Refurb Projects August 2017

SOCIAL HOUSING
Wireless emergency lighting in social housing
When refurbishing social housing developments, one of the highest priorities for building owners and specifiers
alike is the safety of residents. So, when Peabody, one of the largest housing associations in the UK, had the
opportunity to overhaul emergency lighting across its estate of over 17,000 blocks, it turned to Harvard
Technology to provide an innovative lighting solution.
With over 80,000
residents occupying its
extensive estate, the
necessity for effective
and efficient emergency lighting
was fundamental to Peabody’s plans
to revamp its housing blocks. Not
only does the housing provider wish
to protect occupants, they also have
to obey increasing stringent
emergency regulations, which
include the requirement for monthly
and yearly functional and duration
tests compulsory under test
standards. Non-compliance with
such standards would result in
potentially hefty fines and
repercussions for the housing
provider.
The long-awaited revision to the
Emergency Lighting Code of Practice
BS5266:1 2016, issued in May 2016,
has only compounded the necessity
The EyeNut wireless lighting control system.
for sufficient emergency lighting in
social housing blocks and Peabody
were keen to address the issue.
Although the regulations have
been widely accepted as a step in
the right direction for emergency
lighting, especially in large, densely
populated housing blocks, they have
also brought a new unique set of
challenges for both social housing
providers and specifiers. Keen to
address the issue at hand and
improve emergency lighting
significantly, Peabody sought a
solution that would ensure
functional emergency lighting at all
times, whilst also keeping
maintenance and operational costs
to a minimum.
The company understood the
importance of installing an LED
lighting solution that offered
greater efficiency, lower running
costs, and perhaps
most importantly,
improved
illumination when
compared to the
traditional
incandescent
lighting installed
previously. Equally
essential was having
a scalable and
controllable lighting
portfolio across all
its buildings in the
future. With
ambitions to employ
enhanced control
strategies across its
estate including
occupancy detection,
daylight harvesting,
scene setting and time scheduling,
Peabody also needed a system
capable of delivering advanced
control options.
SMART EMERGENCY LIGHTING
Harvard Technology, and fixture
designer and manufacturer Fern
Howard, worked closely with
Peabody and the refurbishment
team to review the social housing
blocks’ requirements and ensure the
best technology fit for the facilities.
The specified solution was an
integrated LED lighting system with
a wireless-enabled emergency
bulkhead fixture, which could link
with the innovative wireless lighting
control system EyeNut.
The system, initially installed in
two housing blocks in phase one of
the project, comprised 80 emergency
bulkhead LED fixtures, with 70% of
these fixtures including an
innovative emergency feature,
enabled through the EyeNut
Combined Emergency driver. The
entire lighting portfolio is controlled
through EyeNut, an intuitive cloudbased,
remote access, wireless
control system for indoor and
outdoor lighting.
Needing to meet emergency
lighting test standards, which
necessitate both monthly and yearly
tests for the full rated duration of
the emergency lights, the retrofit
high-performance driver provided
the perfect solution. An automatic
test feature incorporated within the
driver ensures all tests can be
completed remotely, eliminating the
requirement for monthly site visits.
Results of the automatically
scheduled functional and duration
testing are exported for audit
tracking through the EyeNut Graphic
User Interface (GUI). For Peabody,
this not only ensured complete
compliance with emergency lighting
regulations, but also saved them
substantial time and money on
maintenance.
Connecting thousands of fixtures
across a complex housing estate
using a wired lighting control
solution would prove almost
impossible for Peabody, but wireless
lighting control solutions have
changed that completely. Unlike
wired systems, the cloud-based
EyeNut system is infinitely scalable
and there are no limits to the
number of locations, the number of
gateways, or even the number of
devices, which can be managed
through the central hub.
Using EyeNut, up to 500 EyeNutenabled
devices can be controlled
from a single gateway, via a robust,
secure, ZigBee wireless mesh
network. Facilities Managers can
even manage both indoor and
outdoor lighting fixtures, in car
parks for instance, using the same
system.
For Peabody, this provided untold
advantages. Through the intuitive
EyeNut system, the leading housing
provider can monitor and manage
their entire lighting portfolio with
multi-site control from a single hub.
Accurate real-time energy data,
including kilowatt/hours’ usage and
energy hot spots, is easily accessible
through the system’s GUI allowing
Peabody to implement energy
efficiency strategies and make
further savings. Crucially, from an
emergency lighting standpoint,
maintenance has also been
dramatically improved across the
Peabody estate as any lamp failures
are reported immediately, enabling
necessary repairs to be made.
By installing an LED lighting solution
and wireless lighting controls,
Peabody achieved a marked
reduction in energy consumption
across its two blocks, with energy
savings equating to 44%. Through
enhanced dimming and sensor
control throughout its estate, the
leading housing association is
aiming to reach 50% energy savings.
For more information visit:
www.harvardtechnology.com
12 AUGUST 2017, REFURBISHMENT PROJECTS