Concord Completes Successful Schools PFI Project in Derby

Building Services Consultants, Pick Everard, recently completed the design of all the lighting for a major Education PFI project for five new schools in Derby. The projects were Sinfin Primary School, Hardwick Primary School, Lakeside Community Primary School, Merrill College and Da Vinci Community College.

A large proportion of luminaires, with a value of about £380,000, were supplied by Concord. Lighting designer Carl Ackers, of Pick Everard, comments: ‘One of the main reasons Concord was specified was because we considered them as a quality manufacturer, offering an excellent product and service proposition at a cost-competitive price’.

The lighting scheme had to meet the main objective of the lighting design for the new educational facilities. The design had to create a bright, vibrant and visionary learning environment for all areas within the schools. The schemes also had to be highly energy efficient, so all the lighting is controlled by an automated lighting control system, with both photocells and occupancy sensors, to maximise daylight use and to dim and switch off luminaires when not required.

The main Concord luminaires used on the Derby project were:

• The Ovation 65 system was used wherever suspended lighting was required in areas without a dropped ceiling. Ovation proved to be a flexible system for these applications and enabled fully automatic dimming, daylight linking and presence detection. The Ovation system could also be installed in continuous lengths, with flexible length ‘dummy’ sections, where required.
• The LED 100TE luminaire was specified as a highly effective downlight solution within the corridors, due to its small size, low recess depth and cost-effectiveness – an important consideration in all the circulation spaces.
• Lumiance Pento pendants were used in the double-height circulation spaces and some of the dining halls, using various lamp wattages from 1x32W to 4x32W, to maintain a common design theme.
• In most teaching spaces with dropped ceilings, the Equilibro range of fittings was the chosen solution. Again, all luminaires are dimmable and connected to the automatic lighting control system.
• In more utilitarian areas, such as storage and service rooms, Sylpack and Sylproof Pro fittings were employed.
• The circulation spaces and play areas around the exterior of the schools needed lighting too, for both safety and visual comfort – here the Monitor wall light played an excellent role, due to its powerful 70W CDM-TT lumen package and high IK10 impact rating.
• In one location there was a special need to bridge a gap in the ceiling created by a light well. Concord's Channel system was employed to great effect, due to its slim, unobtrusive profile, which didn’t obstruct the view.

Project lighting design: Pick Everard, Building Services Consultants, working with Concord