BDP reuses 350 lights from London fit-out in Cambridge building
Some 350 luminaires removed from a London office fit-out have been reused in an exemplar sustainable building for Cambridge University.
BDP upgraded and reused the lights in the transformation of a 1930s telephone exchange into the £12 million Entopia Building, a new headquarters for the Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership.
The original supplier of the lights agreed to re-test and re-warrant the lights, and new endplates for the fittings were 3D printed so they could be installed on the exposed ceiling.
This process was reliant on insurance approval and the client’s willingness to engage in the reuse process.
Energy consumption post-refurbishment is expected to be less than 16 per cent of the pre-refurbishment level.
The adoption of a ‘fabric first approach’, in which reducing energy demand is prioritised above obtaining energy from more sustainable sources and is considered in design before the building services, led to a remarkable improvement in the predicted energy performance of the building envelope, its structure and the components that enclose the internal spaces.
This enabled a corresponding reduction in equipment capacities required in the building’s mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems.
The energy performance of the building will be monitored via a three-year post-occupancy evaluation (POE) programme to allow actual consumption data to be compared with predicted performance.
By reducing the requirements for the building’s services, the team could achieve a substantial corresponding reduction in the building’s carbon and material footprint.
Additionally, the ability to specify smaller MEP equipment reduced the associated capital costs of the MEP systems relative to a conventional fit-out. This common-sense approach to design, combined with a strategy of minimising interventions to the existing building, enabled Entopia’s exceptionally lean and sustainable outcomes.
Dame Polly Courtice of the CISL told the Circular Lighting Report: ‘The Entopia Building aims to be an international exemplar for sustainable office retrofits, demonstrating how an existing office building can be made highly energy efficient in its redevelopment and use, whilst supporting the enhanced wellbeing of staff and visitors.’
• Remanufacturing Lighting is the subject of a special one-day conference organised by Recolight and taking place on Thursday 27 April 2023 at the Coin Street Conference Centre in London. This CPD-approved event will give you the tools, insights and contacts make a success of luminaire reconditioning and reuse. You’ll learn how to sell the concept of reconditioned lights, develop best practice policies, comply with the standards, set up a testing regime for reused luminaires and remanufacture fittings at scale. The gathering will also give you inspiration from real world projects which prove that remanufacturing can be a success everyone. You’ll also meet key players in the remanufacturing industry network with specifiers with the power to get your products into projects. See more HERE.
