Landmark lighting remanufacture project shines light on smarter techniques

The completion of a landmark lighting remanufacturing project is being heralded as the gold standard in eco-friendly office refurbishment.

The refurbishment of Arup’s office at Piccadilly Place, Manchester was the stage for the project, led by The Regen Initiative and supported by technology from TridonicUK.

Arup currently occupies the 6^th Floor and the project included an expansion to the 7^th Floor and refurbishment of both spaces. A key project objective was to reduce embodied carbon by renovating or repurposing furniture and equipment as an exemplar demonstration for our clients. Arup wanted to explore the refurbishment of the existing TC-L luminaires to LED and approached The Regen Initiative for their expertise in lighting remanufacture.

Conceived by F Mark and COCO Lighting, The Regen Initiative offers a lighting fixture refurbishment service, breathing new life into existing fixtures.  By sharing their collective knowledge and remanufacture skills they are able to offer a service that encompasses circular economy principles to reduce carbon in refit projects. These principles and practices provide a credible alternative to just ‘fitting new’ that will last for generations to come.

Arup and The Regen Initiative collaborated in the design, prototyping and testing on-site of the retrofit solution to ensure the optical performance could be maintained, to define a specification for light quality, and to integrate smart wireless lighting controls to replace the existing DALI system which was unfit for purpose.

As part of a turnkey solution, the LED retrofit upgrade of the 214 incumbent TC-L fluorescent lighting was completed out of hours by fellow Regen associates Challenger Lighting Services to minimise disruption to Arup’s daily operations in the office.  Along with the rebuilt LED retrofits, which were remanufactured off-site, the lighting levels were balanced to meet the client’s exact specification. The emergency lighting provision was also upgraded to be compliant with regulation and the whole project was fitted with wireless controls from Tridonic UK.

Overall, the remanufacturing and retrofit of the fixtures has resulted in a 72 percent energy reduction and the avoidance of 5,554kg of CO₂e being produced in comparison with the replacement of existing luminaires with new.

Additionally, the Tridonic x Casambi wireless upgrades meant that PIRs and meeting room switch plates have been replaced. Regen engaged the services of Atrium to supply these components and commission all wireless lighting towards the end of the project. The emergency lighting provision is upgraded to be fully DALI auto-test compliant.

“The resulting green credentials for this project really speak for themselves”, explains Simon Fisher from The Regen Initiative. “We knew what we could do to remanufacture the old fittings to make them LED-ready and utilising technology from Tridonic UK and Casambi to provide wireless controls, dimming and emergency lighting compliance, were all key parts of the project deliverables for us. But what has been truly inspiring about this project is the collaboration between The Regen Initiative and Arup to evolve the scope of work to really move the dial on the amount of carbon and money saved, as a result of these innovative green techniques being deployed.

Finally, the success of the project has meant that we have been invited to return to provide similar capabilities as part of the renovations to the seventh floor of Piccadilly Place, which sees us taking on a role as lighting remanufacture contractor, working as part of a wider supply chain.”

Richard Morris, Lighting Design leader for Arup’s Manchester Office, said: “We have been promoting the lighting and circularity agenda for some time. We were keen to put this into practice and working with The Regen Initiative gave us the opportunity. Now, having been through the process, with no disruption to our daily work and validation of the energy and carbon savings, we can share our experience with our clients with confidence and promote luminaire refurbishment as a realistic proposal.”

James Huntington, OEM Controls and Solutions Manager for Tridonic UK, said: “Our wireless drivers and emergency lighting solutions were the perfect fit for this project, enabling DALI-compliant wireless controls, dimming and emergency auto-testing to enhance the lighting provision which ultimately, saves the occupant time, money and carbon. It’s so great to see these greener solutions being adopted and we are proud to be a part of this very special story, which I know will have far-reaching implications for the next generation of lighting refits.”