Prime Controls Logo - Gradient White

Retrofit project for global brand’s HQ campus extends life of 7,500 luminaires & delivers £1.5m savings

Overview

A multi-national brand wanted to modernise the lighting across its 10-building headquarters campus, improving energy performance while reducing disruption and avoiding the unnecessary replacement of existing assets.

The estate was served by four separate wired lighting control systems, making management more complex and limiting opportunities to optimise lighting performance.

Our client needed a solution that would improve efficiency, simplify control and support its wider sustainability objectives.

At a glance

  1. £1.5m annual energy savings
  2. 6.83m → 1.46m kWh annual energy consumption
  3. 7,500 luminaires upgraded
  4. 30 tonnes hardware diverted from landfill
  5. 150 tonnes embodied CO₂ avoided
  6. 1,036 tonnes annual CO₂ reduction

Our solution

Prime Controls upgraded approximately 7,500 existing luminaires with new LED boards, drivers and our intelligent wireless lighting control solutions. This has extended the life of the existing fittings rather than replacing them.

Using an open Bluetooth® Mesh Networked Lighting Controls (NLC) protocol, the new control system replaced four legacy wired systems and integrated directly with the site’s existing Building Management System (BMS) via the local network and an open API.

The solution was designed and assembled off site before being rapidly installed and commissioned with minimal disruption to employees.

A combination of smart drivers, wireless nodes, presence detection and daylight harvesting enabled lighting to be commissioned in line with CIBSE guidance, while allowing lighting levels to respond to real occupancy patterns and natural daylight.

Our intelligent controls delivered a further 60% reduction in lighting energy use beyond the savings already achieved through the LED upgrade.

Outcomes

This project has delivered significant commercial, operational and environmental benefits.

  • Annual electricity consumption was reduced from 6.83 million kWh to 1.46 million kWh, generating energy cost savings of approximately £1.5 million every year.
  • By upgrading rather than replacing the existing lighting infrastructure, our client also avoided around £600,000 in replacement costs.
  • The decision to retain the existing luminaires prevented approximately 30 tonnes of lighting equipment from being sent to landfill and avoided an estimated 150 tonnes of embodied CO₂ associated with manufacturing new fittings.
  • The reduction in operational energy consumption also cut on-site annual carbon emissions by more than 1,036 tonnes of CO₂. (This equates to more than 10,000 tonnes over a ten-year period.)