Mitre 10 MEGA Hornby

Pre-install‍

We worked with Mitre10 Hornby for several years to get this project underway and even worked with a local manufacturer to help design a light that we thought would suit the needs of the Mitre 10 group and our future customers as part of the journey. The main retail lights were run by a Dali control system that dimmed the lights but was greatly reducing the life of the fluorescent bulbs, so much so that the maintenance person was tasked with a weekly run around in a scissor lift to replace bulbs. This can be a sign that the ballasts in the lights are also failing

What we did‍

We started with the car park lights, of which many had failed, with the running gear or bulbs being way past their use by date. We then improved the garden centre and then the offices. The local project manager then had to get painting and the carpet upgraded as the new lights were a little too effective at showing the age of the building.

The drive through was next and the old lights were unevenly placed and there was a daylight sensor that had a mind of its own, turning the lights off when they were needed and vice versa. We did a lighting design and then put in a new lighting circuit to improve building uniformity. We installed ultra efficient wirelessly controlled LED lighting and a new wireless daylight sensor and there was a dramatic lift in lighting levels.

We worked with Mitre 10 management to give the Hornby retail box a bit extra. There are areas they wanted to make it brighter at certain times of the year so we installed extra powerful wireless LED lighting that output 37,000 lumens (almost twice as much as a standard LED highbay) and then we tuned the lighting across the retail box to give Mitre10 staff the amount of light they wanted per area. For the rest of the retail box we installed lights that use 25% less power than the competitor and have significantly less glare - making for a better experience for customers. The lights are controlled by wireless daylight sensors and subtly increase and decrease their output according to ambient light levels coming in through the skylights.

An additional benefit of reducing the amount of power being used by lighting is the improvement in the air conditioning load. The air conditioning is not fighting to take the lighting heat out of the building in the warmer months  

We then completed the spaces above the tills, spent way too long, and too late (thanks again Ian!) getting the lights in the entrance right, took a playground apart to get to the most difficult ones and then gave the outside of the building a birthday by improving the signage and wall lighting around the building a refit with ultra efficient flood lights.

Outcome‍

The combination of ultra efficient, long life lights and wireless controls means this project is one of the most energy efficient lighting projects while still providing a significant lift in the amount of light levels in the building. This means a significant reduction in carbon emissions, 710 tonnes, over the life of the lights.