was provided by the SaveMoneyCutCarbon commercial team with a 5 and 10-year cash flow forecast produced and presented to Board of Governors. The project was financed through school’s internal funds.
After agreement, the team fully managed the installation project through a detailed schedule and plan of works.
The Field Services team fitted more than 370 LED lamps – tubes, track lights, 2D, downlights and exterior lights with product selection based upon a bespoke solution tailored for school, with quality brands Verbatim, Philips, Heathfield and Fitzgerald fittings.
As well as replacing older lighting, new lights were also installed, for example track lights to provide a 75% energy saving. New track lights were installed in the nursery as a small kitchen area was being built and this was most effective lighting solution.
New 35W 360 car park lights were fitted to existing poles, replacing existing inefficient SON lamps which were near end-of-life. The project also incorporated an LED replacement for the school sign.
Typically, a 60% saving is achieved in moving from traditional fluorescent tubes to quality LED tubes and up to 90% saving when moving from halogen to LED.
Good quality LED lighting will last in excess of 40,000 hours with little or no light degradation vs. traditional halogen lights that typically last no longer than 2,000 hours and fluorescents that typically last 8,000 hours.
The fewer lights and fittings that need to be changed, the fewer call outs to external contractors or risk associated with school staff going up ladders to change lamps.
Challenges
The main challenge was scheduling the project work to avoid clashes with school hours and clubs using the school. To meet the needs of the school, the installation team worked later afternoons and nights.
The team also took the need for change some fittings in their stride – replacing where needed the old and unusable fittings with high-quality Fitzgerald fittings.
Summary
- Energy use reduced by nearly 70%
- Carbon footprint reduced by 68.6%
- Overall annual savings of more than £9,000
- Payback in four years.
Annual Savings
-
9,000
£ saved
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68.6%
tonnes
-
4
years payback