Yorkshire school upcycles luminaires
A private school in North Yorkshire has reused and reconditioned the luminaires in its auditorium rather than replacing them.
Yarm School, near Middlesborough, had the fluorescent-based fittings upgraded to LED by Durham-based Artech Lighting.
The latter has a specialist remanufacturing service, dubbed ‘Revive’.
The Artech team designed, developed, and manufactured a bespoke replacement LED and gear tray with the drivers selected to ensure compatibility with existing lighting control systems, creating a space with over 60 per cent savings on energy.
Through upcycling existing fittings, Artech says that it reduced onsite man hours and building work, further reducing embedded carbon within the development as less transport is needed for deliveries or onsite labour.
The company is working towards a zero-carbon future, evident throughout this development, and eliminating the need for new fixtures cut costs, enabling a straightforward installation, maintaining the aesthetic and functional aspects of the space.
The company says that its latest fixtures are designed with embodied carbon in mind. Both the sourcing of raw materials and the amount used are now considered at product design stage.
It has embarked on a program of measuring embodied carbon in all its existing fixtures to allow it to demonstrate ‘cradle to gate’ figures accurately.
It points to recent projects as examples of how payback periods with remanufactured lights can be less than a year.
In a regional university, the company recently conducted an LED-for-LED upgrade. It replaced ‘first generation’ LED and control gear for the most-efficient gear trays, and added mesh-based Bluetooth controls from Casambi. The body and diffuser of the existing luminaire were reused. The cost of the project was £97,000 but annual savings will be £105,000, resulting in a payback of 11 months.
Artech Lighting has recently expanded into the Middle East, opening a new office in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
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