Case Study - 65 Southwark Street LED Refurbishment
The extensive refurbishment of the Harlequin Building, 65 Southwark Street, back in 2012, was supplied by FTF Group® with their ‘Slim Line’ Active Multi-Service Chilled Beams (MSCBs) with seamless T5 lamps integrated within the extruded polycarbonate side pods.
Undergoing a full internal and external redevelopment of the post-war 1960s office commercial building, the interior was stripped back to its original frames and transformed into a modern mixed-use development, with the addition of two new floors and bringing a Grade A office interior to fit with modern office requirements.
Creating Class A facilities in the area the redevelopment helped contribute to the rehabilitation of the Bankside area of London’s Southbank and went on to achieve the highly regarded BREAAM rating of ‘Excellent’.
In August 2023, the production of T5 lamps became prohibited by EU markets and was shortly after enforced in the UK as of February 2024. Aiming to move towards a more sustainable and efficient lighting solution, LED lighting emerged as the superior solution against the no longer required fluorescent lamps.
LED Lighting Replacement
As a result of these new regulations, in 2023, FTF Group® was contacted to upgrade the luminaires in the MSCBs that they previously supplied to 65 Southwark Street from T5 Lamp lighting to more energy-efficient and longer-lasting LED Lighting.
This site photograph shows:
- Removed extruded polycarbonate lighting diffuser for reuse after upgrade from T5 lamps to the LED light source
- Removed existing T5 gear tray and ballasts to provide clear space for new Frenger LED gear tray (Drivers & LED strip factory fitted and factory tested by Frenger)
The replacement process has been designed with ease of installation and flexibility at the forefront of the retro fit LED upgrades. This has been achieved by simplifying the installation method, allowing for all new electronics (drivers, LED strips etc) to be factory assembled and factory tested as a complete upgrade unit. Installation guides are supplied with the replacement lighting upgrade kits with instructions bespoke to the individual project as most projects are different in design at the end.
Previously fitted with extruded polycarbonate lighting side profiles, on the 65 Southwark Street project, it was decided that the new LED light source would be integrated into the existing and reused extruded polycarbonate side profiles of the MSCB units.
Refurbishment Process
Starting the refurbishment process involved producing brand new replacement lighting internals (gear trays and LED reflector trays), which are bespoke manufactured, and factory assembled in FTF Group’s® UK Technical Facility (using First Tier LED electronic components) before factory testing and certifying each LED upgrade unit.
All-purpose manufactured MSCB gear trays and LED reflector trays are fully wired, factory tested and certified in-house before packaging ready on-site ‘Plug & Play’ installation. .
Brand-new replacement internals consist of FTF Group® assembled First Tier LED strip boards mounted and factory wired to LED reflector trays, which are tested and certified at FTF Group's® before packaging-ready for onsite ‘Plug & Play’ installation.
The LED internal luminaires incorporate Phillips Zhaga compliant LED lighting, which has been extensively tested and developed in conjunction with FTF Group’s® Chilled Beams to enable active cooling of the LED boards to achieve greater life expectancy.
The LED boards utilised are low voltage LED boards, totally integrated within the Frenger® luminaire, powered by an integral DALI Phillips Xitanium LED Driver which provides high reliability, flicker and noise-free amplitude dimming (AM), reduced ripple current and reduced thermal derating. The FTF Group® lighting solution is also available with optional emergency conversion.
The new packaged LED lighting gear trays were sent to the site to replace the existing T5 lighting gear trays previously factory-fitted on the MSCB units on the original project in 2012.
Lighting Testing
FTF Group’s® technical facilities located at Pride Park, Derby, have in-house lighting facilities which have two Photometric test laboratories, one is used to evaluate the lighting performance characteristics. One lab is used to determine the Polar Curve of the LED luminaires for the MSCB units and the other is used for luminaire testing in an integration chamber to establish the efficacy/ LOR (Light Output Ratio).
To assess the efficacy of the luminaire it is a requirement to compare the performance of the luminaire against a calibrated light source for absolute output. The integration chamber is used to measure the total light output of a luminaire.
This is done by comparing the total light output from the luminaire to a calibrated absolute source and using an auxiliary lamp to measure the light absorbed by the fitting as well.
The photometric lab is used to obtain values of light intensity distribution from the luminaire. This is used to mathematically model the lighting distribution otherwise known as the Polar Curve for the luminaire. .
These light intensity distributions are used to mathematically model the lighting distribution of a particular luminaire. This distribution along with the luminaire’s efficacy allows for the generation of an EULUMDAT file which is an industry-standard electronic file format. This EULUMDAT file allows lighting designers to add FTF Group’s® Luminaires into their lighting calculations, along with helping FTF Group’s® in-house lighting engineers to produce MSCB lighting layouts and calculations in Relux.
How can FTF Group® help?
FTF Group® offers the ability to upgrade previously manufactured existing lighting profiles from T5 Lamps to the more efficient and sustainable LED lighting solution, allowing for the same lighting profile optic to be reused (in this case study extruded square edge polycarbonate), or if required FTF Group® can also carry out a complete retrofit of the lighting profile on the Multi-Service Chilled Beam to one of the new lighting profile designs such as extruded bullnose polycarbonate or multi-layered micro prismatic lighting profiles with extruded aluminium satin anodised frames.
To find out more read FTF Group’s® T5 Lighting Replacement article
You can learn more about the products FTF Group® has to offer by visiting their products page or read more articles about the international projects FTF Group® has supplied on their latest news page. Alternatively, you can contact their UK Head Office on +44(0)1332 295 678 or sales@frenger.co.uk.