Philips’ Unite Lighting Project- Improved Quality at reduced costs

Philips help Unite, the UK’s leading operator of purpose built student accommodation, to help improve lighting quality while reducing lifecycle costs at The Grange student accommodation in Leicester.

Project Brief:

Who?                            Unite

Where?                         Leicester

What products?         Circular bulkhead LED, Coreline Recessed and Pacific LED

What services?           Lighting survey, installation, commissioning, after-sales service and on-                                         going support

Helping students see the light:

Philips provides an LED lighting  and services package to Unite, the UK’s leading operator of purpose built student accommodation, to help improve lighting quality while reducing lifecycle costs at The Grange student accommodation in Leicester.

Unite provides homes to 41,000 students in over 130 properties across 23 university cities and works in partnership with higher education providers, as well as renting rooms directly to students.

The Grange is located on the main campus of De Montfort University and is home to 220 students. The property is made up of shared flats with communal kitchens and living areas, and self contained individual studio apartments.

Supporting sustainable business:

Unite is committed to minimising its environmental impact and has an on-going programme to improve energy efficiency at its properties as part of its overall corporate responsibility strategy. Alongside this, the company prides itself on providing a high quality home environment for its students.

“Lighting was identified as an area where improvements in energy performance would also enhance the internal environment for our customers,” recalls Unites Energy and Utilities Manager James Tiernan.

At The Grange, Philips evaluated the existing lighting to identify areas for improvement, using its recently enhanced lighting survey methodology. Philip’s methodology ensures in-depth understanding of the existing installation and the customer’s business goals and objectives. This information underpins a tailored solution that delivers optimum benefits.

After conducting the survey, Philips managed the installation and commissioning of LED lighting throughout The Grange. LED lighting has been installed in all bedrooms, kitchens, common areas, back office spaces and external areas. Extensive use has been made of circular bulkhead LED fittings, which combine excellent light distribution with a robust housing and IP65 rating. These have been used in students’ rooms, corridors, kitchen areas and stairwells to replace old 2D fluorescent fittings, bringing significant improvements in energy consumption, light output and lifespan. Administration areas, such as reception areas, are using CoreLine Recessed fittings, replacing modular fluorescent luminaires, while Pacific LED fittings have been installed in the laundry room. Presence detectors have also been introduced in corridors and daylight linking in spaces that receive high levels of natural daylight.

Philips will also deliver after-sales service and on-going support to the Unite team.

Efficient solutions with no compromise on style:

The entire lighting solution not only minimises the building’s energy consumption but will also dramatically lower lifecycle costs by out-living previous solutions and lasting for many years beyond traditional lighting fixtures.

 In addition, the new lighting offers improvements in uniformity, quality, and control of light, which provides students with an environment conductive to study and learning whilst also improving the visual appearance in all areas of the building.

“Moving from predominantly 28 watt 2D fluorescent fittings to 18 watt LED fittings has delivered a substantial reduction in energy consumption and the improved controls have bought further savings still. Around 30% of our maintenance requests are lighting related, so we expect significant reduction here too, bringing additional savings in hardware and man hours,” James Tiernan continued.

“There are other intangible benefits that can’t be quantified but are very important. For example, the improved light levels create a better living environment for students, which is important for us in supporting their success whilst at university. Universities are also beginning to look more closely at the carbon emissions of their supply chain, so it’s important we can demonstrate that we are taking measures to reduce our carbon footprint,” he concludes.