Remark can help with your Office lighting, Emergency Lighting, Warehouse lighting and External Lighting.
Introduction
As we start to say goodbye to the summer and hello to the inevitable onset of short days and long dark nights, this is the perfect time to consider how improving your lighting can brighten up your workplace.
We have seen a lot of changes this year, which have forced many of us to change our daily habits. Social distancing guidelines have led to different work locations, changes in shift patterns and alternative walkways through our place of work. All of which may mean that your existing lighting schemes are no longer appropriate for your business’ current circumstances.
Whether it be internal or external lighting, emergency or security lighting, we often find that the light fittings have not been updated for quite a few years. The chances are your layouts have changed since you last had your lighting installed and these existing lights aren’t best placed to do the job they are intended for.
Worst still, your building still has traditional lighting such as fluorescent and incandescent lights, which as we know are considerably less efficient than modern LED lights. LED lighting is not only cost effective but also has additional benefits for workplace wellbeing and provides the opportunity to add smart control systems that can help take your lighting to the next level.
Can I change office lighting to suit my new office layout?
Absolutely, whether you are adding new lights or moving existing lights, almost anything is possible. New lights can be added and incorporated to switch on with existing light switches or sensors, alternatively new circuits can be added to create multiple zones.
Remark Group’s project managers can assist with all of your lighting needs. We can even assist with other office layout services including; changes to Desk Layouts, Installation of floor boxes and Portable Appliance Testing (PAT).
I have less people in the office now, can lights be turned off to save on costs?
Occupancy sensors are one of the most common lighting control methods and allows for dimming or turning off lights automatically after a given space has been vacant for a period of time. Any reduced usage will help contribute to energy saving and creating more zones will reduce the number of lights in use relative to your office usage.
What are the Benefits of Smart Lighting Systems?
There are many different smart lighting options available from wired to wireless systems that can be integrated with your existing lighting or installed as standalone systems.
DALI, Mode or other smart lighting systems can give you ultimate flexibility with office layout and usage, allowing you to effortlessly manage your lighting in the most economical way. Most of these systems can be integrated into Building Management Systems, and some can help you monitor which areas have the highest occupancy levels. This can also be really useful when it comes to cleaning schedules.
What about Emergency lighting?
Just like standard lighting, additional emergency lights can easily be added throughout your premises. The main consideration with emergency lighting is to ensure that emergency lights are suitably placed to ensure safe evacuation of a building in the event of a mains power failure.
BS 5266-1 Code of practice for emergency lighting of premises, provides the general rules and guidance on the provision and operation of emergency lighting in most premises other than dwelling houses.
What options are available for warehouse lighting?
Most warehouses are large open spaces where all of the lights are either on or off. The changes in occupancy that we are seeing in office spaces can also affect our warehouse areas.
Warehouse lighting can be upgraded to LED lighting which in most cases will demonstrate a return on investment in upgrading from traditional lighting. Further flexibility is available by installing dimmable LED lighting which can then be integrated into a DALI system, allowing more control over how the lighting is being used.
Here at Remark, we have installed trailing edge dimmable LED lights with DALI converter modules and integrated with our existing Mode Controller systems. This has allowed us to programme a number of “scenes” which will allow us to control the lighting based on how our warehouse is used.
Don’t forget about your Exterior Lighting
So often, external lighting is the last area to receive any attention, yet at this time of year we have the timely reminder of all those issues that we didn’t address last winter. That dark car park, the poorly lit entrance, or the unwelcome visitors that loiter around your building after you’ve closed up shop. Whatever the issue, external lighting can be used to improve the safety of your staff and visitors, or even just to cast some light on those passing by, welcome or not.
Things to consider with external lighting are your control method (PIR or time clock), frequently used areas/routes and the security of your building. Alternatively, you may just want to put your business in the spotlight with some feature lighting. Areas like car parks can be made all the more welcoming with the use of LED bollards or streetlamps.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]If security is something that you are keen to improve, we can also offer an external soundscape solution. Soundscapes may be used to play welcoming sounds or corporate messaging during operating hours and similarly to be used to play warning messages out of hours. Teamed with security lighting and external lighting, we believe that soundscapes can transform your premises.
Check out our website for more information or plan a visit to our offices to see how we’ve tackled external lighting and soundscapes.
Written by our Project Manager, Gareth Major. Gareth has over 10 years of experience working in electrical engineering.
