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Retrofit LED lighting sees 85% energy saving |
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12 Feb 2015, 6:55 PM
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A late nineteenth century building, now converted into apartments in London's West End, has been partially refurbished prior to resale. The introduction of modern LED lights has resulted in a reduction of 85% in the lighting energy usage.
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The bespoke LED lighting solutions by QE Global helped the interior design team from Metrix Interiors to deliver the architect’s aspirational aesthetic, coupled with superior reliability and an average saving of 85% on the owner’s lighting energy usage.
Portman Mansions, built in the late 19th Century, is a red brick building housing a suite of luxury apartments situated in the heart of London’s W1, a stone’s throw from Marylebone High Street, Regents Park and the West End.
Both companies worked on the redesign and refurbishment of a residential property in the mansion block, in readiness for sale by a private investor. The specification for modern, energy efficient LED lighting throughout included floor and ceiling illumination within a corridor with no natural light.
The lighting specialists manufacture and supply their own products and their lux level scheme included replacing the existing fittings with their own energy efficient, multi-purpose LED lights and housings. The design also met specific requirements for floor lights that could be walked on and a coffered ceiling with drop down lighting, suitable for the darker areas.
Planning for and being adaptable to an installation within the confines of a 19th century building, with ceiling void restrictions required an adaptable, bespoke approach as Ben Hatton explains. “The main challenge was with the original ceiling mouldings in the property which needed to be retained but were in need of complete restoration and were not in keeping with the aesthetic the client wanted to achieve. To counter this, the client proposed a false ceiling with recessed trough lighting in the lounge area. It was important that the character of the high ceilings were retained so low profile, low heat fittings were required.”
“We supplied our own under-shelf QEGFL fittings to the trough areas and GU10 spotlights in low profile fire-retardant housings which have had the desired effect. Installing 21st century lighting technology in a period building can be a challenge but our LED fittings can be as thin as 19mm which is effectively the thickness of a piece of plasterboard. This allows us to light areas where historically a 200mm void behind the plasterwork would be required. Also because of the way the heat-sink is designed to dissipate the heat generated by the LED chips, heat-gain and potential fire hazard issues are far less of a concern”.
The products used for this project were predominantly dimmable QEG LED GU10 bulbs mounted in third party housings. GU10 bulbs use 5w of power each, compared with 50w on a standard Halogen GU10. In total, 105 were installed, totalling 525w compared with 5250w using standard halogens.
The balance comprised the trough lighting fittings which use a total of 325w compared with the T5 fluorescent equivalent fittings which use twice that amount at 750w. The T5 fittings also generate 30% less light than those supplied.
Initial lighting energy usage figures following the installation showed the entire apartment was only 0.9kw compared with over 6kw using the conventional lighting.
One of the major challenges for the design team was a short survey and lighting installation period.
Mark Saunders for the interior designers said, “The front end preparation for this project was critical. The drawings and examples of the finish made it clear what we were getting and the onsite visits with adapted fittings ensured that the installation was executed to the exact plan and strict two week deadline set by our client. On this project we needed an approach that wasn’t standard and working with QE Global, as opposed to an electrical company meant that stocks of their own items were always readily available. All their products have a 15 year life and long term reliability, with no call backs is a big advantage for interior designers in this market.
“The majority of our work is in new commercial or residential buildings where standard ceiling lights are already in place and we are adding to them. We would certainly seek to work with this firm again on a project that could exploit their bespoke lighting capabilities.”
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