School is first to upgrade with retrofit LED modules
A school in the north of England has become one of first in the UK to install a retrofit LED luminaire in the form factor of a fluorescent tube.
At Hedon Inmans primary school in Hull, the facilities team has replaced 14W T5 fluorescent tubes with Resus modules from The Regen Initiative.
The modules, whose drivers have integral Casambi wireless connectivity, were installed in 77 Thorlux XL5 luminaires.
The school, built in 2011, has been undergoing works to remedy issues arising from problems with the roof construction.
Additionally, the existing smart lighting had started to show signs of failure, says senior building services engineer James Martin. ‘Some of the sensor pods were failing to bring fittings on or communicate with other fittings,’ said Martin. ‘Despite the efficiency of the existing fittings, this coupled with the fluorescent lighting ban meant we had to begin to look at exploring replacing these sooner than had been hoped.
‘The body of the fittings remained in excellent condition, and are clearly well built and it seemed a crying shame to simply skip a quality product, for in all likelihood an LED panel that wouldn’t be as well made, and wouldn’t have replaceable parts to allow continued future use.
‘As a result we opted to look at refurbishing the fittings, as opposed to replacing them completely.
‘The Regen Initiative solution, although not what I had initially expected, suits well as the LED modules can easily be replaced, allowing for the ongoing future maintenance of the fittings, and the fact that these can be used in conjunction with wireless dimming, meant the school could still have the same controllability they previously had with the existing solution.’
The Resus won two prestigious Build Back Better Awards earlier this year. Designed to fit the majority of existing T5 and T8 fluorescent fittings, its design allows it to pick up on existing fluorescent lamp holders, using them only as a mechanical fix.
All electronics are remote by the way of a remote driver allowing the product to be controls agnostic. Resus is designed to operate within any space where a fluorescent lamp once occupied.
It’s controls agnostic, meaning it can work within any building management system and will operate with any fixed output, DALI or wireless drivers, and will, as standard, operate with key switch, self-test and DALI monitored addressable emergency systems.
The housing features 3D-printed end caps which can be changed to suit T5, T8 and PLL lamp holders.
In an upgrade, the existing fluorescent lamp and driver are removed but that the original fitting remains in situ thus negating the need for the product to be placed through the e-waste stream and retaining all its embodied carbon.
The materials used in Resus contain a significant percentage of post-consumer recyclate and, other than cutting to length to suit the lamp dimensions, requires no post-finishing.
In a self-assessment to the circularity measure TM66, the Resus scored an ‘excellent’ rating of 3.1.
The product is also assembled without the use of adhesives, resulting in the product being able to be repurposed and ultimately easily recycled at end of life, in line with circular economy principles.
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