LUX
RETAIL SPECIAL
MARCH 2015 | ISSUE 43 | www.luxmagazine.co.uk | www.luxreview.com
Sure, it can save you money, but can better lighting really make you money?
‘‘
Matalan’s a budget retailer, so we look at getting the best value for your money”
TRIED & TESTED: SPOTLIGHTS
PLUS »
Lux puts 14 new LED spotlights through their paces
O LIGHTS THAT TRACK WHERE YOU ARE O COLOUR TECHNOLOGIES OF THE FUTURE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF
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Create spaces your
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This one-day event is suitable for those in the retail, leisure and hospitality industry with job titles including estates managers, facilities managers, property managers, energy managers, consulting engineers and designers.
THURSDAY 12 MARCH 2015 CAVENDISH CONFERENCE CENTRE, LONDON, UK Organised by
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Lighting for Retail and Hospitality
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customers will love! Return custom is crucial for retail, hotel and restaurants – and the right lighting is the easiest way to achieve it. In this special conference, we’ll show you how to use light to enhance brand values, create customer engagement and boost sales. You’ll learn: O Why colour rendering is crucial …and how some high-street names are getting it wrong O How to build a brand How Pizza Express, Holiday Inn and Hollister reinforce their image O What are the easy wins to cut energy The simple changes that can make big savings O How smart lighting can boost sales Recent research shows how to influence the sale
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Creative freedom. LIGHT FIELDS evolution with tunableWhite technology – By extending the luminaire range, Zumtobel now offers a customised lighting solution that can be adjusted to personal preferences and tasks at hand whilst at the same time reducing complexity for the designers. TunableWhite technology allows flexible adjustment to all different room layouts for the users’ needs and to changes associated with different times of day and seasons.
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EDITOR’S COMMENT 05
What about the bottom line?
ROBERT BAIN EDITOR
W
KATHRINE ANKER DEPUTY EDITOR
elcome to this special edition of Lux, looking at one of the most exciting areas in lighting right now: retail. Stunning new technologies are emerging in retail lighting, massive LED rollouts are underway, and there’s a renewed focus on customer experience as bricks-and-mortar shops seek to compete with the internet. This sector-focused special edition is part of our new way of doing things at Lux. Our readers tell us they want information targeted to their sector, so that’s what we’re doing. Our website, Luxreview.com, has been expanded to cover 10 lighting sectors, letting you focus on what matters to you. Luxreview.com is now the main home of Lux: it’s where you’ll find all the latest breaking news, exclusive analysis, standout case studies, product reviews, practical advice and video reports. Sign up to our sector-focused newsletters to get regular email updates (there’s one specifically on retail and hospitality, as well as regional ones for the UK, Australia, and the Middle East). But don’t worry, print’s not dead yet. This is the second of six special editions we’re publishing this year. Future issues will turn the spotlight on sectors including transport, industrial and workplace lighting (see right). In this issue, we’ve got case studies from retailers including Matalan, H&M and Adidas, the lowdown on how LED lighting is helping create super-accurate positioning systems in
ALAN TULLA TECHNICAL EDITOR
MARK HALPER ONLINE NEWS EDITOR
RAY MOLONY PUBLISHER
GORDON ROUTLEDGE CONTRIBUTOR
DAVE TILLEY CONTRIBUTOR
LIZ PECK CONTRIBUTOR
Cover: Can lighting boost sales? See page 44
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stores, and a look at the economics of rolling out low-energy lights. Plus we’ve reviewed 14 of the latest and greatest LED spotlights for retail applications. On page 44 we ask if lighting can boost sales. This is one of those perennial questions that we’ll probably never hear the end of. We know that lighting can save money (see page 90), and the latest digital lighting technologies can even enable brand new services (see page 95). But can better lighting in itself help you sell more stuff? Various people have had a stab at working this out, and our feature looks at what they’ve found. Personally, I find attempts to quantify this sort of thing a bit disheartening. Why should we need to put a number on the value of light? After all, anyone who’s reading this magazine who doesn’t already believe that better lighting is good for retail is probably in the wrong job. And if you’re looking for ways to win over your clients or your CFO to the idea that lighting is worth spending money on, don’t hold your breath waiting for the proof to turn up in a spreadsheet. Show them some installations and let them see for themselves what light can achieve. Enjoy the issue.
Upcoming Lux specials Office, healthcare and education – April Lighting technology – May Transport, outdoor and industrial – June LuxLive preview – October
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– We don’t need proof light boost sales, we love it anyway ROBERT BAIN Editor robert.bain@luxmagazine.co.uk 020 3283 4387 07720 677 538
PETER ROWLEDGE Commercial director peter.rowledge@luxmagazine.co.uk 020 3283 4387 07740 110261
JAMES POUNTNEY Sector marketing specialist (OEM, controls, emergency) james.pountney@luxmagazine.co.uk 020 3283 4387
KATHRINE ANKER Deputy editor k.anker@luxmagazine.co.uk 020 3283 4387
ROBERTA BONTEMPO Sector marketing specialist (retail, hospitality and leisure, residential) roberta.bontempo@luxmagazine.co.uk 020 3283 4387
MIRIAM HIER Events manager miriam.hier@luxmagazine.co.uk 07882 224682
RAY MOLONY Publisher ray.molony@luxmagazine.co.uk 020 3283 4387 07834 990577
ANDREW BOUSFIELD Sector marketing specialist (industrial, outdoor, transport) andrew.bousfield@luxmagazine.co.uk 07713 567290
JUDY KENNY Art editor e: judy.kenny@luxmagazine.co.uk 020 3283 4387
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06 IN THIS ISSUE
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IN THIS ISSUE 07
Meet the man behind Matalan’s LED revolution Page 26 www.luxreview.com
08 IN THIS ISSUE
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IN THIS ISSUE 09
Lux checks out the lighting at Adidas’ flagship store in Beijing Page 53 www.luxreview.com
10 IN THIS ISSUE
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IN THIS ISSUE 11
The San Francisco bookshop where the lights talk to you Page 95 www.luxreview.com
12 CONTENTS
53
69
31
Issue 02 2015 Features
News and views News Your views Ray Molony Gordon Routledge Interview: Rick Marshall Interview: Mark McKenzie Named and shamed Batwing
16 18 22 24 26 28 102 122
RETAIL LIGHTING TRENDS 14 Find out what will influence retail lighting in 2015 OPINION: WILLIAM RHODES
20
Market research indicates that LEDs might not always be the best commercial option
OPINION: MARTYN WHERRY
20
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MARK MCKENZIE COLES, AUSTRALIA
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28
21 Retailers should learn to trust finance schemes, says MD of Greenlight Lighting Solutions
RETAIL SECTOR OVERVIEW
44 Manufacturers and designers would love to prove to retailers that a lighting upgrade will boost sales
CONFERENCE PREVIEW: RETAIL AND HOSPITALITY LIGHTING
50
Work in the retail or hospitality sectors? Don’t miss our conference in London on 12 March
Luxonic director mulls the possibility of working more closely with retail store designers
OPINION: BOB HALL
If we save an hour per store per year in maintenance, it soon adds up”
COVER STORY LIGHTING AND RETAIL SALES
32
PROJECT: ADIDAS
PROJECT: HARDY AMIES
The store experience has never been more important, and lighting has a vital role to play
Tailor’s flagship store uses LEDs to update its brand – an eclectic fusion of old and new
COLOUR
PROJECTS ROUNDUP
38 Does the rise and rise of LEDs mean we should rethink the way we evaluate colour quality?
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The sportswear giant’s largest store is using lighting to differentiate its brands
A selection of the latest retail projects, with an emphasis on car showrooms
58
63
CONTENTS 13
78
95 82
38 Hands on PROJECT: H&M MELBOURNE 69 H&M arrives down under, and its first store boasts LED lighting with sophisticated controls BRANDING WITH LIGHT
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Use light to make your premises stand out
THE DARK SIDE
82
Hollister is a retailer that has embraced the power of darkness to sell products
CONTROLS IN RETAIL
85
Sam Woodward bemoans the gulf between haves and have-nots in retail lighting control
INDOOR POSITIONING
95 Retailers just can’t wait to track your every move in their stores, and the lighting’s going to help…
Design clinic: retail display area Design clinic: retail car park Lighting economist Liz Peck on rules and regs Reviewed: spotlights
74 76 90 98 106
Products Jargonbuster Videos Upcoming events
113 116 118 120
Reviewed: spotlights
106
RULES AND REGS: LED TUBES
100 Lux technical editor Alan Tulla weighs in on the new standard for LED retrofit tubes
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14 TRENDS
8
big trends in retail lighting
Building brands, driving sales, controlling costs, and preserving the all-important ‘look and feel’… who said retail lighting was easy? Here are the eight biggest trends influencing retail lighting in 2015
1
ENERGY-SAVING LED RETROFITS
Retail was one of the first sectors to start dabbling in LED lighting, because of the big energy savings that can be made by replacing electricity-guzzling halogen spotlights. Major retailers are announcing big new rollouts nearly every day: Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Next, Walmart… but it’s still a small minority of stores that have switched to the new technology, and it’s mainly the bigger chains with significant resources and economies of scale behind them. In time, though, it seems inevitable that LED will be everywhere. OUTLOOK: Loads of shops have already gone LED but there are plenty left – especially the smaller ones
2
1
2
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BRANDING WITH LIGHT
With stiff competition from online shopping, bricks-and-mortar retailers are having to reinvent their stores as a place where consumers can experience the brands and the product. And they’re learning to use light as one of the most
3
effective ways to become distinctive and recognisable – each in their own way. From Hollister to Primark, light is becoming part of what makes brands what they are. OUTLOOK: This is a trend the lighting business is well placed to cash in on
3
NEW COLOUR TECHNOLOGY
Colour has always been key in retail lighting. Many buyers still assume that going LED means compromising on colour quality; but if you avoid the cheap rubbish, it doesn’t have to be so. Halogen has long been the benchmark for colour quality, but in fact many LED products are now outperforming halogen and the latest colour technologies use specially tuned light to keep whites clean while making certain colours even more vivid (see page 38). OUTLOOK: LED spent a long time proving its adequacy. Get set for it to start fulfilling its real potential
4
LIGHTS THAT DO NEW THINGS
What if lights could guide you around a shop and send you special offers
4
TRENDS 15
when you’re looking at particular items? Well, now they can, thanks to superaccurate positioning systems powered by LED lights (see page 95). It’s done by modulating light in a way the human eye can’t see, but that can be picked up by the cameras in shoppers’ mobile phones. The light from each luminaire carries a unique code, which the phone uses to pinpoint its position. EldoLED is already installing its Lux Award-winning positioning system at retail sites in the US, GE has several trials under way at retail sites in the US and Europe, and Philips is trialling its system at a museum in the Netherlands. OUTLOOK: We’ve yet to see it in a real-life retail application, but we’re very excited about it
THE FLIGHT TO QUALITY
5
We’ve all seen heartbreaking examples of poor-quality LEDs in retail. A well-meaning store manager has tried to save money on energy and maintenance, and now the shop is dim, all the clothes look washed out and the customers feel like zombies. Those days are coming to an end: the wild west of the LED market is being tamed, and even those buyers who had their fingers burned (literally or figuratively) in the early days are trying again, with a renewed focus on look and feel. OUTLOOK: Some scepticism remains, but LED is winning new friends daily
OVERCOMING THE FEAR
6
Retailers can’t afford to get the look and feel wrong, so LED rollouts tend to be nerve-wracking. There is always a certain risk when you invest in new technology. And with no real standards for LED lighting products, we might just have to embrace
5
that risk. With warranties, funding and improved quality, it’s getting easier, but there’s still inertia – partly the result of bad experiences, uncertainty or mistrust over exaggerated energy-saving and lifetime claims made by manufacturers. OUTLOOK: Lighting refits are never simple, but more and more people are at it, giving buyers confidence – and it’s getting easier by the day
7
JUSTIFYING THE SPEND
It’s easy enough to prove the environmental benefits of an LED upgrade, but sadly that’s not always enough to persuade the finance department to approve the upfront expenses associated with a new lighting scheme. Imagine how much easier it would be if you could prove the correlation between better lighting and increased sales. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy to separate the lighting from the myriad of other variables that influence people’s shopping decisions (see page 44). As Simon Waldron, Sainsbury’s electrical engineering manager, told Lux: ‘The controllability of variables is missing. We need a standardised approach to proving the link between lighting and sales which at the moment can’t be applied.’
warranty promises doesn’t go very far to resolving a client’s immediate problems. If your lighting installation doesn’t work, it’s not much help to ship them all back to China and wait for new ones. So clients are pushing for their own warranty terms. Like Sainsbury’s, which told manufacturers supplying kit for its ongoing LED rollout what their warranties had to say. OUTLOOK: As trust and quality improve, and the market becomes accustomed to longerlasting products, this issue may fade. But for now, manufacturers should expect to be kept on their toes
7
OUTLOOK: Don’t hold your breath for a concrete link between lighting and improved sales… but that won’t stop people looking
8
CLIENTS ARE SMARTENING UP
8
Manufacturers have tried to fight LED specticism with product warranties. But the terms are usually written to protect them just as much as their clients – defining and limiting what they have to do if something goes wrong. In a lot of cases, what a
6
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16 NEWS
TECH
GOVERNMENT
Simplify ‘unwieldy’ energy efficiency policy, retailers say British retailers are being held back from making energy-efficiency improvements by ‘an overly complex, unwieldy and misaligned policy landscape’, according to the British Retail Consortium. There is widespread confusion and disengagement with energy efficiency, says the organisation, which has set up an online ‘energy hub’ to provide information and advice to help retailers cut energy use by 25 per cent over the next five years. It said: ‘With energy costs expected to increase significantly over the next five years, greater energy efficiency is vital for the long-term growth and viability of the industry, not to mention helping the fight against climate change. The BRC believes that a clearer and more accessible policy landscape can deliver great potential in
Retailers need help getting energy use down
energy efficiency for the future.’ The BRC said retailers are ‘leading the way’ on efficiency, with a 33 per cent cut in carbon emissions in stores between 2005 and 2012 and a 50 per cent drop in energy use in buildings based on 2005 levels.
CONTROLS
French night light ban ‘not enforced’ The French government is failing to enforce its ban on leaving lights on in unoccupied shops and office at night, according to dark sky association ANPCEN. The association has been keeping tabs on the effect of the law since it came into force in April 2013. In its latest report it says progress has been made in some places, but that the picture remains patchy, and that there is ‘no monitoring’ by central and local government. ANPCEN said that Paris, Lille, Angers and Saumur had made good progress, while Lyon, Chambery and St Junien ‘could do more’. Some municipalities are saving tens of thousands of euros a year on electricity as a result of turning lights off at night.
Small shops urged to go LED Small and medium-sized retailers are being urged to make the switch to LED lighting, in a campaign by the British Retail Consortium, with backing from the Lighting Industry Association. The LIA said: ‘While there is no doubt the message is understood very well by the major retailers, the independent setor is slower to adopt this technology and the BRC is concerned that its members are missing out on huge energy savings.’
OLED’s future looking shaky Some manufacturers have high hopes for organic LEDs or OLEDs – but the future is looking increasingly difficult. Philips announced quietly that it is selling off its OLED division, while Korean OLED leader LG Chem has had to delay the release of a much vaunted new panel that was set to pass the 100lm/W mark for luminous efficacy. OLEDs are like LEDs, but instead of emitting light from a dot, they emit light from a surface. Not only do they make nice diffuse light, they can also be made to appear reflective or transparent when turned off, and some of them are even flexible. The problem is, OLED is still far more expensive and less efficient than LED, and some of its touted benefits are still confined to the lab. Meanwhile, companies like DesignLED are using LEDs and clever optics to achieve right now much of what OLED promises to do in future. OLEDs have become popular in automotive lighting and for niche applications and bespoke designer fittings, but it’s looking more and more like they’ll be staying in those niches for some time.
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NEWS 17
EUROPE
Row rages over delay to Europe’s halogen ban As the European Commission prepares to vote on whether to delay a planned ban on halogen lamps, a row has broken out between the traditional lighting industry, which wants a stay of execution for halogen, and critics who want to get rid of the inefďŹ cient technology as soon as possible. Halogen lamps are essentially incandescents with halogen gases added to make them more powerful, more efďŹ cient and longer lasting. The industry has long promoted them for their ‘eco’ beneďŹ ts, but they’re actually only slightly more efďŹ cient than the conventional incandescent lamps that Europe has already banned. And compared to CFL and LED, halogen is nowhere near as efďŹ cient – which is why the Commission decided six years ago to phase it out in 2016. Now the lighting industry is campaigning for a stay of execution: trade body LightingEurope wants to push the halogen phase-out back to 2020. The organisation says that, although LED is clearly the future, the balance of quality, performance and price won’t be ready to meet mass consumer demand for ďŹ ve years. But critics say that’s nonsense, and that the ban needs to happen as soon as possible to get carbon emissions down and drive change to more efďŹ cient lighting. Some suggest the big companies are simply trying to hold on to their old business model (sell someone a lamp that doesn’t last very long, then sell them another one) for as long as they can, while they make the difďŹ cult transition to LEDs. Fred Bass of LED specialist Megaman says the law risks losing credibility if it is delayed to suit the industry. But Diederik de Stoppelaar of LightingEurope says LED products must be ready for mass adoption, and ‘we’re still not there’. Green groups and the new breed of allLED lighting companies say that the big
Lighting by numbers
ÂŁ4.1bn ($6.3bn)
THE AMOUNT BRITISH RETAILERS COULD SAVE BY CUTTING ENERGY BY 25% OVER FIVE YEARS, ACCORDING TO THE BRC
ÂŁ250m ($385m)
manufacturers who are still invested in outdated technologies need to man up and move with the times. The ban on halogen, they say, can’t come too soon, and LED products are more than ready to ďŹ ll the void. Critics also pointed to a report by a group of European governments and campaigning bodies, which found that halogen (rather than far more efďŹ cient CFL or LED) was the most popular replacement among consumers for incandescent lamps – meaning the energy savings from ditching incandescent were only modest. Yet another reason to ban halogen now, they argued. Meanwhile a group of green campaigners complained that manufacturers shouldn’t be allowed to label their halogen products as ‘eco’ – because since the ban on incandescent, they’re actually the least efďŹ cient type of lamp you can buy. This got a mixed response from lamp manufacturers: Osram conceded and said it would stop labelling halogens as ‘eco’, but Philips is carrying on, despite halogens having only a ‘D’ energy rating. O Hear more from the two opposing sides in this debate on our Your Views page, overleaf
THE AMOUNT BRITISH RETAILERS COULD SAVE BY GOING LED, ACCORDING TO OUR LIGHTING ECONOMIST’S CALCULATION (see page 90)
100,000 THE NUMBER OF LUMINAIRES THAT SAINSBURY’S IS REPLACING WITH LED AS PART OF ITS LUX AWARD-WINNING CARBON REDUCTION PROJECT
400 THE NUMBER OF M&S SIMPLY FOOD STORES AND FOOD HALLS GOING LED
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18 YOUR VIEWS
Europe’s halogen ban: should it be delayed?
PICTURES
Eco or not eco? Lux asked the Lighting Talk group on LinkedIn if more lamp makers should follow Osram and stop labelling halogens ‘eco’ now that they’re the least efficient type of lamp on sale in Europe.
Lux spoke to two of the leading voices on each side of the debate. Here’s what they told us.
YES! ‘It’s all about doing something that is smart, that is not going to hurt the consumer. I think we have learned from the incandescent ban some years ago and I think the consumer is not ready to completely let go of what he or she understands. Lamps have a certain shape, and consumers are used to seeing that shape, which LEDs don’t have. Then they read the packaging and see lumens and watts, lumens per watt… The only thing they know is 60W, 75W, 100W. We must come up with lamps that are comparable. And halogen lamps, for the time being, are the best comparable solution. Then there’s the price, which for LED is 10 times higher. We’re saying, give the industry time to come up with a solution that the consumer accepts. We’ve had a few years but we’re still not there.’ DIEDERIK DE STOPPELAAR LightingEurope
London’s Regent Street is a great example of how lighting can lift a shopping area and create a really exciting place to be. The unified architectural lighting transforms the street when the sun goes down Photo: Brian Obert
NO! ‘I’m very much on the side of no delay at all. Megaman has been making low-energy lamps since we started, 20 years back. Almost all of our business is in LED. So to be fair my perspective is just go for the ban because obviously it suits my business. But if you look at the bigger picture, it makes no sense to me to delay when LED technology has moved at such
PRESIDENT’S BRIEFING
a pace compared with all the market predictions. The price is half what it was expected to be at this stage. To consider pushing out the ban, it’s just nonsensical. It was such a landmark decision. Then to say, “well the industry doesn’t really like it, we’re going to push the dates out”, I think the directives will lose their credibility.’ FRED BASS Megaman
‘It’s unfortunate that the halogen source so beloved by lighting designers happens also to be the least efficient. It’s also encouraging that Osram made the right move by removing misleading claims. Any lighting designer worth their salt today should know that many secondgeneration LED products are far superior to halogen in all respects – including colour, light distribution, life, and efficiency.’ CLIFTON LEMON Marketing consultant
‘I’m trying to imagine the worst sort of greenwash advert. The picture would have a green frame with lots of foliage and random recyclable symbols. The text: “Our new green LED fitting protects our children’s prospects through sustainable, innovative upgradeable engineering. We have set up a viable and progressive green factory using
ALASDAIR McRURY VP AND MD, EUROPEAN OPERATIONS, HOLOPHANE EUROPE AND PRESIDENT, LIGHTING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION
Can lighting really do this?
D
igital lighting has joined the ranks of smart systems, and is being used in ways we never thought possible a few years ago. Lighting gives us the potential to create digital lighting networks that let us use light in new ways, bringing benefits to owners, users and consumers. Here are a few examples. We can check parking space availability and traffic data, helping people and vehicles move more efficiently. We can have lighting that adapts to the changing weather or for security, together with live and localised traffic information. Asset management, energy reporting and tuning our lighting to the tasks we
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are performing is possible, and we can tune our lighting to different colour temperatures, creating a different ambience in a space. Boosting city-wide Wi-Fi signals is also possible through smart lighting networks. And we can set the lighting ambience in our homes as we travel to and from them. The way we shop will be revolutionised by the services we have available now and in the future through lighting. For example, location services for shoppers are being tested by some of the big supermarkets. This can give retailers and customers immense benefits, making shopping more efficient and more fun while stimulating revenue growth.
We are seeing a mass migration to digital lighting in the retail environment to create well-lit, energy efficient spaces where customers want to spend more time and more money. Things are moving so fast and the potential for lighting to further enhance the experience for consumers, save energy for the owners and deliver data is boundless. The younger generation will adopt new digital technology, and it is up to us in the lighting industry to ensure we are involved in deploying the technology in cities, businesses, offices and the home. We are indeed expanding the boundaries of lighting.
YOUR VIEWS 19
renewable energy to produce healthy, non-toxic upcycled luminaires. Progressive, ethical and thoughtful design enable us to secure the future by using natural materials and non-toxic processes.” Sounds like a Tony Blair speech.’ WILLIAM MARQUES CU Phosco Lighting
‘“Eco” is about the total supply chain, and I’d venture to guess we don’t know the real cost of LEDs either, with rare earth phosphors scraped from the ground in China. Then there’s the environmental cost of the electronics. And fixed artificial lighting is being increasingly linked to life-shortening ailments that have a huge societal and environmental cost. We must dig deeper and build smarter products.’ DALE DELL’ARIO Ario Lighting
‘Yes Clifton, the transition of products to the next generation I believe is a key marketing flaw. Maybe in the initial changeover a new product has “eco” or cost-saving benefits compared with the old. By the third generation or variation, the differential of a second generation’s “eco” credentials must be obsolete.’ DAMIAN CLARKE CILU Services
HAVE YOUR SAY editor@luxreview.com LinkedIn linkd.in/lightingtalk
WHAT’S HOT ON ENERGY vs DESIGN Inessa D @inessa_d_a Loving @paulnulty bashing @Lux_magazine, @sainsburys etc 4 equating good lighting w/low-energy lighting #LightSchool Gordon Routledge @gordonroutledge @inessa_d_a @paulnulty @Lux_magazine Do you choose your supermarket on the basis of lighting or everyday low prices? Lux magazine @Lux_magazine @inessa_d_a @paulnulty Does he prefer highenergy lighting design? Paul Nulty @paulnulty @Lux_magazine @inessa_d_a No. Just keen to see emphasis on human factors – not energy as we’re removing needs of humans in favour of energy. Paul Nulty @paulnulty @Lux_magazine @inessa_d_a Energy saving should be part of bigger story. LEDs don’t make for a good lighting scheme. Application of them does. Lux magazine @Lux_magazine @paulnulty Completely agree that energy is just one part of the story – must be balanced with light quality and human factors
CONVERSATION OF THE MONTH: CAN GOOD RETAIL LIGHTING BOOST SALES? ‘Yes’ is the short answer. We had always suspected that lighting could improve sales, but it wasn’t until I had a client who owned two competing outlets located diagonally opposite each other that we had definitive proof. Our client had trading history for both outlets for a few years, and only had me change the lighting in one outlet. We had empirical data showing not less than a 27 per cent increase in sales due entirely to improved lighting. Lance Stewart, Creative Lighting Right (not good) lighting can boost sales along with other tricks. Starting with appropriate balance between general and accent lighting and ending up with special lamps and filters for meat, bread, vegetables, and so on. Seeing how much time and money retail companies invest in lighting, I have no doubt that it pays back. Simas R, Gaudre The energy and cost savings are clear but the extra benefits such as improved sales are a real draw to retailers. Marks and Spencer said recently that it monitored sales before and after an LED refit and sales improved. Peter Hunt, LightingEurope
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It is very visible in the jewellery business, the right exposure of stones is a key to successful selling. In retail the best thing to do before buying lighting is to go to high tech campuses and see the expositions with different light configurations. Paulina Pajak, Ikea
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O Gordon Routledge picks up the energy vs design debate in his column on page 24
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20 OPINION
Opinion
MARTYN WHERRY DIRECTOR LUXONIC LIGHTING
WILLIAM RHODES RESEARCH MANAGER, LIGHTING AND LEDS , IHS
Should retailers buy into LEDs?
Let’s work more closely with retail designers
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typical supermarket chain has a profit margin of less than two per cent. Keeping running costs down can mean the difference between success and failure. So why have we not seen the floodgates open and a stream of retailers installing LED lighting? According to new information from IHS, about 1.7 billion luminaires were installed in shops around the world in 2014. Fluorescent luminaires had the largest installed base, representing more than a third (38 per cent) of all luminaires. Initial costs for fluorescent technologies may be low, and they are reasonably energy efficient, but finding the upfront capital to invest in more efficient lighting can be a challenge. Some chains have If the ROI announced that they are replacing their current lighting systems with for LED systems because they have been able won’t be achieved LEDs to prove a satisfactory return on for five or 10 investment (ROI). If the ROI for LED lighting years, the savings systems won’t be achieved for five do not stack up” or 10 years, as it may not be when replacing fluorescent technologies, the savings do not always stack up: the store will probably be refurbished anyway before the LEDs have paid for themselves. There are, of course, other factors that retailers should consider. Many retailers demand high lux levels to compensate for a lack of directional lighting. LEDs are intrinsically directional, which means installers don’t need such high lux levels all over when using a directional LED solution. Light quality is another factor that retailers should consider. It is important not to sacrifice the quality of lighting in a shop in favour of lower energy consumption, so retailers need to take care when selecting luminaires. But it is difficult for the stakeholders involved to make a connection between the performance of the store and the lighting used. Despite the many benefits of LEDs, the speed of transition from fluorescent might depend on the way in which the technology is implemented, rather than the technology itself.
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ighting in any environment is an essential part of the design process, but in retail it can contribute to the difference between a successful and profitable business and one that just mingles with the competition. More often than not, lighting manufacturers are kept well away from in-house retail design teams. This is disappointing because the UK has a phenomenal lighting industry with some incredibly knowledgeable people who could greatly add to the discussions at the earliest stage. Having met some retail design people and spent time walking around stores with them, it is clear that they know what they want to see, but understanding how to achieve this is often outside their field of expertise. This isn’t a derogatory comment in any way, it’s simply a fact that these talented people clearly understand the retail space and how it relates to their customers, but all too often lack experience in lighting technology terms that would help them understand the effect that different light sources and systems will have on the finishes and design they have spent so much time and, indeed, money on. As a manufacturer of luminaires and control systems working in the retail sector, we frequently have a great relationship with the in-house engineering teams coming up with solutions that we all believe will Lighting work well. However these proposals manufacturers are then all too often questioned by are often kept the retail designers because they feel the solution doesn’t fit the ‘look well away from and feel’ they are trying to create. in-house retail Earlier interaction between lighting design teams” engineers and retail designers would improve the communication of what each party is trying to achieve. The UK’s lighting industry is crying out to be involved with the best retail businesses so we can offer both retail design and engineering teams a wealth of experience and advice at the earliest stages of the design process to create the most effective retail lighting solutions that enhance products and attract customers, and ultimately increase sales.
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Have faith in finance schemes
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he British Retail Consortium’s latest push to promote energy efficiency in retail has highlighted the problem of mistrust when it comes to investing in energysaving measures. The initiative – designed to cut carbon emissions by 25 per cent in the sector by 2020 – highlights scepticism over finance schemes as one of the reasons there has been so little take-up of energy-efficient upgrades in retail. A suite of ‘complex and inaccessible’ energy policies has been pegged as the underlying reason for hesitancy, not to In retail, mention competing budget allowances and promises that the motivation sound too good to be true. for upgrades is Any retailer that has made it almost always through the recent economic crisis intact will only have one goal increasing sales in mind: sales. Energy-efficient rather than upgrades come second to shop cutting costs” refits and measures to improve the positioning of products. When we raise the idea of lighting finance schemes with customers, we try to tune into their motivations for upgrading. In the retail sector, this is nearly always increasing sales, rather than reducing energy or maintenance costs. We find that clients can be wary of finance schemes that sound ‘too good to be true’. But the truth is, many of these schemes really are as good as they look. Our lighting finance scheme, for instance, allows clients to pay for the cost of their upgrade through monthly payments which are outweighed by the savings made on energy bills. Schemes like this are an easy way for organisations to reduce bills and improve working environments through better lighting. Companies that offer finance for energy-efficiency upgrades need to tune into the priorities of the organisations they are selling to. Without an industry-wide rethink of this approach, uptake of finance schemes will continue to be slow and we’ll be wasting opportunities to grow sales, improve working environments and reduce energy consumption.
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BOB HALL MANAGING DIRECTOR GREENLITE LIGHTING SOLUTIONS
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OPINION 21
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22 OPINION RAY MOLONY
Ray Molony The retailers that are getting it right Ray Molony, publisher, Lux magazine
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hat is the single biggest influencer on a So who’s getting it right? Retailers that have great teenage girl’s shopping habits? Brand stores with distinctive interiors and lighting that loyalty, store environment, product complements and underpins their online offers are, quality, ethical provenance, the lighting? None of to my mind, few and far between. Here’s my top five: these, but hey, you knew that already. Hollister, and its sister brand Abercrombie & No, the candidate for the single biggest influencer Fitch, are awesome marketeers. After all, they’re on teens is a person. Step forward 24-year-old selling fast fashion at a premium price – a nice trick Zoe Elizabeth Sugg from Lacock in Wiltshire. As if you can pull it off. So how do you sell a Californian Zoella, she entertains seven million subscribers to lifestyle in wintry Britain? By micromanaging your her YouTube account with videos on fashion and store environments, right down to looks of the staff – beauty products, and has amassed a staggering sorry, ‘models’ – you employ. Much has been written third of a billion views. Don’t doubt for a moment about the extreme lighting – not least in these pages that this girl can shift product: her recent book, Girl – but the dark, punchy, accent-only scheme puts off Online, achieved the highest first-week sales for a parents and is loved by the kids. debut author since records began. Take that, JK! Niketown was one of the first experiential brands Not only are teenage girls highly on the high street and it’s as good influenced by ‘vloggers’, some today as ever was. The bold, high three-quarters of them prefer to tech (read expensive) fit-outs are Apple’s shop online than in a store. They complemented by crisp, precision stores are are also 65 per cent more likely to lighting by top designers that makes manifestations buy online than on the high street the trainers the heroes. and are also influenced by price, H&M is another high street name of the marque brand, and their friends. that takes its interiors and lighting that imbue the Alison Church of EasyFairs, seriously. There’s no secret sauce here, customers with a which has researched the buying though, just great use of graphics, habits of teens, says these savvy simple wall washing and rock-solid sense of cool” shoppers are forcing marketeers spotlighting of the merchandise. These to rethink their strategy. ‘Ask guys make it look easy. any of them what their favourite brands are, Sky is not a traditional retailer, but its concessions and they will rattle off a list of names their and outlets in the nation’s shopping centres are all parents bank on – Topshop, Zara, New Look, about branding as well as signing up customers to Boots – but what’s more surprising is that its broadband and TV services. Lighting is a key these teenage girls are seeking to purchase component in these dynamic, colourful installations from high-end brands like Space NK, Tiffany & that perfectly reflect the broadcaster’s offer. Co and Chanel.’ However, if there’s one retailer that has the bricksNothing that a parent of a teen girl couldn’t and-clicks balance nailed it’s Apple. These temples have told you. They like their luxury. But what’s to the Word of Jobs are physical manifestations of coming through from this and other research is the marque that imbue the customers with a sense that this generation wants a very different retail of cool. And the large white ceiling light panels look like they could have been designed by Jony Ive and landscape to the one we are used to. So how can retailers respond? There has the team at Palo Alto. been much talk about stores ‘working harder’ But all retailers can use interiors and lighting to and there’s broad agreement that outlets must reinforce what they do. become more experiential and brand reinforcing, It’s ironic, but interiors and lighting are going to rather than a big box to house product. And be more important than ever. Welcome to the postlighting has an obvious role to play in all this. Black Friday, post-Zoella world.
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24 OPINION GORDON ROUTLEDGE
Reality check Lighting designers take on the retail pragmatists Gordon Routledge, lighting expert and publisher of Lux
ux received a bashing from the design they sell the widest range of products to the widest community last month on Twitter. Designers possible range of customers from cradle to grave, say we have shamelessly championed the and operate in a fiercely competitive market. energy-saving revolution in lighting that is LED at Someone aged 70 with failing eyesight would the expense of good lighting design, and cite the struggle to navigate around a dimly lit Hollister, or be mass rollout of LEDs in supermarkets* . likely to pay the price for the privilege. And this is where the design community often Which leads us to the $64,000 question of misses the point. Lux has always been about cutting retail lighting: does lighting influence the sales energy use, celebrating the car park, the warehouse performance of a store? Yes, we have all seen and the hospital corridor – areas that represent 90 examples from the pages of LinkedIn where a new per cent of the world’s lighting-related energy use lighting scheme has doubled sales overnight, but is (we’re also the only lighting magazine in the world the world really this simple? I liked my newly relit that punishes the bad and the failing, and does supermarket for the first few weeks, now I don’t independent product reviews, but notice, and I revert to my normal let’s not labour the point). behaviour. I’ve just got off the train, These unglamorous areas We’re entering I know I need some milk, so I’ll go have for years been left unloved to the closest shop. This change is a new chapter and untouched by the hand of a simply a derivative of the Hawthorne in which retail professional lighting designer, and effect – that we react to change. have carpet bombed illumination Now we are about to enter a lighting is the levels. They could all benefit new chapter in retail lighting, one link between the from better design, but budgets in which the lighting becomes the online world and don’t let you move the fittings or link between the online world and disrupt business. Retrofitted the physical store” the physical store. We are about to assets must earn a living start seeing the rollout of indoor and justify a short payback positioning systems (see page 95) time. In these instances the client has few that let retailers pinpoint you in a store, and tell them choices. Do they sit back and live with high what you’re looking at in real time. This will let them energy and maintenance costs, or opt for interact with you, and tailor the service to match the quick win of a retrofit? what they already know about you. In the case of My local supermarket has recently been luxury retailers, if you are a high net worth individual retrofitted with LED fittings. I could tell the they want to know that you are in the store so they difference as soon as I walked in, it appeared can offer you a personalised service. Supermarkets can make offers related to what they know you buy, brighter and fresher, probably because the or don’t buy. Why offer a two-for-one on a product old louvred fluorescent fittings had gone. Yes they could have realigned the fittings with the they know you buy every week? Much better in the aisles, but then they wouldn’t have been able to longer term to try to make you buy a premium brand do the job in just a few days. Over the past five with a higher margin. years we have conducted numerous roundtable This kind of technology will let retailers test sessions with retailers across the spectrum. different strategies with known individuals and The niche players have it easy, they know the then we may be able to see just how much lighting demographic of their customers well – age range, influences a sale. At this point we may see a spending power and acceptance of technology. supermarket being brave and implementing radical Supermarkets probably have the toughest job, changes to lighting and store layout.
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FOLLOW GORDON ON TWITTER @gordonroutledge AND JOIN US IN THE LIGHTING TALK GROUP ON LINKEDIN AT linkd.in/lightingtalk
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26 WHAT I BELIEVE RICK MARSHALL
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Zarina Holmes
The colours you can bring out with LEDs now are absolutely fantastic”
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WHAT I BELIEVE 27
Rick Marshall M&E manager, Matalan Lighting makes a huge difference to our stores I’m helping to change Matalan’s store format. Basically we want a scheme that is vibrant and different, and lighting can make a massive difference – both aesthetically and practically. No-one has been able to prove it with numbers, but I’m sure a well lit product sells more. Light levels change with the seasons Getting the lighting right is a fine balance. In winter you get products in browns, greens… very dark colours, and the amount of reflected light can drop. In the summer months you’ve got bright colours and the store could look 100 or 200 lx lighter. So you’ve got to balance all that and look at your calibrations. LEDs bring out fantastic colours I’m open to people coming in and offering me different lighting solutions, but at the moment I’m heavily into LEDs. The colours you can bring out with LEDs now are absolutely fantastic. I’m looking at a sample light fitting using an LED chip called the Xicato Vibrancy. If you put that next to a CDM fitting or a CRI 70 LED spotlight it brings the colours out and draws your eye to the products a lot more. We tried it in a bespoke fitting over a jeans bar in our Cardiff store. The Vibrancy chip brings out the rich denim colour and totally sells it. We had to build a decent business case LEDs are coming down in cost, and we’re also very mindful of energy efficiency. Justifying any scheme is always a battle with the finance department, so you have to build a decent business case. We’ve completed an LED scheme in our Cardiff store. We generally project a two-year payback, but Cardiff started to pay back within two or three months. Spotlighting an entire store is hard work We got a concept design company to look at lighting options from different manufacturers. We chose spotlighting as the best option for the Cardiff store. I was heavily involved from the concept stage. Getting the lighting consistent took a lot of hard work, positioning
all the tracks and so on. It took weeks to do one floor, then we replicated that on the other three floors. You use a lot of spotlights. But I’m really proud of that store. We need to get the best value for money We are a budget retailer so we do look at getting the best value for our money. Lumenpulse AlphaLED came up with the spotlights. They were very pleasing aesthetically and within our cost range, but the winning factor was the support and maintenance. The fittings came with a brilliant five-year parts and labour warranty. The Cardiff scheme is automated We’ve got total control. We have stock lighting that switches on a third of the lights at night when we’re bringing in stock. The display window lighting stays on until, say, 11 or 12 o’clock at night on the high street and then turns off. Trade lighting comes on at eight in the morning and stays on throughout our trading hours. Also we have daylight harvesting in the atrium areas, half lights that go down to half level when the light outside is bright enough to replicate what we’ve normally got in there. It’s all fully automated and remotely controlled. We’re tweaking the format Our new Oxford Street store opens in April. Based on our experience in Cardiff, we’re using the same spotlights but with some general lighting at high level. Lumenpulse AlphaLED has developed a fitting for us – it’s basically a high-powered LED strip in an aluminium extrusion. The cost savings are astronomical We are looking to reduce our carbon footprint, and we aim to reduce energy consumption as much as possible in each store. One of the things we’re doing is a flat panel replacement for all our stores with ceilings. We ran a trial in Kidderminster, replacing compact fluorescent 600 x 600 fittings with flat panels, and the cost in energy reduction is astronomical. We normally work on a twoyear payback, but at Kidderminster we projected payback after 14 months. Now we’re rolling this out to another 20 stores.
Rick Marshall is speaking at Lux’s Lighting for Retail and Hospitality conference in London on 12 March, together with the store’s concept manager John Cummings. The event is free for end users of lighting. Head to lightingforretailandhospitality.com to find out more
Lighting for Retail and Hospitality
CONFERENCE 2015
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28 WHAT I BELIEVE MARK McKENZIE, COLES
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Simon Woodcock
With over 700 light bulbs per store, if we save an hour per store per year in maintenance, it soon adds up”
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WHAT I BELIEVE 29
Mark McKenzie Head of facilities maintenance, energy and sustainability, Coles, Australia It’s all about the customer experience I manage the facilities and maintenance for more than 1,600 supermarket and liquor stores across Australia. For us, the customer experience is paramount, so getting the correct lighting is essential and it’s all about ‘tick boxes’. Aisles and fridges have different lighting needs to meat counters, fresh produce areas and the health and beauty sections. You’ve got to consider maintenance Lighting accounts for around 15 per cent of our energy bill so from an energy perspective, we strive for efficiency. But maintenance can also be a big challenge. Coles has a dedicated maintenance crew of around 450 staff across Australia. Every time we send a technician up a ladder it costs money – when they’re up a ladder changing a light bulb, they can’t be working elsewhere. Generally you get three years out of traditional light bulbs, so we look to any way in which we can save money on lighting maintenance; with over 700 light bulbs per store, if we save an hour per store per year in maintenance, it soon adds up. Plus any maintenance being carried out can’t impact on the customer experience – you often can’t change a light bulb or do other maintenance in trading hours and this all adds to the cost, so it takes a lot of juggling. Retrofitting is not just about LED LED lighting is far more efficient from an energy perspective but you have to balance the cost of a retrofit with the return. Our stores are nationwide, so we have to take into consideration the different energy tariffs around the country. Also our stores are very different in size and shape; we have inherited a lot of purchased buildings, and we’re renting some stores. All have different requirements and it can involve negotiating with other parties at times. Our reviews for a retrofit also include labour costs as these can be high. While we primarily look at tariff, payback and economics, we review our stores on an individual basis; what works for one store may not be practical for another. LEDs are challenging fluorescent now A fluoro bulb’s degradation is quicker towards the end of its lifespan so you lose the brightness, while LEDs look brighter for longer. LED technology is moving very quickly and here’s where the debate starts as there could be something better in the pipeline. Ideally we look to install lighting which will have a less than five year payback. We take a staged approach to retrofits We are moving towards a model of being wholly LED, and we are rolling out our retrofits in stages. Three years ago we started our
freezer and deli case lighting retrofit and we have already completed rollouts to fresh produce, bakery, health and beauty sections, freezer rooms and back of house. We have also installed LED lighting in aisles in about 200 stores. This has been a big step and we worked very closely with suppliers to get lights that were compatible with existing fittings as well as being the most cost effective. In 20 stores, we very quickly made the switch to LED on the trading floor and back of house. We can make savings inside and out As well as reviewing our internal lighting, we have been looking at alternative lighting which is just as effective but energy efficient for the external areas of our stores, such as our car parks and signage. This can create other challenges as we sometimes need to work with the developer. We’re looking to use more LED in signage and we’re considering solar power solutions as a viable option for car parks. As an energy-saving and environmentally friendly initiative, we have put some solar panels on the roof on our store in Budgewoi, New South Wales. However even if we had panels covering the whole roof, they still wouldn’t create enough power to run the store and we’d still have to use energy from the grid. Where we have built our own store, we have included skylights to take advantage of natural lighting and we’ve also incorporated intelligent lighting in the store. Even when we build our own store, again, it is still a challenge to make the lighting system commercially viable while maintaining a sustainable practice. We want our products to last For us, the warranty of a product is an area we negotiate with suppliers; while the cost of the tube or fitting is covered, the cost to send someone to repair or change it. So we look for efficient lights which will last the distance and are economically viable. We do consider replacing the whole lighting system, but we often try to look for products which can fit into existing fittings. This makes it far more cost effective. Intelligent lighting is an interesting development One area we are keeping an eye on is intelligent lighting, and we’re currently trialling motion sensors in the back-of-house areas of some stores. Smarter controls do save energy, but balancing this with maintaining the customer experience has to be taken into consideration. Other areas we’re looking at include the examining the lighting being used in peak tariff periods, and we’re also assessing efficient ways to light promotions and special displays. We’re constantly looking at new products and there’s a lot of interesting technology coming out of Europe at the moment.
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SECTOR OVERVIEW RETAIL LIGHTING 31
Brighter prospects
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s if retailers didn’t have enough to worry about. Last year a not entirely welcome US import was introduced to the nation’s shopping calendar: Black Friday. The discounting bunfight – a phrase used advisedly – has been borrowed wholesale from the US, where it ties in with Thanksgiving, but in the UK shoppers managed to add their own twist with much televised footage of fighting in the aisles for the best bargains.
Retail remains a challenging sector but stronger-than-expected sales for 2014 have given the industry a timely boost. Mark Faithfull looks at the ways in which retailers prioritise the store experience while keeping costs down
In search of steady trade to the wall or get snapped up, and 2015 has been no exception, with fashion chain Bank in administration and USC bought out of administration. Department store group Beales is in the midst of a takeover, Evans Cycles is a possible target for Sports Direct and BHS may well go up for sale. Against such a backdrop and the ongoing impact of e-commerce, retailers and shopping centres are investing in making their retail destinations more of an experience, hence the huge rise in food
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Despite enjoying a strong performance across Black Friday and Christmas, John Lewis boss Andy Street was moved to reflect: ‘This is the first year that the Black Friday week was the peak week for us, even bigger than the pre-Christmas week. That was a new phenomenon. My honest view is that overall it is not in the industry’s interest to focus so much trade on to one day. You want more steady trade and obviously you want more of it at full price.’ In the period immediately after Christmas and holiday sales, a number of ailing retailers usually go
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32 SECTOR OVERVIEW RETAIL LIGHTING
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We have started to use LEDs but we are very selective about their applications” Dean Laurent, Arcadia
DEVELOPMENT: IN WITH THE OLD, OUT WITH THE NEW Development of new shopping space in the UK has withered on the vine in the austerity years and there is little sign of any major change. Land Securities is developing Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow – having bought the remaining 50 per cent holding from TH Real Estate in October – and Westgate in Oxford, the latter with The Crown Estate. TH Real Estate is developing the St James Centre in Edinburgh; Hammerson is on site with Victoria Gate in Leeds; Westfield is building Bradford Broadway for owner Meyer Bergman; and Intu has a series of refurbishments under way and is likely to submit plans for Nottingham’s Broadmarsh Centre during 2015 having started work at the Victoria Centre late last year. Many of the extensions and refurbishments relate to new food and beverage areas or entertainment zones – most notably KidZania which is due to open in the late spring at Westfield London – rather than new retail, with demand still weak from retailers in all but the biggest and best of malls. Away from malls, most of the development in recent years has been spearheaded by the grocers, but in rapid turn Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have all recently announced a virtual shutdown of their large store opening programmes in what is likely to be a long-term trend. On the other hand, their plans for convenience store openings in largely urban and town centre brownfield sites continue apace. As a result, the majority of lighting work will focus on store and mall refurbishment and retrofitting rather than new build, with little prospect of a fresh round of retail construction any time soon. ‘Pure retrofits do create their own challenges for lighting designers,’ says Paul Nulty, founder and practice head of Paul Nulty Lighting Design. ‘With new stores you can create a look and a rollout model, for existing stores it can feel like a new design for every store, especially when they ask for existing equipment to be re-used. For a pure like-for-like replacement project, a designer may not even be required, so long as the retailer goes to a reputable manufacturer.’
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and beverage offers and entertainment, most notably the upcoming KidZania to be opened in a newly-created space on the roof of Westfield London. At the same time, store chains are under increasing pressure to bolt down costs. Yet innovation is not always easy to implement in what remains a surprisingly conservative market. ‘We have started to use LEDs but we are very selective about their applications,’ says Dean Laurent, purchasing manager for utilities at fashion group Arcadia, best known for its flagship Topshop brand. ‘We have nine brands, each with its own distinct image, so it’s about getting the right look and feel for each. To introduce an all-LED store would be very difficult because we would come under a lot of pressure if customers didn’t like it. So instead we have specified them for specific areas, such as above the escalator wells.’ Laurent says this is a restrictive approach from an LED perspective, but adds: ‘Because you can’t
SECTOR OVERVIEW 33
Retailers want to establish a link between upgraded lighting and improved sales
UK RETAIL SALES FINISH 2014 STRONGLY More shoppers visited the UK’s high streets in December than economists had predicted, but internet sales took their biggest monthly fall for two years. Analysts had expected retail volumes to show a fall in December after heavy discounting on Black Friday boosted the November figures, helping spending to rise by 1.6 per cent in the month. But consumers continued to spend in December — volumes rose by 0.4 per cent compared with November and overall, retail sales grew by 2.3 per cent between the third and fourth quarter of last year, the fastest rate for 12 years. The value of internet sales fell by 2.8 per cent compared with November. However, they were up eight per cent relative to December 2013 and represented 11.3 per cent of all sales. Retail vacancies continue to show a north/south divide, with the latest results for the Local Data Company revealing that less than one in 10 stores are vacant in the south of England, compared with nearly one in five in the north, although the trend has improved marginally across almost all areas of the country.
prove the sales benefit, you have to argue your case to the directors. At Topshop we are all about being big and bright, so that’s the driving objective. We have 2,400 lx using T5 and we blanket light the store so merchandise can be moved around by the visual merchandising teams. It’s certainly hard to envisage doing an all-LED store at the moment and we wouldn’t do one for the sake of it.’
Driven by lower energy bills
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Paul Nulty, practice head and founder of Paul Nulty Lighting Design, says that lower energy use remains the driving factor in retail projects, but that does not necessarily mean switching to LEDs. ‘It’s horses for courses,’ he says. ‘It tends to be about refurbishment rather than new stores and not necessarily only LEDS, although they are prevalent. What we’re really focusing on is increasing the lux per watt, rather than the super-high contrasts we’ve seen at some store chains over recent years. We’re looking at high to low contrast ratios down from 30:1 to more like 5:1.’ The other issue is payback time, which must to
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34 SECTOR OVERVIEW RETAIL LIGHTING
fit with the standard cycle of a lease. Once upon a time, UK retail leases were 25 years but that duration has plummeted over the past decade and is more typically five to 10 years today. ‘About 90 per cent of our estate is leasehold, typically for less than 10 years. We can’t talk about 20-year life cycle costs,’ affirms Andy Francis, property sustainability consultant at DIY retailer B&Q. ‘We have been steadily upgrading the estate, but perversely that creates its own barriers to new equipment, because the more modern the building and the more efficient the lighting, the bigger the savings have to be to justify the capital write-off.’
RETAIL PROPERTY VACANCIES ACROSS UK RETAIL & LEISURE
Great Britain England Wales Scotland London East Midlands East of England North East North West South East South West West Midlands Source: Local Data Company
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H2 2014 (%) 11.8 11.7 14.8 11.9 7.8 13.5 11.1 16.8 16.3 10.9 10.3 16.2
12 MONTH CHANGE (%) -0.5 -0.4 -0.9 -0.3 -0.3 -0.5 -0.4 0.1 -1.0 -0.8 -0.7 0.3
Nulty agrees and says most retailers rarely look beyond three years for a store fit-out, negating longer equipment payback periods. ‘That’s why metal halide still has its place, as sometimes the payback period is too short for LEDs,’ he says. ‘Metal halide is still a great lamp for retail and even now I feel that LEDs lack that sparkle. I’m sure that will change in time and certainly we’re seeing clients far more discerning about the quality of LEDs they want now compared with a couple of years ago.’
Environment, meet commerce One of the biggest retail proponents of LED lighting is supermarket group Sainsbury’s, and head of sustainability Paul Crewe reiterates that environmental improvements must go hand-inhand with commercial imperatives. ‘We have a corporate dedication to what we are doing and stretching targets,’ he says. ‘However, I make no apologies for stressing that our energy reduction and environmental initiatives have to be commercially based.’ Many of the technology-led strategies have come through Project Graphite, which Crewe presented to the board showing the potential for huge energy cost reductions as ‘the hook’ that let him implement many of his proposals. ‘I am passionate about LED lighting,’ he says. ‘Lighting accounts for 20 per cent of our energy use and through LEDs we can reduce that by 59 per cent. My plea is for innovative technology companies to come forward with ways to further reduce carbon emissions. If it’s commercially viable, then we’re happy to adopt it.’
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38 PROJECTS XXXXXXX
New adventures in
COLOUR For years, LEDs have been fighting to match the faithful colour rendering of traditional sources such as halogen. Now, thanks to new advances, they’re beating it. Robert Bain investigates
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COLOUR 39
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n the old days, colour rendering was easy. Incandescent and halogen sources rendered colours effortlessly well. But newer sources such as fluorescent, metal halide and most recently LEDs, find colour more difficult. In retail lighting, halogen remains the gold standard for colour quality. Specifiers discussing LED products still refer back to halogen as the ideal. But do we compare to halogen because it’s truly unbeatable, or just because it’s there? The latest colour technologies are abandoning halogen as a reference and beating their own path.
Influential LEDs? The influence of LEDs on colour quality in lighting has been a mixed bag. In the early days of LEDs, colour rendering was very much a trade-off with luminous efficacy: you got more bang for your LED buck if you compromised on colour. The light from LEDs is essentially blue,, and requires a phosphor to be added to turn it white. But this also cuts the light output, so makers of cheap LEDs scrimp on the phosphor to get a bit more light out at the expense of colour quality. That’s why bad quality LEDs are always too cool and blueish in colour – never too warm. Things have improved a lot since then, but even for good-quality LED products, colour rendering on the 0-100 CRI scale around the 80 mark. To get the 90+ figures of halogen, you still pay quite a premium. This fact, coupled with the dreadful colour quality of some early LEDs (and indeed, some of those still on sale, especially in the consumer market) has cemented in many buyers’ minds the idea that going LED means compromising on colour. But there’s another side to the LED story that’s only just starting to emerge. By tuning the precise combination of chips and phosphors, LED technology offers the opportunity to hone and control the colour of light like never before. And as scientists experiment with colour, they’re finding that LEDs can do exciting things that halogen never could.
LEDs put to the test
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In 2013, a group of lighting professionals and members of the public gathered at a research centre in Amsterdam. They had been invited as part of a study commissioned by LED module maker Xicato, known for its Artist Series of light sources, which use a phosphor mounted separately from a set of LEDs (rather than sitting directly on top), to achieve faithful colour rendering and consistency. Participants were asked to compare various identical displays of objects – a book, a tablecloth, a bowl of fruit – under different lights. They picked
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40 COLOUR
‘‘
If you strayed from the black body locus, could you produce lighting effects that might be useful?”
Xicato LED modules ensure bright, consistent colours at this London sports store
the ones they liked best and tried to describe why. Some of the displays just looked brighter, cleaner, more… vibrant. The study was a test of Xicato’s new Vibrancy range of modules, which are tuned to bring out certain colours – particularly blues, purples and pinks – more vividly than traditional light sources. Xicato developed it by casting aside the received wisdom about lighting and colour.
Mimicking the black body Incandescent sources like fire, the sun or incandescent lamps, glow in different colours at different temperatures (hence the term ‘colour temperature’). This range of colours is known as the black body locus, and most artificial light sources have tried to stick closely to it. Xicato wondered why. If you strayed from the black body locus, could you produce lighting effects that might be useful? It’s not as if incandescent sources are perfect. For instance, a lamp with a warm colour temperature
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COLOUR 41
This jewellery store takes full advantage of the opportunities presented by modern LED modules
little unnatural. But for a lot of retailers, the Vibrancy range offers a powerful new tool to make displays really stand out. Xicato isn’t the only manufacturer cutting loose from the black body curve and tweaking its light sources. Philips CrispWhite is a similar technology, now available in spotlights such as the ProAir (see page 106). Philips says the product offers the best of both worlds, making ‘whites appear more white and colours seem more vibrant’, with ‘clean white
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will give a nice cosy feel and will tend to make reds and oranges look vivid. But it can also make whites look yellowish. A cooler coloured lamp gives you nice ‘clean’ whites, but dulls the reds. With LEDs, it doesn’t have to be this way. By choosing just the right combination of chips and phosphors, you can tune the light any way you like, and get effects you couldn’t achieve before. Xicato accepts that its Vibrancy range won’t be suitable for all applications – the light can have the effect of making certain colours look too vivid, and a
42 COLOUR
‘‘
LED may once have been responsible for some crimes against colour rendering, but now it is showing its potential to do new things with colour”
The latest LEDs can displace halogen sources, even in galleries
phosphors to make white. The result is lamps with exceptionally high colour rendering indices – 93 according to lab tests conducted for Lux by Photometric & Optical Testing, and that includes a score of 91 for the rendering of the saturated red colour known as R9, which LED lamps typically render badly. The colour quality of Soraa’s lamps is so good that the company protests that the traditional measures of colour quality simply don’t do its products justice. Verbatim has a range of lamps with similar qualities, using a violet chip and a mix of red, green and blue phosphors. This has allowed it to produce LED candle lamps with colour temperatures as warm as 1800K, mimicking the warm orangey glow of a dimmed incandescent.
Time to ditch CRI? light and deep rich colour’. Philips says: ‘Retailers generally want highquality light sources that illuminate fabrics in the truest way possible, making colours appear rich and intense while keeping whites bright. A warm colour temperature is often preferred, but a drawback has been that whites can appear yellow. ‘CrispWhite has been developed as a special solution for fashion environments to bring out in the best way both colours and whites… You can now get the perfect combination of warm and cool in a single light source.’ Another way to alter the colour of LEDs is to use a completely different kind of LED chip. Last year Shuji Nakamura was awarded the Nobel physics prize for his invention of the blue LED in 1993. But while the world is still coming round to his invention, Nakamura has moved on. He’s now with US LED lighting firm Soraa, which makes products based not on blue LEDs but on violet ones. These are made from a different combination of chemicals from conventional blue LEDs, and are combined with a special mix of
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So with LED opening up new colour possibilities that hadn’t been thought of before, has the colour rendering index outlived its usefulness? Some manufacturers think so. CRI is a bit of a blunt instrument, and it’s causing frustration among manufacturers who believe their products offer better quality than CRI suggests. It’s an important metric, but you have to remember that it’s just an average of a selection of colours. A good CRI doesn’t necessarily mean that the light will render any particular colour faithfully. More recently the Colour Quality Scale, developed by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the US, has emerged as a competitor to CRI. But you’re unlikely to find a CQS figure on a product datasheet – it’s a long way from being a standard metric. LED may once have been responsible for some crimes against colour rendering, but now it has grown up, and stepped out of the shadow of its predecessors, and showing us its potential to do new things with colour that we never thought of before.
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44 LIGHTING AND RETAIL SALES
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While energy savings in retail outlets can provide demonstrable financial returns, proving an uplift in sales is much harder. Mark Faithfull looks at attempts to illuminate sales performance
I
ntuition and proof are very different things. Does it make sense that a well-designed store will achieve higher sales than a tired interior? Of course. If that store is appropriately and interestingly illuminated, then it also makes sense that the store will bolster sales and attract more repeat visits. Again, common sense. Next, let’s factor in the economy, the location, consumer trends, pricing and promotions, the time of year, the fluctuating price of petrol, unseasonable weather, a big sporting event on the TV, a retailer’s advertising campaign, good or poor customer services, shelf availability, how the bank holidays fall, and so on. So what was the financial uplift in sales
HOW LIGHTING CAN KEEP CUSTOMERS ON TRACK
For the design of Finist, a wine and spirits emporium in Russia, Shopworks used a combination of dimmed lighting to create an intimate atmosphere with accent lighting on the central display modules to pick out products and facilitate navigation. Lighting colours at the cooler end of the spectrum help balance the bright and warm hues and textures of the store interior. The design of lighting fixtures also played a part in creating the overall representation of the brand as demonstrated with the suspended lights above the degustation zone: the simple forms contribute to creating the “loft style” look and feel. The positioning of ceiling elements and lamps above the aisles and along the product displays help drive customers through the store and increase browse rates.
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LIGHTING AND RETAIL SALES 45
Does lighting boost
SALES? £ $ £ £ ¥ € $ € ¥ € specifically through lighting again? Munish Datta, head of facilities management at M&S, which recently embarked on a big LED rollout at hundreds of its food stores, said that the benefits of increased sales could ultimately outweigh the savings from energy efficiency. But how will they know? Simon Waldron, electrical engineering manager at Sainsbury’s, an LED advocate within an LEDadvanced retailer, admits: ‘There’s this big discussion at the moment about whether LEDs increase sales. We cannot guarantee that LEDs are a primary cause of any sales increase because there are so many variables. At the moment there’s no significant empirical data that suggests LEDs have any impact on sales. There need to be more studies done to see whether LED lighting or specifically higher CRI products, actually has the benefit of increasing sales in a store.’
Lighting by numbers
£ ¥
V
Anyone who can prove that a new lighting scheme
$
will save money from the bottom line and increase sales on the top line has a powerfully persuasive argument and so not surprisingly there have been numerous attempts to do it. Among these was a 21-week field research project by Dutch co-operative supermarket group Plus and Philips Lighting back in 2010. Using different LEDbased lighting scenarios, the study was designed to measure the impact of light on customer buying behavior and Philips Lighting enlisted CQM as an external market research agency and the Retail Design Research Lab of the PHL University of Hasselt to evaluate the return on investment for retailers from implementing LED lighting solutions. A tracking system was installed in shoppers’ grocery baskets, to trace shopping habits such as the time spent in certain parts of the supermarket, their route around the store and parts of the shop they were drawn to specifically. AmbiScene-controlled lighting was fitted on the left-hand side of the store, while the right-hand area
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46 LIGHTING AND RETAIL SALES
‘‘
6
Again and again we find that the importance of lighting at the point of sale is dramatically underestimated”
SIX TIPS TO IMPROVE RETAIL SALES
Hans-Georg Häusel Gruppe Nymphenburg
of the supermarket was lit with traditional lighting and different lighting scenarios were applied over alternating days. The results from CQM showed that the introduction of the lighting system increased basket sales, with the average sales per customer up by 1.93 per cent related to the dynamic lighting installation. Further analysis of the results also showed that customers spent more time in the areas lit with warmer light settings than those with cooler ones. Similarly, Zumtobel completed a piece of research entitled ‘Attention, attractiveness and perception mediated by lighting in retail spaces’. Its two-part study with Prof Jan Ejhed, head of the lighting laboratory at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, and Dr Roland Greule from the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) came to eight key conclusions (see box, right), which broadly reflect the way that many better-lit stores now approach their lighting strategy.
1 CONTRAST IS YOUR FRIEND Retail lighting should be high contrast, making perception easier and heightening levels of attention.
2
¥
Point of sale
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A further laboratory study conducted by Zumtobel and Gruppe Nymphenburg measured responses to various lighting scenarios in shops on an empirical basis. ‘Again and again we find that the importance of lighting at the point of sale is dramatically underestimated. Instead, the focus is on fancy packaging and shop design,’ says Dr Hans-Georg Häusel of Gruppe Nymphenburg. ‘But actually, the goods on display will only touch people’s emotions if they are presented in the right light.’ On top of that, results from a study conducted for Xicato by independent lighting researcher Dr Colette Knight found that objects can appear more
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Zumtobel’s ressearch points to a number of ways to improve sales with lighting
$
DISTRIBUTE LIGHT RIGHT Diffuse general lighting ensures a subjective sense of wellbeing. Vertical illuminance makes orientation easier and the easier it is for customers to find their way around, the more likely they are to walk around a shop.
3 CONSIDER COLOUR TEMPERATURE Cool colour temperatures such as cool white make areas appear more spacious whereas warm colour temperatures create an impression of smallness and familiarity.
4 WORK THOSE WINDOWS In shop windows, use pinpoint accenting to emphasise perceived contrasts. In the evening and when there is little daylight, even low illuminance levels are sufficient.
5 PUT THE LIGHT DOWN LOW Targeted accent lighting or dynamic lighting in the lower third of shelves results in customers lingering longer and may boost sales. Shelf-integrated lighting is recommended at all levels.
6 IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT ACCENTS Wide-area backlighting of shelves produces a more attractive effect than accent lighting only.
ACCREDITED
SUPPLIER
S O L U T I O N S
48 LIGHTING AND RETAIL SALES
WHAT THE RETAIL DESIGNERS THINK BILL CUMMING FOUNDER, TWELVE ‘As the world of retail seems to become ever more competitive, retailers need to work harder to win the hearts and minds of customers. The mind is often won via the wallet but winning hearts is an altogether subtler proposition. Of all the tools that the designer has at their disposal lighting is certainly one of the most powerful, creating atmosphere, enhancing product and sculpting space. If you want to get customers to spend more, dismiss the effectiveness of lighting at your peril.’
attractive under a light source that is slightly outside the traditional colour range for white light. Participants in the study showed a strong preference for lights which increase the saturation of reds, blues and pinks and make whites appear ‘cleaner’. Knight’s report concluded: ‘With the maturity of LED lighting, there is now growing focus to look beyond mimicking the light properties of conventional sources…By cleverly designing the light spectrum, it is possible to generate various light impressions and optimise the colour appearance of objects.’
Get creative These bodies of work add to the argument for good lighting, but turning browsers into buyers is the challenge. That said, retailers are increasingly looking to differentiate their stores and as Rod Pallister of Progress Lighting, reflects: ‘Evidence or not, high street retail is having to become more creative and provide experiences to retain or win new custom.’ He points to the growth in leisure and entertainment aligned with retail destinations. ‘If you look at most new shopping centres, they are all about retaining custom and keeping us all engaged for longer. Most have bars, cinemas, restaurants as well as shops,’ he says. ‘They take an architectural approach to the whole design and you cannot say lighting does not play a vital role in bringing the design together.’
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€
$
ALISON CARDY MANAGING DIRECTOR, HMKM ‘In our estimation good retail lighting is crucial. Properly executed lighting design creates the optimum mood and atmosphere in store; highlights and heroes the product; and signals the customer journey in overt or subliminal ways. At key customer service points such as fitting rooms, the correct lighting is the deal breaker and ultimately will make the difference between a sale or not. For every project we undertake, we always enlist the services of specialist retail lighting designers.’
DAVID WRIGHT GROUP MARKETING DIRECTOR DALZIEL & POW ‘A few years ago I heard a client say that if they could change just one thing about their space it would be their lighting. I’m not sure if I would put quite that priority on lighting alone but it is obviously a massive factor. One of the biggest changes I have seen in recent times is the appetite to push lighting closer to the things you want to sell. Shine a light on a product and it sings. Technology has allowed us to squeeze lighting into spaces previously impossible to light. Under shelves, concealed behind baffles, within ceiling recesses, lighting closer to your target and more effectively.’
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50 EVENT LIGHTING FOR RETAIL AND HOSPITALITY CONFERENCE 2015
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Lighting for Retail and Hospitality
CONFERENCE 2015
Let the leaders in retail show you how to
GET YOUR LIGHTING UPGRADE RIGHT Our conference dedicated to retail and hospitality lighting will help you balance efficiency with look and feel
Below (l-r) Sally Storey of LDI, Dominic Meyrick of Hoare Lea and Simon Waldron of Sainsbury’s
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T
fhe latest lighting technology offers compelling benefits for retailers. But investing in a big upgrade and switching to new technologies can be daunting – and you can’t afford to get it wrong. To dodge the pitfalls, you’ll need to navigate the new world of LEDs and controls , understand the technology, pick the right products and come up with the right design. At Lux’s Lighting for Retail and Hospitality conference, you’ll learn from the leaders in retail how to upgrade your lighting successfully. We’ll be looking at the full spectrum of retail and hospitality lighting applications from small stores to large stores to hotels and cafes. Speakers will include John Cummings and Rick Marshall from the lighting team at Matalan, who will explain how the business is taking advantage of the latest lighting technology. Simon Waldron of Sainsbury’s will show you how you can write your
Zarina Holmes
EVENT 51
PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS DO’S AND DON’TS OF LED ROLLOUTS LED lighting can help you slash your electricity bill and wave goodbye to regular lamp changes. But you don’t want to end up with duff products that die early or fail to provide the right quality of light. Richard Felgate, independent energy management expert and former head of energy for pub and bar chain Mitchells & Butlers – the owner of O’Neill’s and All Bar One – shares his do’s and don’ts for a stress-free rollout. CASE STUDY MATALAN The budget fashion retailer’s concept manager John Cummings and M&E manager Rick Marshall present the company’s latest lighting project.
Rick Marshall of Matalan (top) explains why the high street retailer is going LED. Richard Felgate (above) shares his experience of major LED lighting rollouts
own warranty, rather than accepting the ones put in front of you by lighting manufacturers, and energy management expert Richard Felgate, formerly the head of energy at pub chain Mitchell & Butlers (the company behind O’Neills and All Bar One), will set out his ‘do’s and don’ts’ for LED rollouts. And we’ll be taking a glimpse at the future, with a special session looking at the latest cool lighting tech for retail: indoor positioning. Find out how your LED lights could be transformed into a superaccurate positioning system that you can use to help customers navigate your store, or send them targeted offers. Organised by Lux together with the Lighting Industry Association, the event is suitable for retailers, facility managers, energy managers and lighting designers. To register for your free place, contact Fergus Lynch on 020 3283 4387 or fergus.lynch@luxreview.com 12 MARCH 2015 CAVENDISH CONFERENCE CENTRE, LONDON, UK O www.lightingforretailandhospitality.com
CASE STUDY BODY SHOP The Body Shop has been experimenting with LEDs since the early days. Its current LED rollout has enhanced the lit environment and cut energy dramatically, and it’s being extended to more stores this year. Dave Tilley, lighting consultant to the retailer, tells the story. HOW TO WRITE YOUR OWN WARRANTY The best way to take the risk out of a major investment in LED lighting is to draw up your own warranty covering what’s important to you – not what’s important to a manufacturer. That’s what Sainsbury’s does, as electrical engineering manager Simon Waldron will explain.
Sponsored by
HOW LIGHT CAN MAKE YOUR BRAND STAND OUT Christina Hébert of Paul Nulty Lighting Design explains how retailers make their shops and properties look and feel luxurious and on-brand. TRACKING YOUR CUSTOMERS LED lighting is being used to create superaccurate positioning systems in shops, so customers can use their phones to find their way around and receive special offers. Lux’s Gordon Routledge gives an exclusive briefing on this cutting-edge tech.
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CONFERENCE 2015
Too many light fittings, too little time? Are you responsible for large numbers of light fittings across different buildings? If it’s proving a maintenance and energy headache, we can help. In this special conference, we’ll give you the answers to the key challenges facing managers of complex lighting estates: O How do you manage the assets to best advantage? O How can you cut the cost of maintenance? O What’s the best way to monitor and control your installation? O How can you reduce energy while enhancing the lit environment for people? Our speakers will explain the techniques and the technologies and look at a number of best practice locations. This one-day event is suitable for estates managers, facilities managers, property managers, energy managers, consulting engineers, designers and manufacturers.
THURSDAY 21 MAY 2015 | CAVENDISH CONFERENCE CENTRE, LONDON, UK Organised by
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PROJECT ADIDAS BRAND CENTRE, BEIJING 53
The world’s biggest Adidas store uses lighting to differentiate the sportswear giant’s brands
Adidas sports
A NEW LOOK A
didas is the world’s second biggest sportswear brand, and has more than 1,000 of its own stores around the globe. The Adidas Brand Centre in Beijing is the brand’s flagship store in the country, and its largest in the world. The store has 3,300m2 of retail space on four floors in the city’s Sanlitun Village shopping mall. It as recently been completely redesigned, becoming the first in the world to have a new design that Adidas is calling HomeCourt.
Six brands
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Each part of the four-storey store has its own feel
Adidas wanted to build a space with clearly distinguished zones for its different brands. The store is broken down into six zones: Adidas, Adidas Originals, Neo, the Stella McCartney range, Y-3 and Porsche Design. Each has its own visual style and ambience, and needed a lighting design to suit.
54 PROJECT ADIDAS BRAND CENTRE, BEIJING
Zuo Xuan, Wang Yudong and Ju Meiyi from Opple’s design team worked on the lighting for the project, which started last summer and was completed in January this year. The scheme includes spotlights, gimbals, linear fittings, decorative pendants and under-shelf lighting for displaying items such as shoes and bags. LED luminaires were used throughout the store.
Young and vibrant In the youth-focused Neo section, colour-changing RGB luminaires create a dynamic atmosphere and emphasise the vibrant feeling of the brand. Each of the four floors has a different height, which affects the angles of the luminaires and the way in which spaces and displays can be lit. Every brand has a distinct feeling that had to be maintained by creating a clear contrast between each space. After the success of the project, Adidas has signed a long-term supply and service contract with Opple in the Chinese market.
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PROJECT 55
Opple’s design team came up with lighting schemes to suit Adidas’ Neo brand (above), Y-3 (right), and four other brands
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56 ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE
Only the
BEST Thomas Holgeth, managing director of High Technology Lighting, discusses his company’s uptake of LEDs
A
t High Technology Lighting we have been producing LED luminaires since 2009, when our Quartet spot and downlighter range formed a fresh addition to our mostly fluorescent and HID portfolio. Today, our LED ranges constitute the majority of our sales. During this time we have marvelled at the speed of innovation in LED, with efficacies more than doubling, with form factors expanding to allow spot (even now narrow beams) to wall wash, modular downlighters and more, with spectral power distributions evolving to encompass not only halogen-like quality, but more vibrant solutions under which colours simply not visible under halogen light are revealed. On top of this we see the addition of electronics into LED modules combining drivers, dimming circuitry, diagnostic sensors and communication ports.
No compromise Our LED module partner is Xicato, whose ‘light quality without compromise’ foundation is a perfect match to our own, and whose recent drive to intelligent modules provides us with an opportunity to do what we do best: innovate. Our totally UK-made luminaire range includes downlights, gimbals, track spots, gobo projectors and surface mounts. This range has been used in installations as diverse as Sea World in Turkey, the Lowry exhibition space at Sunderland Winter Gardens, Chessington World of Adventures, Tag Heuer and Rolex jewellery stores and many more. The benefits have gone beyond cost of ownership (via energy and maintenance savings) to enhancing atmospheres beyond the possibilities of traditional lamp technologies.
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QUN Quartet spotlights with Artist modules used at the Museum in the Park, Stroud (Project: Rob Baldwin, Total Lighting and Control)
ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE 57
QRT spotlights (inset), with Artist Series modules, light a major sports retailer on London’s Oxford Street
QRG gimbal ďŹ ttings and QCO Centric spotlights, using a mixture of Artist and Vibrant Series modules, light this jewellers in Canterbury
The QFP Gobo projector (inset) with Artist Series module is used in the Lowry exhibition space at Sunderland Winter Gardens
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58 PROJECT HARDY AMIES
Suit you,
SIR Cool, contemporary, classy. Hardy Amies used the design of its new flagship store to update its brand. Nicky Trevett reports
H
ardy Amies is synonymous with quality British men’s tailoring, but its founder never wanted his brand stuck in a post-war timewarp. Sir Hardy Amies was a cheerleader for the cultural revolution of the sixties, championing the taste and style of the younger generation and helping to democratise male fashion. So it is only fitting that his company’s new Savile Row flagship store is designed to reflect the modern, cosmopolitan dynamic of London. As CEO Tony Yusuf says: ‘I wanted the new store to absolutely exude the mood of the capital. To me, what makes London so interesting is its eclectic mix of old and new. I wanted the new store not to be about what London was, but about what London is.’ Architects Universal Design Studio have designed the 163m2 space as a contemporary setting for Hardy Amies’s classy collection of suits, clothing and accessories. The space is composed of elements that define the capital – red brick, limestone, London Underground tiles, glass pavement inlay, even shrubbery. Hardy Amies sums up its look as modern and stylish, without
The perimeter of the space is primarily lit by narrow floodlights
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PROJECT 59
The tracks carry LED spots and narrow floodlights
being overtly ‘designed’. Which goes equally well for the lighting brief. The architects wanted a scheme that would complement the exposed, raw architectural elements and exude the discreet, highquality ambience befitting the update of a luxury heritage brand without drawing attention to itself.
Flagship project
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For lighting consultancy Illumination Works, it was a flagship project of a different kind. The company is a specialist in retail interiors, but the Hardy Amies store would be its first all-LED retail lighting scheme in London. ‘We had used linear LED for many years,’ explains Chad Rains, Illumination Works director, ‘but were holding out for the right ceiling accent light. We were waiting for a source that would be powerful enough, have the right optics, and give the desired effects.’ The consultancy had tried out LED schemes in Marc Jacobs projects around the world, but had yet to commit itself to LEDs in
60 PROJECT HARDY AMIES
a flagship store. ‘Many of our high-end retail clients insist on more standard sources, such as metal halide and halogen, because they do not want to risk the shop or the merchandise looking flat,’ says Rains. But finally the designers found what they had been looking for. TM Lighting is a company that made its name lighting works of art – an application requiring self-effacing luminaires with excellent light distribution. Its linear LED and ceiling spotlights offered the requisite colour rendering (CRI 90+) and optical intensity.
A perfect match ‘We wanted all of the LED colour temperatures to match perfectly, so were always looking to specify only one manufacturer for all major architectural lighting elements,’ Rains explains. ‘The TM Lighting equipment suited our needs, so we felt the time was right to go all-LED.’ The lighting layout is relatively simple. Four-metre track segments run parallel to the street, from the front to the back of the space. The tracks and track
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The tracks and track fittings are positioned to ensure everything is evenly lit
fittings are positioned to ensure that everything in the shop is evenly lit. The tracks carry LED spotlights and narrow floodlights in a ratio of approximately one to two. The perimeter of the space, where most of the clothing is displayed, is primarily lit with narrow floodlights, with occasional use of spots to highlight specific elements and avoid a flat effect. Most of the spotlights are used in the centre of the space to highlight floor fixtures and mannequin displays. This limits the amount of spill light on the floor and helps create a dramatic, high-contrast environment. More challenging was achieving the architects’ vision of ‘clean lines of light’ along the shelving, with no individual LEDs or any kind of pattern on the diffuser being visible. The designers initially envisaged a single linear LED at the front of each shelf, but when this was mocked up it was found that the depth of the shelves created a distracting shadow on the back wall from the ceiling accent lights. A second linear LED at the back of the shelf solved the problem. The budget for all the architectural lighting was
PROJECT 61
The architects specified ‘clean lines of light’ along the shelves, achieved with pairs of linear LEDs
ANTY
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approximately £38,000. The energy savings associated with LEDs were a definite plus for the client, says Rains, along with the reduced maintenance costs. But he points out another, more satisfying consequence of eliminating the need for relamping. ‘The fact that we could focus the lights and not have all the heads shift around or end up aimed at the floor, which often happens when relamping, within six to nine months was even more exciting to them and us,’ he says. ‘There is nothing worse than revisiting a project months later to find all our time spent focusing has been erased because no one bothered to adjust the fitting after a lamp burnout.’
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PROJECTS ROUNDUP 63
RETAIL
LIGHTING
How it’s done DEPARTMENT STORE
OPTICIANS
MYKITA, BERLIN Eyewear manufacturer Mykita wanted the lighting at its second Berlin outlet to reflect the accuracy and precision of its products but complement the minimalism of the interior, which is dominated by a 31m backlit display wall. Erco LED spotlights pick out the product displays and sales counter and diffuse light on the walls creates a sense of depth. Warm white light on the sales floor contrasts with neutral white in the area used for eye tests and fittings, where clarity is essential. The listed ceiling meant the luminaires had to be mounted on a suspended track.
CHOCOLATIER
MAISON PIERRE MARCOLINI, PARIS Belgian chocolatier Pierre Marcolini’s fourth Parisian outlet is a diminutive boutique. The lighting had to display the products to best effect while conveying the discreet ambience of a luxury brand. Into Lighting’s all-LED scheme uses luminaires with a high CRI to preserve the rich colour of the chocolate. The displays are evenly lit using bespoke detailed lighting along the shelves. Only a few downlights were used to keep the ceiling pristine, and linear LEDs frame the ceiling coffers. Lutron controls alter the lighting for different events.
MENSWEAR
KENT & CURWEN, LONDON Kent & Curwen has been producing men’s sporting wear since 1926. The brand was purchased in 2012 and the new owners wanted to refurbish the flagship Savile Row shop to reflect a more contemporary, youthful look. Illumination Works developed a lighting scheme using metal halide and halogen sources to create intensity and warmth, with linear LEDs for display shelving and miniature LED spotlights to highlight mannequins. The design will be rolled out to outlets worldwide.
JOHN LEWIS, YORK A light art installation suspended above the rear staircase in a John Lewis store encourages customers to circulate. Paul Nulty Lighting Design intended to use linear LEDs, but budgetary constraints forced a switch to Philips’ Master TL-D Xtreme fluorescent T8 lamps. The mass of suspended lamps suggests the shape of a breaking wave, engulfing customers in light as they mount or descend the staircase. Philips lamp, usually associated with industrial applications, has an output of 105 lm/W and lasts for 40,000 hours, giving it parity with its LED equivalent.
DEPARTMENT STORE
THE WHITE COMPANY, NORWICH An all-LED lighting scheme by Dalziel and Pow at The White Company’s new store in Norwich is programmed to change the mood throughout the day. The effect is produced by Reggiani Unimosa LED downlights and a large tuneable white backlit ceiling over the central stairwell, linked to a Helvar Dali dimming system. Three settings alter the ambience from bright and fresh in the morning to softer in the afternoon and relaxing in the evening. The surrounding homeware and clothing departments are lit by Reggiani spotlights, downlights and projectors.
www.luxreview.com
64 PROJECTS ROUNDUP
RETAIL
LIGHTING
How it’s done
BMW SHOWROOM MINI SHOWROOM
WESTERLY MINI, EXETER The Westerly Mini dealership in Exeter has redesigned its showroom to emphasise the playful appeal of its iconic vehicles and create a sense of excitement at promotional events. The lighting brief demanded an increase in light intensity from 500 to 800 lx in the display area, with extensive use of adjustable directional sources to cope with changing layouts. Dextra Lighting’s Gyro-Light recessed gimbal luminaires fulfilled the requirements, installed in single, twin and quadruple clusters with individually adjustable heads and CDM-T lamps or LEDs as required.
BMW SHOWROOMS, UK A lighting scheme has been developed to complement the elegant design and environmental credentials of the BMW i3 electric and i8 hybrid cars. MDG Architects worked with The Environmental Network (TEN) to create a design for two UK showrooms, replacing halogen lamps with LED luminaires. Based on Toshiba E-Core downlights, panels, Par 16 reflector lamps and a Neogrid baselight, the scheme delivers 800 lx in a neutral white colour temperature. Switching to LEDs can help car dealerships cut their energy and maintenance costs by more than 70 per cent, according to TEN.
VAUXHALL SHOWROOM
BENTLEY SHOWROOM
BENTLEY HERO LIGHT The Hero Light was designed by Tim Hunt of Arup as a centrepiece for Bentley showrooms. The outsize pendant fitting has a 6m-diameter aluminium frame with Barrisol fabric cladding the top and bottom. A linear flexible strip LED on the inside of the fabric shroud can be controlled to produce different effects. The high CRI light sources reflect off the paint finish of the car below, accentuating the unique form and classic lines of the car. The modular luminaire weighs under 250kg and can be assembled on site.
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VAUXHALL BRAND CENTRE, STAPLES CORNER Reggiani worked with Vauxhall and retailer group Now to light the showroom, the mezzanine, the underlying show areas and the main office area at this site. In the showroom, four lengths of track were installed and suspended from the ceiling at 6m. Each is fitted with a series of high-output, wide-beam 39W Envios projectors, interspersed with a few narrow-beam Envios. The wide-beam projectors provide effective general lighting and the narrowbeam fittings ensure the specified 1,000 lx per bonnet is delivered effectively.
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Are you responsible Dave Thrower/Reds hift Ph ot
Managing an emergency lighting network carries with it significant responsibilities: You’ve got to comply with the latest legislation and best practice, keep energy and maintenance low and not least, ensure your building’s occupants are safe at all times.
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To help you do this, Lux magazine has teamed up with the experts at the Industry Committee on Emergency Lighting to hold the UK’s first conference specifically on emergency lighting. Coop er
THURSDAY 23 APRIL 2015 | CAVENDISH CONFERENCE CENTRE, LONDON
Register for a FREE place by contacting Fergus Lynch on 020 3283 4387 | fergus.lynch@luxmagazine.co.uk
Emergency Lighting CONFERENCE 2015
for emergency lighting? The conference will answer the all the key questions, such as: O What exactly are my responsibilities? O How can the latest technologies help me? O What are the issues with self-testing, remote monitoring and LED systems? O How can I reduce costs and maintenance while complying? This one-day event is suitable for estates managers, facilities managers, property managers, energy managers, consulting engineers, designers and manufacturers.
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PROJECT H&M, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA 69
The three-storey atrium used to be the old postal hall, and is lit with Color Kinetics linear LED fittings
H&M lights up down under Australia’s first H&M store is on trend, with LED lighting and controls. Kathrine Anker reports
W
eye will revert towards the clothing.’ The building’s massive retail space is characterised by a three-storey atrium. Linear LED fittings from Philips Color Kinetics have been mounted in troughs to emphasise the roof structure and the surrounding arches, with a mixture of optics providing wide beams and linear grazing. iGuzzini Laser Blade fittings downlight the retail space, and the trees on the trade floor have been uplit with fixtures from Lumiscape. ‘The actual lighting equipment is very minimal in terms of its look. It’s a mixture of concealed light fixtures and small-scale visible fixtures,’ says
V
hen H&M arrived in Australia last year, it did so in style with a vast, mostly LED-lit flagship store in Melbourne’s former General Post Office building. The building’s long history, and its 18m-high ceiling, presented the team with a challenge. ‘The objective was to pick out the character of the building,’ says Richard Bolt, a lighting designer at DPA Lighting Consultants who worked on the project. ‘It’s almost theatrical. If you walk in as a customer, the first thing you’ll see is this fantastic building, rather than the clothes. Then, of course, your
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70 PROJECT H&M, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Mannequins on swings are emphasised with pairs of metal halide perimeter spotlights on columns
V
normal trading times, all light sources are warm white with a colour temperature of 3000K. The mannequins on podiums and swings have been emphasised with perimeter spotlights on the columns around the atrium. ‘We used a metal halide fixture from XAL to light down on the mannequins from first storey height because we weren’t able to source a narrow enough LED optic at the time,’ Bolt explains. The DPA team worked closely with Heritage Victoria to ensure the lighting would suit the architecture and not damage anything. It was a requirement that the lighting equipment could be removed with minimal harm to the fabric of the building. Whatever DPA decided to do also had to fit in with the existing architectural lighting scheme, which had been installed by the landlord of the building a year before. And it was important that everything that was specified could be procured locally. ‘It was very much a close collaboration with the local architects and local manufacturers,’ says Bolt. iGuzzini was an exception, being from Italy, but the company is represented in Melbourne and getting more stock is unlikely to be a problem. For the control of the exterior light, DPA worked with the existing
Bolt. ‘It’s a combination of expressing the original architectural theme while ensuring that we achieved 200 lx on the sales floor in a controlled manner.’
Daylight savings Skylights provide plenty of daylight in the atrium, so a control system from Dynalite has been installed to make the most of it. Facility managers at H&M have access to a control clock and a number of different lighting scenes that can be chosen according to the time of day. ‘Knowing there’s an abundance of natural light from the skylights in the atrium, we’ve turned off some of those channels and as the day progresses and natural light diminishes, the artificial light builds itself up at the top of the atrium,’ says Bolt. A manual override control panel allows managers to change the lighting to a party mode. ‘H&M are not particularly into coloured light and we agree with them,’ says Bolt. ‘They wanted a warm white light scheme, but with the opportunity of using coloured RGB LED fixtures for special occasions such as Australia Day or Breast Cancer Awareness week. For
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Metal halide fittings from XAL light mannequins from the first storey
LIGHT DEFINES THE EXPERIENCE Jolly’s House of Fraser, Bath, UK
For the cosmetics department at Bath’s House of Fraser, LED111 adjustable downlights provide bright, flexible lighting, giving customers the very best shopping experience.
www.alphaled.co.uk
72 PROJECT H&M, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
‘‘
It’s a mixture of concealed light fixtures and smallscale visible fixtures” Richard Bolt, DPA
The DPA team collaborated with Heritage Victoria to ensure the lighting would suit the architecture
supplier and Australian controls manufacturer Dynalite. ‘Together we were able to show H&M what they had inherited and work out what would be preferable to install on top of that base scheme outside,’ says Bolt. The DPA team particularly wanted to improve the way the tower of the building and the entrances had been lit. ‘The vaulted arcade that wraps itself around the building had very orangey sodium light,’ explains Bolt. ‘We wanted to flick light across the arches with a more controlled optic.’ Exterior lighting is controlled by the Dynalite system but synchronised with the old system. ‘Rather than floodlighting, we were skimming light up columns and improving the arcade lighting,’ says Bolt. Using mainly LED light sources means that the lighting will also be sympathetic to H&M’s energy budget. The store has achieved an electrical load of 12W/m2 for downward light and 10W/m2 for the architectural lighting to the arches, trees and ceiling.
ENERGY DASHBOARD
12W/m2
10W/m2
ELECTRICAL LOAD
ELECTRICAL LOAD
for downward lighting
for architectural lighting
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The lighting designers wanted to ‘flick light across the arches’
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Find out more about PROJECTS
74 DESIGN CLINIC
1
PLAIN
ALAN TULLA TECHNICAL EDITOR
DESIGN
CLINIC Retail display area Alan Tulla looks at lighting techniques for retail environments
T
his Design Clinic (the 30th, for those of you who are counting) is more about lighting techniques than alternative ways to light a space. The retail sector is a hugely important part of any economy and, as a result, it has its own supporting services sector, of which lighting design consultancy forms an important part. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the UK is a world leader in retail lighting design. Rather than being a ‘beginner’s guide to retail lighting design’, this clinic is about techniques that can be applied to all types of display lighting. To generalise, regardless of the application, the brighter the average illumination and more uniform the lighting, the less ‘exclusive’ is the brand image. Think of the lighting in a burger chain compared with a small, expensive restaurant. Similarly, compare the lighting in standard and first class railway carriages. Retail lighting is much more varied than that in other sectors, so guidance can only be given in the most general terms. When a solution can’t be found in one of the lighting guides, a useful approach is the technique of layering, where the overall design is built up by considering the different uses of the lighting. For example, you need to provide enough light for public safety in circulation areas, and when lighting steps and changes of level. Another ‘layer’, and the one that involves most design skill and effort ,is lighting the products on sale. It can be argued that this is the most important aspect of retail lighting, because if no-one is attracted into your shop, the rest is wasted effort. Don’t forget functionally important areas such as the payment desk and ‘returned goods’ section. Our three options demonstrate a simplified version of this technique. The views shown measure about 8 by 12m and the ceiling O Watch out for more Design Clinics at www.luxreview.com
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Panel lighting in all its guises is a very popular way to provide good, overall illumination in a retail space. It’s great in terms of watts per square metre, you can easily obtain high CRI versions, and the colour temperature is the same everywhere so there’s no need to wander around checking what the merchandise looks like. If you want energy-efficient, uniform, functional lighting, this is it. The only decision you have to make is the lux level you want. This notional design achieves a horizontal illuminance of about 400 lx and almost the same on the walls. It could easily be much brighter and achieve 800 lx simply by doubling the number of panels. As with all flat panel schemes, the ceiling is a bit dark. This is a bugbear of mine but most people don’t notice. What this scheme doesn’t do is excite the shopper. It’s easy and efficient, but you are unlikely to linger.
TECH SPEC Luminaires 600 x 600 LED panels Optical control Opal diffusers Arrangement 4 x 3 in central area Average horizontal illuminance 400 lx Electrical load 8W/m2 Pros Economical Cons Doesn’t excite
DESIGN CLINIC 75
2
DRAMATIC
This is the opposite extreme to the first scheme, and uses narrow-angle 15-degree track spotlights and medium beam gimbal fittings. Although the average horizontal illumination is only slightly less, the effect is dramatically different. Obviously, the illumination on the vertical surfaces is much higher than in scheme 1. Don’t mention uniformity. The gimbals provide some background illumination but the impact comes from the narrow angle spotlights focused on the objects on display. It’s a much more dramatic and interesting scheme. All the spotlights can be aimed, so it is much more flexible and can be adapted as the store layout changes. Of course, this option also has disadvantages. On a practical level, you need to make sure the spotlights are aimed correctly. Missing the merchandise might also mean unnecessary glare for customers. Spotlights with a locking mechanism go a long way to overcoming this problem. Unsurprisingly, the electrical load is much higher than that of scheme 1.
3
BALANCED
This combines features from the two options above. We still retain the flexibility of scheme 2 by using some of the track spotlights, but the wide-angle gimbal units have been replaced by far fewer panels. This may not please everyone because although the ceiling is less cluttered, many prefer the look of a gimbal to an opal diffuser ceiling panel. We could also have reduced the number of spotlights further. It’s an example of where you need to match the design to the store architecture and what will be displayed. The advantage of this scheme is that there is a degree of highlighting on the merchandise and the lighting can be adjusted to suit a changing store layout. One aspect to watch out for is the colour temperature of the luminaires. Some shops go for cool background lighting and warmer spotlighting. The Lux team went to one store where, everyone agreed, there was too great a difference between the two and your eyes had to constantly adjust depending on where you were looking.
TECH SPEC
TECH SPEC
Luminaires Spotlights in a recessed track plus twin gimbal units Optical control Narrow-angle reflectors Arrangement Can easily be varied to suit the merchandise Average horizontal illuminance 360 lx Electrical load 13W/m2 Pros A lot more exciting than option A Cons Watch the aiming
Luminaires Opal panels plus narrow spotlights Optical control Diffuser and reflector Arrangement As shown but can be varied Average horizontal illuminance 385 lx Electrical load 10W/m2 Pros A good mixture of background and spot lighting Cons You still have to watch the aiming
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76 DESIGN CLINIC
1
UNIFORM
ALAN TULLA TECHNICAL EDITOR
DESIGN
CLINIC Retail car park In association with
Alan Tulla considers safety and glare at outside car parks
O
utdoor car parks have three common requirements: people must be (and feel) safe, vehicles and circulation routes must be well lit, See the luminaires and the luminaires must have optics that featured in this article at minimise upward and stray light. www.kingfisherlighting.com Small car parks are often illuminated from the perimeter, and the high-angle throw required means tall columns are needed. Taller columns also have a greater daytime visual impact. This is especially relevant to car parks bordered by housing. Rearward spill light can also be a problem. For these reasons, large car parks often have columns at the centre. These columns must have a barrier to protect them from vehicle impacts, but light can be directed in all directions from one position, thus reducing the number of columns needed. For larger areas, several lanterns can be arranged in a cross on top of the column. How much light do you need? It is important to design car parks so light comes from several directions. This is to reduce deep or long shadows between the cars. Guidance on illumination levels is found in EN 12464-2 or BS 5489. There is sometimes a problem adapting to darkness when moving from a brightly lit supermarket to the outside. It is worth considering whether to light this zone to an intermediate level, although sometimes the spill light from the windows will accomplish this for you. A brightly lit supermarket car park is 20-30 lx. Car parks may be empty for most of the night. Rather than switching off the lights, it is better to dim them to a low level and install sensors to brighten them when they detect movement. This car park is 30m across and more than 50m long. All options use 8m-tall columns. O Watch out for more Design Clinics at www.luxreview.com
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Lighting from the perimeter works best with narrow car parks. This option uses Kingfisher’s recently launched Viva-City street lighting lantern. The advantage is that we could have had very wide lateral spacing between the columns. We only needed the third to boost the illumination to the (comparatively high) lux level. An advantage of this scheme is the excellent uniformity throughout. As with all streetlighting optics, less light is directed forwards, so we had to use some extra columns to boost the illumination in the central area. This scheme would work almost as well with 6m-tall columns. These would have less visual impact by day and would be preferable in residential areas.
TECH SPEC Luminaires Twelve Viva-City luminaires Optical control Individually lensed LEDs Arrangement Perimeter and centre Average horizontal illuminance at ground level 17 lx Electrical load for main car park 500W Pros Good for lighting circulation routes Cons The streetlighting distribution means low forward throw
DESIGN CLINIC 77
2
FLOODLIT
Here we are using a 100W LED floodlight, the Aludra from Kingfisher. These are positioned only on the perimeter, keeping the central area clear. Whenever you use this type of solution, you must make sure that the beams cross over in the middle. If they don’t, you will get silhouetting and poor vertical illumination. Also, you must take care that the aiming angle isn’t too high. If it is, you risk wasting energy by overshooting the area. If you are aiming the floodlight more than three or four times the height of the column, you might also find that glare could be a problem.
3
CENTRAL LOCATION
There is a lot going for this scheme. It uses just two columns. On each, there are four Kingfisher 60W T-Led flat glass floodlights. The peak of the beam is emitted at about 60 degrees from downward vertical, with none above 90 degrees, so there is no upward light. There is plenty of light along the driving routes and where people are loading their cars. Illumination does tail off towards the perimeter, but this is normally supplemented by spill light from the surrounding areas. The advantages of this scheme are the low running and maintenance costs.
TECH SPEC
TECH SPEC
Luminaires Six Aludra floodlights Optical control High purity aluminium reflector Arrangement Perimeter only Average horizontal illuminance at ground level 25 lx Electrical load for main car park 600W Pros Keeps the central area clear Cons Watch you don’t aim them too high
Luminaires Eight T-led floodlights Optical control High purity aluminium reflector Arrangement Centrally mounted only Average horizontal illuminance at ground level 25 lx Electrical load 475W Pros Fewest columns and lowest power Cons Rather low levels at the perimeter
www.luxreview.com
78 BRANDING WITH LIGHT
Branding with
LIGHT Retailers are using light as a tool to make their premises stand out. Robert Bain looks at 10 of the best examples
DEBENHAMS The department store on London’s Oxford Street has transformed its tired 1970s building into a beacon for shoppers, with a kinetic façade made of 185,000 suspended aluminium shingles that ripple in the breeze, with a golden lighting scheme designed by Light and Design Associates. Debenhams can once again hold its head high alongside its rival stores.
JUICY COUTURE Paul Nulty Lighting Design came up with a bold scheme for this Regent Street fashion boutique. Juicy bucks the trend for dark, high-contrast fashion stores à la Hollister, going instead for a distinctive, light, bright look. It’s got a bespoke chandelier and a neon Juicy Couture logo (hung on a pink taffeta curtain, naturally).
www.luxreview.com
BRANDING WITH LIGHT 79
AUDI This is the room where cars are handed over to their new owners at an Audi showroom in Munich. The cars are lit by huge ‘light fields’, made by Osram and flush installed in the ceiling. They can be tuned in colour temperature from 2700 to 6500K to accentuate the colours of the cars underneath.
CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN Not only did the lighting at the Christian Louboutin shop in London’s Harrods have to live up to the brand, it also couldn’t use the ceiling, because the building is listed. Lights complement the highly-polished furniture without intruding.
MANCHESTER UNITED
ALICE TEMPERLEY Fashion designer Alice Temperley doesn’t do things by halves, and the lighting design at her shop in Doha, Qatar, reflects that. It features what the designers call ‘statement chandeliers’, together with Romanesque columns and mirrors. Fittings from Hacel light not only the clothes but also the hand-drawn peacock illustrations on the walls.
At Manchester United’s stadium store, products are lit and circulation spaces fade into the background. The Lux Award-shortlisted scheme uses low illuminance and high contrast to aid orientation and drive sales.
www.luxreview.com
80 BRANDING WITH LIGHT
SKY David Atkinson Lighting Design created the lighting for Sky at the Westfield shopping centre in West London. The vertical fins are lit with RGB LED strips. Printed dots on the glass panels create a fading lit effect. Two internally illuminated Sky logos are set in the middle, and are programmed to change colour.
PASPALEY Mindseye designed lighting for the Paspaley pearl boutique in Melbourne’s Crown Casino. The approach for the façade was inspired by Paspaley’s unique strand stringing technique and pearl luminosity. The installation uses 49 strands of LEDs behind frosted glass framed with mirrors, which sparkle in sequence.
www.luxreview.com
TED BAKER Ths shop in Ted Baker’s hometown of Glasgow pays homage to the brand’s local heritage. The company has always resisted the creation of a single store format. The design of the suspended rafts, which carry spot and ambient lighting from Philips, are a nod to local artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
THE WHITE COMPANY At the White Company in Norwich, designers Dalziel and Pow aimed to create a ‘home-from-home’ feel. Spotlights create impact, while and a soft wash of light fills shadows on the wall systems. Decorative fittings are suspended over key products, with a flood of daylight over the staircase.
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82 DARKNESS
The power of the
DARK SIDE Robert Bain mingles with the beautiful young things in Hollister, and discovers that black is the new... err... black in fashion retail
O
f all the high-street retailers, the one with the most distinctive lighting look is, without a doubt, Hollister. And that look is dark and contrasty with big prominent spotlights sporting barn doors. Pretty much all the fittings are either black, including the sign on the front of the shop, which is defiantly black-on-black, so you have to look quite carefully just to be able to read it. But the cool kids know this is Hollister anyway.
A sight for aging eyes – Primark favours a brighter look
www.luxreview.com
In the Regent Street store in London, there are huge video walls displaying footage of the surfers in the ocean. Walk around the store and you’ll see a lot of other shoppers silhouetted against the screens. The stairs too, are lit from the treads, so you see dark figures silhouetted against a greenish light.
Into darkness It seems like the Hollister team have obtained every rule book going on lighting, and torn them all up. It’s moody, it’s exciting, and it’s completely unmistakable. The illumination of the actual products is uneven – every now and again, if you’re lucky, you’ll stumble upon a small pool of light on a T-shirt, or half of a dress. But this approach has its drawbacks, as you can see from the letter (above) from a young fan, that Lux was asked to pass on to Hollister. They haven’t replied yet. When we asked Hollister about its lighting, it said it had made it brighter in recent years. You could have fooled us. But who cares what we think? The kids love it. Meanwhile, for those of us with aging eyes, there’s always the likes of Primark, which err on the side of overlighting.
DARKNESS 83
We struggled to take a properly exposed photo at Hollisterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Regent Street store
Hollisterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s black-on-black storefront challenges the orthodoxy of signwriting
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Photo: Redshift Photography
INTERNATIONAL
Lighting Fixture Design CONFERENCE 2015
Get to market fast! Rapid product development is the key to success in today’s rapidly changing lighting market. We’ll help you beat your competitors in this must-attend conference whose theme is speed to market. You’ll learn: O How to slash lead times and product cycles O The next innovative technologies and trends O How to cut product costs and future-proof your design Aimed at manufacturers and suppliers, this vital two-day event will give you insights to stay at the forefront of the lighting revolution. The format includes exclusive presentations by keynote speakers, interactive sessions, live interviews, panel discussions, and of course the ever-popular Dragon’s Den-style product demonstrations, networking streams and drinks reception.
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CONTROLS RETAIL 85
Get retail under
CONTROL
When it comes to controls in retail, there are haves and there are have-nots – a fact that perturbs Sam Woodward
O
Retailers that look at only part of this technology trio are missing out.
Leading edge and bottom line The good news is that, at the leading edge, remarkable things are being done by companies and brands that are discovering controls can enhance their bottom line, and their CSR image. Setting aside smartphone interaction technologies in the fittings that provide location data, leading retailers are already seeing benefits by using lighting controls to monitor energy consumption, to take steps to reduce load and to schedule maintenance, as well as providing a more dynamic lighting environment for customers. For example, Apple uses Lutron’s commercial Quantum system to view rich data from its stores remotely, giving the company ammunition for devising energy-saving strategies, along with information on the status of fittings. The system also provides multi-zone time-clock control, which
V
ne of the most marked divides, in lighting control terms, is in the world of retail lighting. The chasm between those who enjoy the many benefits of good controls and those who do not use controls at all is vast, and widening. Yet the energy savings that come from optimising lighting use can make a dramatic difference to a retailer’s bottom line. Money saved on electricity has an effect on profitability equivalent to an increase in sales, so it’s remarkable that so few companies embrace lighting controls with gusto. Not only can controls directly increase profits, but they can also enhance the customer experience, which ultimately leads to more brand loyalty, more return visits and increased profits. It’s great to see more efficient light sources, such as LEDs, being adopted; but this is really only one piece of the conservation pie, and there are more gains to be had. The key is to optimise a combination of efficient sources, efficient drivers, and efficient controls.
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86 CONTROLS RETAIL
‘‘
The chasm between those who enjoy the many benefits of good controls and those who do not use controls at all is vast, and widening”
takes into account daylight-saving time changes around the world. This enables different scenes to be recalled, store-wide, at different times of day, different days of the week, or for special ‘holiday’ events, creating a richer customer experience in an environment where ambience and atmosphere are important to the brand.
Car showrooms Another example of great use of time-based automated control is car showrooms where, at night, when the glass-fronted buildings are closed, ‘hero’ products can be highlighted in pools of light without illuminating the whole sales space. Not only is this treatment more eye-catching, but it is tremendous for reducing energy use for lighting. The use of a fourth dimension, time, brings a renewed attraction for the retailers’ design and invites customers into the space. It’s accepted, both by regulation and also by design, that display lighting must be bright. Well, not quite. Display lighting must be high contrast, and therefore in so many shops the lighting is as bright as possible (with the exception of certain fashion stores that I have insufficient street cred to patronise) to make the products stand out in their surroundings.
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Yet display lighting is only part of the story in shops. Quick wins for energy saving are available in back-of-house areas, including stockrooms, corridors, offices, loading bays and staff facilities. Occupancy sensors give fast savings for low-footfall parts of the building, and need not be disruptive or expensive to install if they are wireless. Sensors, with batteries that should last a decade, can be wirelessly linked to switching or even dimming ballasts on fittings without the need to pull control cabling into the space. It is remarkable that, in 2015, there are still vast numbers of retail premises where there is no dynamic control of lighting. The most important function of retail is to increase sales, and failing to control lighting means these retailers are missing out on three opportunities: dynamic ‘theatricality’ to attract customers; enhanced ability to focus attention on the products by dimming other lighting; and overall energy-saving, front and back-of-house, to increase profits. With a broad range of controls available, there’s something for every store, and no reason not to get started in enjoying the benefits which they bring. O Sam Woodward is education leader for Europe and Africa at Lutron
88 ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE
The future is
DALI Even after seventeen years, DALI still has a bright future ahead of it, writes Steve Roberts of RECOM Lighting
D
espite the hype about wireless control technologies such as Zigbee, Bluetooth LE and the internet of things, the 17-year-old Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) standard refuses to lie down and play dead. LEDs have given a new lease of life to this robust two-wire communication interface, opening up new applications and eliminating some of the drawbacks. Originally conceived as a way of switching and dimming fluorescent tubes and halogen lamps, DALI has been continuously extended and updated over the years and the protocol now includes LED lighting technologies (for white light and coloured light), as well as the ability to control relays and interface with touch, light or occupancy sensors – all without compromising on the simplicity of the basic system. Alone among lighting control systems, it has an international IEC standard which ensures interoperability between suppliers, products and countries. With the brand-new Version 2 DALI standard, released in November 2014, the DALI protocol has been dusted off and overhauled to make it relevant for yet another couple of decades. In fact, the standard has been restructured and now shows improvements in speed and even more reliability than before. Let’s take a look at the key benefits of the combination of DALI and LED.
‘‘
DALI essentially solved the digital control of lighting problem two decades ago. But any technological tool must move with the times” www.luxreview.com
1. Energy efficiency Lighting accounts for almost 20 per cent of the world’s electricity consumption and up to 50 per cent in homes. As demand continues to increase and our infrastructure gets more strained, reducing energy wastage is becoming increasingly important. The EU’s energy and climate framework policy is committed to 27 per cent energy savings and a 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gasses by 2030. Lower energy consumption means increased energy security and improved competitiveness – and less pollution. Simple things like turning off the light when we don’t need it and dimming the lights when natural light is available can make a significant difference. This is where LED lighting and automated lighting controls can help. Savings of up to 75 per cent can be made in the commercial lighting sector and 50 per cent in the residential sector.
2. Cheap, easy installation DALI was conceived as a vendor-independent, bi-directional control system that uses low-cost components and is easy to install because it is selfaddressing. Power and control wiring can be laid in the same conduit or even share the same multi-core cable. This enables both new and older buildings to be retrofitted with digital control. The DALI standard is also unique because the protocol incorporates dualpurpose lighting (for general and emergency use), enabling older buildings to meet strict current safety standards. DALI is also very energy efficient – two decades ago it had the foresight to incorporate energy usage monitoring and 1000:1 dimming capability into its basic protocol. True zero no-load consumption is easy to implement and DALI works just as well with energy-efficient DC grids as with conventional AC power grids. One of the main drawbacks of DALI control of fluorescent lighting was that each lamp required an individual address. However, LED lighting uses a different setup. A single driver typically controls
ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE 89
multiple LED strips or spotlights and it is not unusual to connect several LED drivers together to use a common control signal to dim lighting groups and set scenes. The introduction of LED has all but eliminated the problem of limited address space and reduced the cost of DALI installations. This is why DALI still has a big role to play and why it is still the most widely used standard for dimming control. Wireless control systems make sense if the wiring cannot easily be changed, and for many domestic environments, a wireless system is the best solution. However, building an RF receiver into every LED lamp is still prohibitively expensive and some Zigbee-enabled retrofit lamps are not fully compliant with the latest Light Link standard, so incompatibilities can arise if more than a few lights are installed. In a professional or commercial environment, it is more likely that a fully featured bi-directional control solution will be required; typically a Wi-Fi hub connected to a gateway that retransmits the data to drivers, luminaires, sensors and switches. However, in practice, many of these so-called wireless lighting control systems are actually only RF as far as the last router and then, simply for cost reasons, the signals run through wires to the LED lamp controllers. There are also many situations where a wired system may be preferable. As our offices and homes become more technologically advanced, the available RF bands start to fill up with competing devices and timing conflicts become more likely. This issue will become serious with the increased uptake of the internet of things (IoT), which envisions hundreds of intelligent objects wirelessly communicating with each other in every home and office, all using the same frequency band (see box, right).
3. Seamless interoperability There are many well-established automated lighting control technologies – all with their strengths and weaknesses – and many more are being promoted in the fight for LED control standardisation. Some systems allow great programmability, but require a trained engineer for installation. Others are more user friendly but limited in scope. It seems that every year a new solution is proposed, each one promising to be the best, but the simple fact is that no single protocol has risen to the top. The scope of LED lighting is so wide that there cannot be a single control technology that satisfies every user in every application. Given that different modern technologies should work together seamlessly, it makes sense to have multiple systems and to select the best one solution for each individual application. DALI can usefully co-exist with all of the latest RF
technologies, either as an independent control system as the ‘last mile’ that completes the connection between the human interface and the lighting. As a programmable system in its own right, DALI can also add functionality to other control systems. For example, it sets up the default lighting levels in the event of a communications fault. This is possible because the DALI standard insists that every ballast or interface contains a non-volatile memory to retain the default settings if there is a loss of bus power or data traffic – a requirement you won’t find in many of the newer protocols.
A bright future The IEC 62386 standard that defines DALI – moving with the times
DALI essentially solved the digital control of lighting problem a couple of decades ago. But any technological tool must move with the times. The DALI Version 2 rewrite of the IEC 62386 standard not only ensures backwards compatibility to existing DALI systems but offers the opportunity for innovative features such as remote control, integration with fire and emergency lighting systems, balancing of light output as LEDs age, and reduction of the lighting load at times of peak electrical demand. And while building automation isn’t DALI’s speciality, there are numerous gateways to smoothly integrate DALI lighting control into building automation or building management systems – all readily available off-the-shelf. DALI’s inherent flexibility makes such interoperability is possible. As DALI teams up with today’s control, LED and wireless technology, it will continue to be a major force in the world of lighting control. There is life in the old dog yet.
OLD SCHOOL SECURITY The ‘internet of things’ (IoT) is set to have a big impact on lighting and building control, but security is a big concern. All IoT wireless control systems are coded with software keys for security, but as the number of devices on a network increases, it becomes easier for the code to be broken by sniffer tools that analyse data traffic or pretend to be a node on the system and request the key from the central controller. For any wireless lighting system that continually transmits data, the question is not if, but when the key can be broken. While a compromised lighting network may only be a minor nuisance, a building automation system that also includes door looks and window shutters, for instance, is another matter. On the other hand, a humble light switch, relay or dimming signal connected with wires is immune to outside interference. This ‘old school’ design makes DALI resistant to electrical transients and EM interference but also inherently more secure than any RF system.
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90 LIGHTING ECONOMIST
What if all the UK’s retailers Lux’s lighting economist, Dave Tilley, considers what would happen if the UK’s retailers replaced all of their halogen – or just some of their fluorescent – sources with LEDs
W
hat if all the retail businesses in the UK changed their halogen lamps to LED? My back-of-the-envelope calculation is based on 50 halogen lamps per business and 4,200 operating hours (below). Obviously some retailers will already have switched to LED (although in the great scheme
of things, not many) or they may be using other technologies that are more efficient than halogen, such as ceramic metal halide and fluorescent. On the other hand, these estimates are only based on lighting one shop. Many of those 280,000 retailers have more than one – some have hundreds. So I think our estimates are pretty reasonable.
CURRENT LAMP
NEW LAMP
50W halogen
7W LED
TOTAL ANNUAL ENERGY SAVING
2.5 billion kWh ANNUAL ENERGY SAVING PER STORE
1.4 million tonnes
CO2
9,030kWh
CARBON EMISSION REDUCTION
£ MONEY SAVED
£250 million
($385 million)
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LIGHTING ECONOMIST 91
changed from halogen
TO LED? LEDs have an ROI of less than 12 months, so the retail sector is missing a massive opportunity to save energy and money. The lighting energy saving is only part of the story. Replacing halogen with LEDs also reduces heat, which gives you knock-on savings on air conditioning. And it reduces the maintenance, which not only cuts the retailer’s costs, it also reduces transportation costs, leading to a further reduction in carbon emissions. If the European Energy-related Product (ErP) legislation – which prevents the sale of halogen lamps – was enforced, imagine the scale of the reduction in energy consumption and associated carbon dioxide emissions that could be achieved. But there are still a significant number of people who have doubts about the ability of LEDs to replace traditional light sources. For a successful change from traditional light sources to LEDs, it is essential that the quality and performance of the LED is assured. There is little point selling a 3W LED claiming it is a replacement for a 50W halogen – this approach will only damage the reputation of LEDs and therefore affect the speed of adoption. But acceptance of LEDs remains patchy. The alternative is high energy use, costly maintenance regimes and damaged brands and reputations.
Just two tubes Now let’s look at a more modest example (right). What if just two fluorescent tubes were changed to LED in all the 280,000 retail businesses in the UK? Two retrofit LED tubes might be considered a small number but it does demonstrate the potential of engaging a business sector. In addition, of the 280,000 retail business just under 140,000 are sole traders, with around 100,000 employing five staff or less. Clearly large stores and groups can afford LED retrofit schemes, but there are a significant number of businesses that will require support. I know I have said this on several occasions, but the government really could reduce the UK’s energy consumption by enforcing existing legislation and providing incentives to adopt LEDs, subject to quality and performance controls.
CURRENT LAMP
NEW LAMP
22W LED tube
58W fluorescent
TOTAL ANNUAL ENERGY SAVING
ANNUAL ENERGY SAVING PER STORE
300kWh
CO2
CARBON EMISSION REDUCTION
46,500 tonnes
84 million kWh
£ MONEY SAVED
£8.4 million ($13 million)
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92 LIGHTING ECONOMIST
Don’t forget the back
OF HOUSE Many retailers will push the boat out when upgrading front-of-house lighting but, asks Dave Tilley, what about staff areas?
Now, before contractors start firing off angry emails, it is possible that the installation has been designed – but the designs tend to be over-illuminated. In many cases, switch-start luminaires are installed. And a high proportion of lighting installations in back-ofhouse areas are never improved. Back-of-house does not consume as much energy as the sales area, so there’s no reason not to include it in the lighting design, particularly when simple retrofit solutions can save energy and pay for themselves in less than two years. To demonstrate the benefit of incorporating backof-house in the store lighting design, I have provided a few examples of back-of-house lighting efficiencies. The numbers are from actual projects. A great example of extreme lux levels is a staff kitchen illuminated by a twin 70W switch-start batten with prismatic diffuser. Interestingly, the majority of the back-of-house space was illuminated with the same luminaire. The old twin 70W switch-start batten consumed 670kWh a year and was responsible for 0.4 tonnes of CO2 emissions. The new 28W 2D bulkhead uses just
A
new shop is about to open. The great and the good are assembled, the store is sparkling and the talk is all about energy efficiency and all the associated benefits. Then the manager pushes open the door to the back-of-house area… Don’t get me wrong, there are examples of good practice. For instance, John Lewis specifies back-ofhouse lighting in the same way it specifies lighting for the sales area. Sadly, it is the exception to the rule. Back of house is often left to the electrical contractor who, in many cases, seems to see it as an opportunity to use all those spare luminaires.
TWIN 70W SWITCH-START BATTEN WITH DIFFUSER
CO2 ANNUAL SAVING
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28W 2D BULKHEAD
0.35 tonnes ANNUAL ENERGY SAVING
560kWh
£ ANNUAL COST SAVING
£56
LIGHTING ECONOMIST 93
ANNUAL SAVING
3 tonnes 5,470kWh KITCHEN 28W 2Ds
TOILETS 2 X 28W 2Ds
110kWh
0% 50 55kWh
0% 20
h 0kWh 90kW
% 50% 450kWh 45 900kWh
450kWh STAFF ROOM 4 4X14W MODULES STOCK ROOM 30 X 24W LED TUBES
220kWh
% 70% 70 155kWh OFFICE 2 4X14W MODULES
% 40% 4
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It is difficult to suggest a period to achieve return on investment, but in general for this type of initiative it would be about two years. An example of using LED back of house can be demonstrated in a small stockroom with four aisles and shelving on either side. The stockroom was lit with 30 58W switch-start battens. Replace each of these with a 24W LED tube and you can cut energy use from 8,350kWh a year to just 2,800kWh, and carbon emissions from 4.6 tonnes to 1.6 tonnes. You’ve saved £547-worth of energy and three tonnes of CO2. LED tubes are not high on my list of specified lighting products, but as I’ve said on many occasions, the specification of lamps and luminaires is about the application. In this case the LED tube delivers the right distribution of light and is particularly cost effective, the ROI is less than two years including installation.
SAVINGS FROM INSTALLING SENSORS
V
Many happy returns
£547
V
110kWh a year, and is responsible for only 0.05 tonnes of CO2 emissions. So savings of 560kWh (worth £56) and 0.35 tonnes of CO2 can be made in a year. The savings do not take into account the fact that, if a GE wattmiser 2D lamp is used, the operating wattage is reduced to 23W. Also a sensor could be incorporated, which would further improve efficiency. The difference in lumen output between the two luminaries is significant, but the staff kitchen is small and the work area even smaller. This is probably an extreme example of an over-illuminated area, but it does demonstrate what happens if retailers leave back-of-house to chance.
£ ANNUAL COST SAVING
ANNUAL ENERGY SAVING
V
CO2
30 24W LED TUBES
V
30 58W S/S BATTENS
kWh 1,150kW
2,880kWh
incorporate appropriate lux levels, lamp and luminaire technology and lighting controls, annual energy savings of 60-70 per cent can be achieved. The efficiency can be increased if the savings achieved through reduced maintenance and consumables is included. You may have noticed that I have included reductions in carbon dioxide emissions in the calculations. Although the CRC legislation to encourage carbon reductions has had its teeth removed, there still remains an obligation on many UK businesses to reduce carbon consumption. It is also worth noting that, for many businesses, carbon emissions have a direct cost.
Take control I have detailed an example of a back-of-house area with a number of different spaces. The example represents a small area. Depending on the type of sensor specified – built into the luminaire or located in the ceiling – the ROI can be estimated as about two years. As well as the annual energy saving, there would be an annual reduction in carbon emissions of 1.05 tonnes. If a typical back-of-house area is designed to
THE LIGHTING ECONOMIST’S VERDICT Retailers and indeed all businesses with back-of-house areas must design and specify back-of-house in the same way they manage main areas. Energy and maintenance efficiency should be part of business culture, not selective. The management of back-of-house lighting specification and design can generate significant savings and importantly sends a positive message to staff: that the area they occupy is as important as that visited by customers. Contact Dave Tilley at dtilley@nrgstar.com
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THE GLOBAL LANGUAGE OF LIGHT LIGHTFAIR.COM
NEW YORK, NY USA
Javits Center PRE-CONFERENCE
May 3 – 4, 2015 PHOTO CREDITS (1) WALL ILLUMINATION FANTASY OF PIOLE HIMEJI, HIMEJI-SHI, JAPAN | LIGHTING DESIGN: UCHIHARA CREATIVE LIGHTING DESIGN INC + TAKENAKA CORPORATION | PHOTOGRAPHY © MASAKI KAWAGUCHI (2) BRANZ KOSHIEN, NISHINOMIYA, JAPAN | LIGHTING DESIGN: AKARI+DESIGN ASSOCIATES | PHOTOGRAPHY © HIROYUKI TSUDA
TRADE SHOW & CONFERENCE
May 5 – 7, 2015
INDOOR POSITIONING 95
Lights that
TRACK WHERE YOU ARE The experience of going shopping is about to be turned on its head by indoor positioning technology – and it’s all thanks to LED lights. Robert Bain reports
Y
ou arrive at the supermarket in a hurry with a list of things to buy for a kid’s birthday party. Fortunately you’ve got your shopping list saved in an app on your phone. It immediately generates a map showing you the quickest route around the store to pick up everything you need. It guides you around the aisles with a moving arrow on a map. With your phone’s help, you’ve found the paper plates, but the ones you want aren’t on the shelf. You use the app to call a shop assistant, who fetches the missing item from the stock room. Now you’re dithering in front of the soft drinks display. Your phone buzzes and you receive a special offer nudging you towards a particular brand. Decision made.
just need a specially programmed driver, so in theory it should work with pretty much any LED luminaire that’s compatible with your VLC-enabled driver. This also means it’s not as expensive to implement as you might think (at least, that’s what the people selling it say).
Data in light
Lights that talk All of the above is now possible. And believe it or not, it’s all thanks to LED lights. The technology is called visible light communication (VLC) and it works by encoding data into the light from normal LED luminaires. It’s not as crazy an idea as it might sound, because, although it may not look like it, any LED light is actually flashing on and off very fast. The human eye can’t see this invisible flicker, but a digital camera, like the one in your mobile phone, can. So it’s not too big a jump to vary the flicker in a way that’s still not visible to the eye, but that turns the flicker into a digital signal. You don’t even need special lights to do this: you
By detecting light from LED luminaires, the app on this iPad can pinpoint your location
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The most obvious application for VLC is to create a light-based alternative to Wi-Fi, known as Li-Fi. You can also use it to link data to illuminated objects, as Japan’s Fujitsu has demonstrated. Point your phone at an item lit by Fujitsu’s spotlight and the camera
96 INDOOR POSITIONING
reads data in the reflected light to provide you with information about the item.
Where it’s at But the application of VLC that is taking off the fastest is indoor positioning. All you have to do is tell every luminaire in a space to send out a unique identifying signal, over and over again, and when your smartphone sees which lights are nearby, it can pinpoint its location with astonishing accuracy – to within about 10cm. That’s way more accurate than GPS, which has never worked very well indoors anyway. It’s not hard to see why retail is the number one sector that providers of VLC-based positioning systems have their eye on. Customers are already using their phones in shops and retailers are desperate to connect with them. Retailers already have digital maps of their stores and diagrams of what goes where on the shelves, ready to be integrated with a positioning system to create powerful interactive maps. Imagine the difference it could make in vast ‘big box’ retail outlets, sprawling shopping malls or multi-floor department stores. Philips Lighting is trialling a positioning system at a museum in the Netherlands (see box, below) and hopes to apply the technology to retail applications too. Gerben van der Lugt, who looks after indoor positioning at Philips, told Lux at Light + Building
THE MUSEUM WHERE THE LIGHTS ARE YOUR GUIDE At the Boerhaave Museum of science and medicine in Leiden in the Netherlands, Philips is testing its indoor positioning system as a way of making exhibitions more engaging. Visitors are given a tablet with an app that tracks where they walk, and provides information and multimedia content about the exhibits they’re looking at. Jella Segers of Philips Lighting says: ‘Lighting has gone beyond mere illumination. We can now deliver great quality and highly efficient LED lighting that acts as a positioning grid to deliver targeted information, enriching people’s experiences of the places they visit, whether it’s a museum, supermarket, airport terminal or any large public indoor space.’ A survey showed that two-thirds of visitors liked the location-specific content and said it made their visit more enjoyable.
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EldoLED is targeting retailers with its positioning system
last year: ‘We see a lot of applications from retailers to bring location-based services to their shoppers: on-shelf or near-shelf couponing, product finding... bringing relevant information to the shoppers when it really matters.’ Lighting electronics specialist EldoLED has been running a large-scale trial of its Lux Award-winning positioning system with a US retailer, and is working on live installations for two retail clients. US startup Bytelight is combining VLC-based positioning with Bluetooth, so that lights can communicate with smartphones before customers have even taken them out of their pockets. A test installation at Green Apple Books in San Francisco features luminaires with Bridgelux Decor Series LED modules and built-in Bluetooth, and Bytelight is working on other trials that combine this with VLC. GE Lighting has two trials of positioning systems underway with retailers in Europe, and two more in the US. It’s looking at applications including navigation and delivering coupons. Like Bytelight, GE’s approach is to combine VLC with other technologies built into luminaires, such as Bluetooth and cameras – drawing on the company’s expertise in areas outside lighting. Mike Barrett, who is in charge of product management for GE in EMEA, believes indoor positioning is a ‘game changer’. ‘Retailers are constantly challenging us to think about new, creative ways of helping them,’ he told Lux. ‘They’re not just asking how we can help them from a sustainability point of view, but how we can help them reduce their costs and improve their revenue.’ A further advantage of positioning systems is the intelligence they will be able to gather. When you shop online, every click you make is tracked and analysed, your buying habits memorised, and all the numbers crunched to make sure sites offer you what you’re most likely to buy. But in the bricks-andmortar world, where most purchases still take place, it’s much harder to research what shoppers do and
INDOOR POSITIONING 97
Bytelight and Bridgelux are testing out Bluetooth-enabled luminaires at Green Apple Books in San Francisco
why. Indoor positioning promises to bridge that gap, bringing together the best of both worlds. Steve Lydecker of EldoLED’s parent company Acuity Brands says: ‘What we’re seeing is retailers moving beyond the traditional values of light in terms of quality and energy efficiency... and focusing more now on new features that can come from the intelligence that’s embedded in their lighting systems. It’s about adding that internet-style shopping experience to purchases made in the physical environment.’ So what kinds of services can we expect to see? Well, that’s up to the retailer. They can integrate the technology with their own apps, websites and store systems. And from the kinds of apps they’re already using (see box, right), the potential benefits are clear. All the richness, intelligence and connectivity of the online world is about to be blended with the real world. And – who would have thought – it’s all thanks to the lighting. WATCH LUX’S VIDEO ON ELDOLED’S INDOOR POSITIONING TECHNOLOGY
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APPY DAYS US retail giant Target launched an app last Christmas called Bullseye’s Playground. Developed with the help of Google, it’s a mobile game featuring the retailer’s mascot dog, Bullseye. The game ties in with in-store displays, allowing players to find codes to unlock new levels and features, and even with special in-store events, where staff give out special tablets with 3D augmented reality features, so shoppers can charge around Target holding tablets in front of their faces, trying to throw digital snowballs at digital polar bears (and probably knocking over a big pile of soup tins in the process). An indoor positioning system would be a powerful enhancement for augmented reality in-store games. Target also has a Wish List app which lets you scan the store’s catalogue to add items to your list, and to get special offers in store. An indoor positioning system that knows the location of every product in a shop would be the perfect addition to an app like this.
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98 RULES AND REGS
Never fear, Liz Peck is here to guide you through the maze of legislation, guidance and weird foibles that apply to retail lighting
LIZ PECK LIGHTING CONSULTANT
Retail lighting rules and regs: everything you need to know,
BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK L
ighting in a retail environment is complex, and not just because of the aesthetic and business considerations that are necessary. There is also a wealth of retail-specific guidance – and even laws – that complicate things for anyone contemplating a life specifying lighting for shops. Legalities Let’s start with the elephant in the room: emergency lighting. Irrespective of how retailers choose to light their products, under the Fire Safety Order and health and safety legislation, it is a legal requirement for all non-domestic properties to provide a safe environment at all times, even if the mains fail. The recommendations are discussed below and like all guidance, you can ignore them. You’d do well to justify doing so if there were an accident though, so I would ignore them at your peril. The ubiquitous Building Regulations also come into play for retailers when it comes to display lighting. The guidance is quite clear that display lighting should be on separate controls so it can be switched off when ‘people are not inspecting exhibits, merchandise or being entertained’. This means that however you are illuminating the store, the efficacy of the lighting installation during non-opening hours, such as for cleaning or cashing up, must meet the higher targets of general lighting. Don’t forget that the equivalent regulations are now separated out between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland so make sure you have the right guidance document for wherever you are.
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Guidance Retail is a bit unusual where recommended lighting levels are concerned, principally because the workplace standard (EN 14264:1) relates to just that, the workplace, those working in the shop. But the lighting is generally not designed for those working, but for those who occupy the space transiently with the aspiration that a sale will take place. This is borne out by the rather twee section in the SLL Code for Lighting that recommends 300 lx for a sales area, 500 lx at the till and 500 lx on the wrapper table. Abercrombie and Fitch famously lit their Sheffield Hollister store to less than 1 lx, and Primark was found to be lighting some of its stores well in excess of 1,200 lx (Lux magazine, January 2011), yet they both aspire to sell clothes, albeit at slightly different ends of the consumer spectrum. This can be explained – if not justified in extreme cases – by the much more comprehensive guidance the SLL publishes in its Lighting Handbook. The section on retail lighting deals with the differing profiles of retailers, from low-budget to exclusive, each with their different frequencies of use, product range and sales style. The guidance also covers the effect of different luminance ratios but recommends that general lighting should be uniform with only accent and display lighting creating the drama where required. Abercrombie & Fitch, take note. Colour temperature is another area of focus, something that all retailers should note. With the greater use of LEDs, do you really want your fresh red meat to be lit with cool white LEDs,
RULES AND REGS 99
Esos As has been discussed elsewhere, Esos (the Energy Saving Opportunities Scheme) applies to any UK company with 250 employees or with a turnover in excess of €50 million. This includes all organisations, including not-for-profit ones, that are part of a corporate group that meets these criteria. This could affect retailers in a big way. There are 43,000 towns and cities in the UK, so any retailer with a store in even a few of those high streets is probably going to fall under the Esos requirements. Crucially, every employee counts, irrespective of whether they are part-time or full-time. My local bakery is part of a chain of just under 100 shops but with more than three staff in each, so they will have to complete the Esos audit. Esos is meant for ‘large undertakings’ but I can see there are a lot of retailers that don’t consider themselves ‘large’, but will have to complete the audit. With Esos covering every aspect of energy use, including transport, it’s far from a case of simply counting up the light fittings. Many retailers may not even realise it applies to them.
Light levels vary greatly from shop to shop
rendering it unattractive? Equally, if you’re selling high-end fashion, colour rendering must be as important a consideration as colour temperature. Retail, especially at the high end, is an emotional experience. You must match the lighting to the customer experience. If you have a corner shop where the experience is essentially that of a customer who needs a pint of milk, that’s what you give them, a no-frills experience. If you’re Waitrose, though, you want your customers to loiter a while, buy things they certainly had no idea they were going to buy – and probably have no need for – but that’s why you have brightly lit end-of-aisle gondolas and keep moving the produce around. Presumably, Hollister hopes you’ll get so hopelessly lost in the dark you’ll buy something just so you can ask the way out. Returning to emergency lighting, SLL’s Lighting Guide 12 (LG12) explains all you need to know. There’s rather more to it than having 1 lx on the exit route and 0.5 lx in an open area. Contrary to some beliefs, although the legislation is fire-related, the requirements are for the provision of lighting when the mains power fails, not in a fire. LG12 is not just for designers, it is also useful to specifiers, equipment providers, installers, users, maintainers and enforcing authorities. The design guidance is there, but so is guidance of electrical design and installation, maintenance and testing procedures.
Foibles At what time does a high street store stop ‘displaying its merchandise’ and therefore, should have its window display switched off? How many people who have fallen out of the pub at midnight are really going to stop at M&S and admire the jeans? Yet most high streets have brightly lit window displays all night long. We know that operators of shops and offices in France have been told to switch their lights off within an hour of the last person leaving the premises. I do think that’s a bit extreme – I don’t want to walk down dark streets – but equally I’m not often loitering around Leeds city centre at 3am, let alone admiring the window display at Harvey Nicks. Display lighting should only be on when it’s useful, so like curfews applied to exterior architectural lighting, which ceases to be of public benefit after midnight, so should our shop windows.
DOCUMENTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT Building Regulations Approved Document Part L2A (2013,England only) Building Regulations Approved Document Part L2B (2013, England only) Non-domestic Building Services Compliance Guide (2013, England only) Scottish Building Standards Technical Handbook - Non-Domestic (2013, Scotland only) Building Regulations Approved Document Part L2A (2013, Wales only) Building Regulations Approved Document Part L2B (2013, Wales only) Technical Booklet F2 (2012, Northern Ireland only) HSG38: Lighting at Work (1997) SLL Code for Lighting (2012) SLL Lighting Handbook (2009) SLL Lighting Guide 6: The outdoor environment (1992) SLL Lighting Guide 10: Daylighting - a guide for designers (2014) SLL Lighting Guide 11: Surface reflectance and colour (2001) SLL Lighting Guide 12: Emergency Lighting Design Guide (2004) SLL Guide to Limiting Obtrusive Light (2012)
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100 RULES AND REGS
Alan Tulla sets out what you need to know about the latest safety standard for LED tubes
ALAN TULLA TECHNICAL EDITOR
A new standard for LED
I
TUBES
f you are thinking of replacing a fluorescent lamp with an LED tube, you should be aware of an important new safety standard introduced by the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) in December 2014. It’s called IEC 62776 and it covers safety specifications for double-capped LED tubes. The standard does not apply to all retrofit LED tubes; only those where the tube is powered by the existing control gear, either electronic or magnetic, so no internal modification of the luminaire is required (except replacing the glow starter by a ‘dummy’ to
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complete the circuit, which is not considered a modification under this standard). Retrofit options Generally, retrofit LED tubes come in two types: those where no modification to the luminaire is required (where IEC 62776 applies) and the more common type where some rewiring or bypassing of the existing control gear is needed. In the latter, you rewire the luminaire so that the incoming mains goes straight to the lamp caps. Whether or not this is a good idea is a hotly disputed topic in the lighting world, and there is currently no specific safety standard for these lamps. However, there is general agreement among European laboratories that tests for these lamps should apply the appropriate aspects from related safety standards such as 60598, 61347 and 62301 together with a risk assessment and a detailed review of the modification instructions supplied. Currently, most of the major lamp manufacturers build their LED tubes to meet the new IEC 62776 standard, but you should always check with your supplier. Remember that IEC 62776 (and the other standards mentioned above) are about safety. They do not tell you anything about performance factors, such as light output, colour rendering, beam distribution or energy efficiency. There are good and bad ones out there, so it’s worth checking these details carefully too. Thanks to Havells-Sylvania, the Lighting Industry Association and the Lighting Industry Association Laboratories, Osram, Philips Lighting and Valtavalo for their help with this article
Controlling LED Smoothly From the light source. To the system. To the user interface With our extensive range of products, including LED drivers, modules and intelligent lighting control solutions, you can smoothly and effectively control your choice of luminaires. For more information visit www.helvar.com or email us at uksystemsales@helvar.com
102 NAMED & SHAMED
Grass them up at shamed@luxmagazine.co.uk or tweet @Lux_magazine
Little shop of horrors Rackhams department store in Skipton, North Yorkshire, is the scene of a number of lighting misdemeanours
Don’t mix your colour temperatures 3000K, 4000K, both fine for retail, but pick one and stick with it. Oh, and don’t lose the louvres.
Damaged luminaires are never a good sign It looks like you don’t care. Besides, how did it get dented way up there?
Keep the wiring out of view Wires and extension cables dangling from the ceiling (below) are never a good look.
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Make sure you use the correct replacement lamp We’re not sure what lamp was originally in this fitting (below, right), but we’re pretty sure it wasn’t a CFL.
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2015 18-19 November 2015 | ExCeL London
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106 REVIEWS SPOTLIGHTS
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Find out how a Lux event can put you in front of the right people. O Forums O Conferences O Sponsorship opportunities
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REVIEWED:
SPOT LIGHTS Alan Tulla takes a closer look at some of the best new LED spotlights out there
T
he whole point of a spotlight is to make the object you are illuminating stand out from its background. In simple terms, this means providing a lot more light on the object than its immediate surroundings, say five to 10 times as much. Of course, lighting isn’t that simple. You must also consider spill light, colour, contrast, background luminance ratios, the viewer’s adaption level, CRI and the all-important ‘soft’ issues such as aesthetics, customer appeal and brand image. Doing it properly is difficult and it’s why British retail lighting designers are considered among the best in the world. After all, we are a nation of shoppers so maybe that’s where we get our expertise. In the spotlight We’ve looked at 14 spotlights this month. As it happens, they’re all LED. The best LED spotlights now match metal halide for quality of light and prices are getting more competitive by the day. Most of the spotlights we’ve looked at produce a peak intensity greater than 10,000 cd. That means, for instance, they’ll produce at least 2,500 lx from two metres away. You always need to think about what width beam you need. Obviously, the wider the beam, the more lumens are required to produce a given illumination level. A pencil thin beam needs very little power and very few lumens to achieve high levels of illumination. But in that case, you may need to provide some extra background illumination. Often it’s where you can position the luminaire and the size of object to be illuminated that determines the
REVIEWS 107
This Timberland store is lit by spotlights from Microlights
beam width you need. An important aspect to consider is the light distribution in the beam. Some beams are quite sharp edged – like those used to follow a performer on stage. Others are deliberately made soft edged so that you do not get such a cut-off against the background. Yet again, others beams have a ‘hot spot’ in the middle with a surrounding halo of much lower intensity. At first I thought that this was the result of poorly designed optics, but more than one supplier told me it was done specifically to prevent a shop looking too dramatic or ‘contrasty’. Top tips You should always do a demo. It is purely a personal preference as to whether you prefer a beam with a central hot spot or one that is totally uniform. Ditto, whether you like a hard or soft edge. One last point is the colour quality. This is largely to do with the
CRI but isn’t the whole story. If you need an extra special quality of light, consider some of the newer LED modules that are tuned to make colours extra vivid, such as Xicato Vibrancy Series or Philips CrispWhite (see our article on page 38 for more about these technologies). Standard white light LEDs are fine for most applications but not all white light looks the same. Again, you should do a demo. We’ve given an indication of approximate price: £ = under £200 ($310), ££ = £200-£300 ($310-$460), £££ = more than £300. Of course, actual price depends very much on quantity – you’ll get a better price for a 100-shop rollout than for just one. It is possible to get a decent quality spotlight for less than £100, but I’ll leave that to your negotiating skills. O Turn over for our verdict on 14 standout spotlights
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108 REVIEWS SPOTLIGHTS
Reviewed: spotlights COMMERCIAL LIGHTING SOVEREIGN SLM
CONCORD BEACON XL
This luminaire is physically bigger than the others we tested – almost 300mm long. The reason is that it has a large finned heatsink sandwiched between the two aluminium halves of the body. One half contains the driver, the other the LED and reflector. Shorter spotlights have the driver alongside the body of the luminaire. The quality of the 16-degree beam is excellent. There is no hot spot and the beam is almost totally uniform from the centre to the soft edge. I’ve known Commercial Lighting for a long time and one of their strengths is customer service and deliveries.
Historically, Concord was the goto company for display lighting, be it for retail or museums. I previously gave five stars to the Concord LyteLab adjustable spotlight for its performance and build quality. The Beacon XL is a smaller, fixed-beam unit that is more affordable but still has great performance. I suspect that the performance comes from the large cooling fins, which were also a feature of the LyteLab. Apart from the fins, the exterior is uncluttered with no visible locking screws or clips. Concord is also launching a higher power version of the XL called the XXL, designed to replace 70W metal halide spotlights.
PRICE ££
***
A cost-effective luminaire
ERCO OPTEC
FLOS ARCHITECTURAL SOLID PURE
What would you expect from Erco? Compact, excellent build quality, finely engineered, and a stylish, minimalist appearance. The Optec has all that. Erco also manufactures its own drivers so the electronics precisely match the LEDs used. From a retail design standpoint, what is more important is that the optics give the maximum punch from the lowest wattage. The sample we received had a 16-degree beam that produced 20,000 cd from just 21W. That’s twice the performance of some we tested. This unit is very much in the mid-price range and will be a wake-up call to some of Erco’s competitors.
Flos products are known for their simplicity of line and are popular among designers. It has the brand name clearly marked on the outside. Our unit had a 15-degree beam that achieved 10,000 cd with 28W. There is a gentle gradation of intensity from the middle with a very soft edge. There is a bit of a hot spot in the centre of the beam, but this is only apparent when you shine it on a plain white surface. It’s not noticeable on a textured or woven surface. Flos has a huge range of spotlights and accessories so you can achieve just about any effect you want. Check its 600-page catalogue to see the rest.
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PRICE ££
*****
Beautifully ergonomic. Erconomic, you might say
PRICE ££
*****
Quality performance at a low price
PRICE ££
**** Stylish
REVIEWS 109
HACEL MANTA 90 POWER SPOT
iGUZZINI iSHOP
This is a nice, simple, budget range of spotlights rated from 12-24W. There are three beam widths from 18 to 54 degrees. There is no front glass, but a honeycomb anti-glare baffle is available as an option. The beam is of the hot centre variety but has a clean edge. It would be fine for most general retail applications. The feature that sets this spotlight apart is the range of brightly coloured ‘fluorescent’ trims that fit like a halo around the end of the reflector. There are five colours ranging from Acid Green and Lava Orange to a more subdued Etched Ice.
We previously tested iGuzzini’s Front Light, but the iShop is specifically designed for retail applications. There are three versions rated from 12 to 46W (1,500-5,200 lm in 4000K). There are also four beam widths from 9 to 60 degrees and an elliptical one. These reflectors can easily be changed on site so you can alter the light distribution to suit the display application. A feature we particularly liked is the beam. The lit area is almost totally smooth from the centre to the edge and the cut-off is clearly defined but not hard. This product has just been launched, so may not be in your catalogue.
PRICE £
***
Simple and functional
LUG NUOVO LED
LUMENPULSE ALPHALED APTO
Lug is a Polish lighting company founded in 1989 with offices across the world. The Nuovo is an extremely compact unit with a chunky appearance and feel. Despite its size, it can produce 3,500-5,000 lm. It has a cast aluminium body and a powder coat finish. The weakest aspect is the simple spun reflector. Like many other beams, there is a hot spot in the middle, but this one also has concentric striations leading to a woolly edge. It might not be noticeable on an uneven surface such as a rack of clothing but would be very apparent on a plain painted wall.
When Lumenpulse acquired AlphaLED in July last year it bought a company already well established in retail and display lighting. The Apto is AlphaLED’s latest spotlight and is aimed (no pun intended) at the retail market. It is compact, solidly made, well finished and has an excellent heatsink. AlphaLED has always used Xicato LED modules so the quality of light is top notch. The body is die-cast aluminium and the satin paint finish is hard wearing. A nice touch is that the sales literature gives illumination levels from different heights and offsets.
PRICE £
***
Compact and inexpensive
PRICE £
****
A good spotlight for the money
PRICE £
****
A solid, professional unit
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110 REVIEWS SPOTLIGHTS
Reviewed: spotlights MICROLIGHTS MOVI
MIKE STOANE XXX FATTY
Microlights, now owned by Aurora, has been known for decades as a retail lighting specialist. The Movi is its latest high-efficiency spotlight. The 16-degree reflector achieves 10,000 cd with just 20W. This is done by keeping the junction temperature low by using a quiet axial fan. Lower wattage versions with the same output will be released later this year. Microlights says its Hot Spot beam technology is designed for applications where you want to highlight an object but provide some spill light. This is certainly visible when you shine it on a plain surface. Cost is kept down by using polycarbonate for the body and gear housing.
Mike Stoane is a company that cares about detail. Even the sticky tape on the outside of the box had neatly trimmed corners. The whole luminaire is manufactured to fine tolerances. The concentric heatsink fins are neatly incorporated into the shape of the spotlight. The 135mm reflector gave a beam with one of the cleanest cut-offs of any of the spotlights tested. It would suit high end retail. The 25-degree beam unit will give just over 10,000 cd and there is a 10-degree beam version producing over four times the intensity. Mike Stoane uses the latest Xicato XTM LED modules.
PRICE £
***
A cost-effective luminaire
PHILIPS PROAIR
RC LIGHTING DR8 MK2
This spotlights is just a short cylinder and a block. The beam is totally smooth from the centre to the edge. There is a great deal of light in the centre of the beam and it fades imperceptibly. The standard version has the Philips Fortimo module, but the one we tested has the slightly more expensive CrispWhite, designed for retail, that combines warm and cool light so whites are bright and colours retain their richness. I suppose one reason why it performs so well is that the LED chip, driver and reflector were all designed by Philips. A 3,900 lm version will be available later this year.
High-intensity narrow beam spotlights are often mounted at a great height, so aiming them can be a real problem. Remote Controlled Lighting has a motorised spotlight that can both pan and tilt, and you adjust its aiming position from the ground. The eight-degree beam will deliver over 2,000 lx on a 700mm diameter patch, all for less than 25W. To achieve this, RCL uses nine individually lensed high-power LEDs. The spotlight is small but the mounting stirrup is larger than most because of the built-in motors. The remote control functionality also means a relatively high price.
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PRICE ££
*****
This deserves to sell in large quantities
PRICE £££
****
Beautifully made
PRICE £££
****
For all those inaccessible places
REVIEWS 111
REGGIANI YORI The Reggiani catalogue has a huge range of products that target the retail lighting market. The technical and sales literature for the Yori alone extends to 60 pages. One of the main features of the range is the IOS, Interchangeable Optical System. This enables you to change the beam on site. We tried them out on a plain wall and all gave a uniform appearance without any visible striations. We especially liked the fairly long â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;noseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; on the body of the spotlight. This prevents any direct view of the light source and is ďŹ nished matt black inside to minimise any spill light.
PRICE ÂŁ
***
Compact and inexpensive
XAL BO 70 FOCUS This is a really compact variable focus (15-48 degrees) 34W spotlight. The body is just 70mm in diameter and 145mm long. A recessed track is available, so only the spotlight projects below the ceiling. About half way along the body is a knurled soft rubber ring to vary the beam. Regular readers will know that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re great believers in keeping LEDs cool and this has a large, radial heatsink concealed in the body. If you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need the extra functionality of a variable beam, you can get a lot more lumens per watt by using the standard 25W basic version of this spotlight.
With the innovative EASY lighting control U[UVGO UJQR NKIJVKPI KU GCUKGT OQTG Ć&#x192;GZKDNG CPF HCUVGT VJCP GXGT DGHQTG $[ OGCPU QH $NWGVQQVJ VGEJPQNQI[ .'& NWOKPCKTGU HTQO #PUQTI ECP DG GCUKN[ EQPVTQNNGF CPF KPFKXKFWCNN[ TGIWNCVGF XKC C VCDNGV .KIJVKPI UEGPGU CPF UGSWGPEGU ECP DG RTQITCOOGF +P VJCV YC[ VJG UJQR DGcomes the stage! PRICE ÂŁÂŁ
****
Nice and compact
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: just one track for all your lighting ideas.
AN IDEA THAT IS CHANGING STANDARDS. A.A.G. Stucchi presents OneTrackÂŽ: the new EUROSTANDARD PLUSÂŽ system that combines the functionalities of the track systems currently available in the market in one unique product. OneTrackÂŽ is compatible with all the existing systems. Installing OneTrackÂŽ allows for the selection of luminaires at any phase of the project. This makes it a universal and future-proof platform. It is suitable for Human-Centric Lighting thanks to its ďŹ&#x201A;exible communication lines.
OneTrackÂŽ and EUROSTANDARD PLUSÂŽ are registered trademarks of A.A.G. Stucchi. For more information please see our catalogues or go to www.aagstucchi.it
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PRODUCTS 113
FORM
GU10 LED retrofits are all the rage, and here are six of the best to prove it
& FUNCTION ³
THE FULL SPECTRUM FROM SORAA Soraa’s putting its third generation GaN-onGaN LED technology to use in the upgraded lamps in its award-winning MR16 GU10 base 230V LED range. The efficacy of the 7.5W lamps has been improved by 40 per cent. The lamp’s ‘point source’ optics create highintensity, uniform beams. The 10-degree narrow-spot version has a peak intensity of 7,300cd. The lamps also incorporate Soraa’s violet-emission three-phosphor LED technology for improved colour rendering.
³
LIGHT IN ITS PUREST FORM FROM SYLVANIA Sylvania has expanded its LED product range with the RefLED+ ES50 V2 360 lm retrofit GU10 lamp. The device is shallow, with a full diameter, faceted lens. This maintains the traditional lamp aesthetic, and the full front face lens makes it suitable for use with any colour downlight. The lamp has been designed with Sylvania’s PureForm ethos in mind. It has a shape consistent with that of a traditional lamp to ensure it can be retrofitted to any fitting. Non-dimmable and dimmable versions are available, consuming 5 and 5.5W respectively.
³
TWICE AS BRIGHT AND LASTS JUST AS LONG Verbatim has launched a range of professional PAR16 LED retrofit lamps with a GU10 base with an output of up to 660 lm – almost twice as bright as a standard 50W halogen spot lamp. The products have an advanced heatsink design for effective heat dissipation. This, along with improved airflow and the latest chip-on-board technology, means the lamps can be driven harder without overheating and last for up to 40,000 hours. Single focus diamond cut optics that allow light to be dispersed in a defined manner, avoiding glare, stray light and hotspots associated with many competing products.
³
‘IT’S TIME TO MOVE ON,’ SAYS INTEGRAL LED To satisfy the demands of designers and customers who remain misty-eyed about halogen lighting, Integral LED has designed a retrofit GU10 LED lamp that it says matches the aesthetic qualities of halogen. The 2700 and 4000K Classic Glow lamps replace 50W halogen lamps but use only 6.8W. The output is 380 lm, more than the lamp it replaces. It’s the cunning reflector and lens design that recreates the sparkle of energy-guzzling halogen. A ‘fly’s-eye’ filter in front of the light source projects light forward at high intensity but protects onlookers from glare.
³
OSRAM TOUTS ITS RETAIL BESTSELLER For spotlighting heat-sensitive products – and for general spotlighting, display cabinets and exhibition areas – Osram’s bestselling GU10 retrofit lamp is the 5.3W Parathom Par 16 50 36° ADV. The lamp comes in three flavours of white: 2700, 3000 and 4000K. It is also dimmable, has an expected life of 25,000 hours and a five-year guarantee.
THROW OUT THOSE MAINS VOLTAGE HALOGEN SPOTS Philips’ Master LEDspot MV is a spotlight for public areas where lights are on all the time, such as lobbies, corridors and stairwells. Lamps in the Master LEDspot MV range cut energy and maintenance costs but are still bright. They should pay for themselves within a year. These LEDspots are designed as a retrofit replacement for halogen or incandescent spots. The dimmable versions are more efficient still. The DimTone function creates a warmer tone when the light is dimmed to lower intensities.
³
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114 PRODUCTS
FORCELED WITH PRISMATIC DIFFUSER AND BUILT-IN CONTROLS ForceLED from Thorn is a tough, waterproof and compact LED luminaire with an option to add controls. The IP66-rated product is dust and moisture proof, and is suitable for indoor car parks, warehouses, dry and cold storage, production areas and workshops. Its prismatic diffuser optimises light distribution from the LED source. ForceLED comes with the option of a built-in presence detector with wireless master and slave function. The single master sensor can control up to 99 slave luminaires.
³
³
KURVE IS KOSNIC’S FIRST UK DESIGNED AND MADE FITTING Kosnic has ranges of next generation GU10 and GLS LED-equivalent, LED DD and COB (chip on board) LED lamps, and at LuxLive last year it launched its extended Lumi range of architectural and commercial luminaires, Bluetooth and RF LED lamp ranges and a catalogue. The Kurve modular luminaire is Kosnic’s first UKdesigned and manufactured LED fitting, and is a 600 x 600mm retrofit solution for commercial and retail fit outs.
³
LED LUMINAIRES WITH MOTION IN THEIR SIGHTS Dynaluxx specialises in high-frequency motion and daylight-controlled LED luminaires, harnessing the energy-saving and reduced maintenance opportunities the solid state light source offers. Luminaires in the range can be supplied with automatic on/off functions, sensor-controlled dimming (corridor function), emergency, wireless master/ slave combinations, Dali and remote control options.
³
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CORROSION-RESISTANT LED LUMINAIRES FROM CHANNEL SAFETY SYSTEMS Trino is a corrosion-resistant LED luminaire available in five or six-foot, single or twin, mains, emergency or microwave sensor versions. The light output makes it a true replacement for single and twin linear 58 and 70W fluorescent tube fittings. Lumen outputs range from 4,500 lm for the 52W version to 11,000 lm for the 65W. Trino fittings are easy to install and durable. They are IP65 rated and dust, vapour and vandal-resistant. All fittings are supplied with fixings and suspension kit.
³
MICROPRISM OPAL OVERLAY Microprism Overlay is the latest LED optical lens from SLP (UK). The Microprism Overlay is a combination of the popular Microprism lens and 0.25 Opal Flexilens. The two diffusers are bonded together, producing a light transmission of 80 per cent. Designed to create a cost-effective opal LED diffuser, Microprism has a unique prism design that enables the lens to diffuse light in a controlled manner, enhance the light source and disguise the bare image of the lamp. Overlay is available in either P42 or P43 prisms, 3 or 2.5mm and in either Microprism firelux UV or acrylic (PMMA).
116 JARGONBUSTER
LIGHTING
JARGON
People who work in lighting don’t half talk some gobbledygook. Here’s what they mean...
EXPLAINED
kWh
Dali
The kilowatt-hour is a unit of energy equal to 1,000 watt-hours. That’s what a 1,000W device uses in one hour – or what a 1W device uses in 1,000 hours. It’s the unit that your electricity bill is counted in.
The Digital Addressable Lighting Interface is a protocol for lighting controls and dimming agreed by major manufacturers. It is set out in technical standard IEC 62386, and promoted by the Dali working party, part of electrical manufacturers’ association ZVEI. Products that are compliant with Dali carry the Dali logo.
Black body locus The black body locus, or black body curve, is a line on a colour chart that tracks the different colours at which a ‘black body’ (a theoretical object that absorbs all energy) glows when heated. This is the range of colours you get from an incandescent source – from orangey white at lower temperatures to blueish white at higher temperatures. This is where the concept of ‘colour temperature’ (see right) comes from.
PIR Short for passive infrared. PIR sensors are electronic sensors that measure infrared light radiating from objects in their field of view. It can detect heat from objects that is undetectable by humans. PIR is one of the main technologies used for presence and absence detection, to turn lights on and off when people are or aren’t there.
CFL Popularly referred to as energysaving lamps, compact fluorescent lamps have a poor image because of perceived deficiencies in colour, power and the time it takes them to reach full output. But massive improvements have been made in all these areas thanks to substantial investment by the big lamp manufacturers.
CRI Short for colour-rendering index, CRI is the ability of a light source to show the colours of objects properly. Lamps with poor colour rendering will distort some colours, which may mean you end up with brown socks when you wanted green ones. The higher the CRI, on a 0-100 scale, the more accurately the lamp will show colours.
Luxreview.com The home of the lighting industry online www.luxreview.com
JARGONBUSTER 117
Pulse-width modulation PWM is a technique used to control the power supplied to electrical devices such as LEDs. The supply voltage (and current) is switched on and off many times per second, and the average power delivered to the load can be varied by changing the proportion of the time the voltage is on. This technique can be used to dim LEDs.
COLOUR TEMPERATURE Colour temperature describes whether a light source appears ‘warm’ or ‘cool’ – indicated by the correlated colour temperature (CCT). Lamps with a warm appearance have a CCT of 2700-3000K, and are considered appropriate for domestic settings; cooler lamps might be 4000K, and are used more often in offices and retail. The higher the colour temperature, the ‘cooler’ the appearance. Don’t ask.
GaN-on-GaN
Esos
GaN-on-GaN refers to LEDs made of gallium nitride (GaN) on a substrate also made of gallium nitride, rather than on the usual sapphire or silicon carbide substrate. Blue LED inventor Shuji Nakamura says GaN-on-GaN is the next generation of LED, offering greater efficiency and better colour.
The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (Esos) is the UK government’s latest attempt to encourage energy efficiency among big organisations. It requires them to assess their energy consumption on a regular basis and consider measures to reduce it. But it doesn’t actually force them to do anything about it – that’s up to them.
Breeam rating
Lux
Breeam stands for the Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method, and it’s the industry-leading environmental rating system for buildings. More than 200,000 buildings have been awarded Breeam assessment ratings since the scheme was launched in 1990. Breeam uses established benchmarks to evaluate a building’s design, construction and use.
Lux is the international unit of illuminance – a measure of how much luminous flux (in lumens) is spread over a given area (in square metres). In other words, it tells you how much light is arriving at a surface. 1 lm/m2 equals 1 lx. Multiply an illuminance figure in lux by an amount of time in hours and you have a measure of exposure in lux hours – useful if you’re looking after delicate objects or surfaces that can’t be exposed to too much light.
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118 LUX VIDEOS
The latest
LUX VIDEOS
Lux’s YouTube channel has racked up more than half a million views, and it’s packed with videos on retail lighting
THE BIG SAINSBURY’S LED LIGHTING ROLLOUT Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s aims to make all its stores 100% LED. Lux reports exclusively on the project and meets the team behind it. bit.ly/sainsburys1114
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THE LIGHT THAT EARNS YOU MONEY This UK invention stays on when the power goes off and earns you money from your energy supplier bit.ly/moneylight
LUXLIVE 2015: WHAT VISITORS SAY Find out why LuxLive has become an unmissable event for lighting buyers and specifiers bit.ly/ll2015visitors
HOW LIGHTING IS CHANGING THE WORLD Highlights from some of last year’s greatest lighting projects and achievements bit.ly/light0115
PROJECT REPORT: COSTA COFFEE, GIDEA PARK Lux checks out the LED lighting installed by LEDtec at this Essex branch of Costa Coffee bit.ly/LEDCosta
10 LIGHTING INNOVATIONS YOU’LL BE SEEING MORE OF IN 2015 The lighting technologies of the future, on show at LuxLive 2014. bit.ly/FutureLighting
RETAIL LIGHTING: WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY In this expert forum discussion, top retailers and designers debate the issues that surround store lighting bit.ly/RetailLighting
AN END TO CONFUSION IN THE LED LIGHTING INDUSTRY? LIA Laboratories’ new ‘Verified’ scheme tests if lighting products do what they say on the tin bit.ly/LEDVerification
LUMINAIRES ARE GETTING SMART. ARE YOU? Industry leaders discuss the future of lighting fixture design, including data management and networks bit.ly/GettingSmart
FREE!
To network operators and TOCs
Lighting for Rail CONFERENCE 2015
Upgrade without compromise! You can have it both ways: the latest lighting technology and improved safety and reliability. We’ll show you how in this special conference, which includes: O O O O O O
How to de-risk a lighting upgrade The latest in standards and regulations Simple wins to cut energy on the network Suburban and rural stations – making a difference How to improve reliability and maintainability LEDs – How to tell the bad from the good
This special event – taking place on Wednesday 24 June at the Cavendish Conference Centre in London – is aimed at engineers, designers, consultants, specifiers and all those with responsibility for lighting in the rail network. To register for a free place, contact Fergus Lynch on +44 (0)20 3283 4387 or fergus.lynch@luxmagazine.co.uk
WEDNESDAY 24 JUNE 2015 | CAVENDISH CONFERENCE CENTRE, LONDON Organised by
in association with
Sponsored by
View the full programme at www.raillightingconference.com
120 EVENTS
UPCOMING
EVENTS 12 March 2015 Retail and Hospitality Lighting Conference
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LONDON, UK For the first retail and hospitality lighting conference, Lux will bring together the best Lighting for Retail minds in the field for a series of inspirational and Hospitality and informative talks covering colour rendering, CONFERENCE 2015 reinforcing a brand with light, smart lighting technology and simple tips to make big savings. Speakers include Simon Waldron of Sainsbury’s, Rick Marshall of Matalan, and there’ll be an exclusive presentation on lighting at the Body Shop. If you manage facilities for a hotel, restaurant or shop, register now – it’s free for end users. Cavendish Conference Centre, London www.lightingforretailandhospitality.com
23 APRIL 2015 MEET Emergency Lighting US HERE Emergency Conference Lighting CONFERENCE 2015 The UK’s first conference specifically on emergency lighting examines all the important responsibilities that come with managing an emergency lighting system. Expert speakers will answer questions about high-risk areas, self-testing, remote monitoring and LED systems. Cavendish Conference Centre, London www.emergencylightingconference.com 3-4 MAY 2015 MEET US Lightfair International HERE For more than 25 years Lightfair International has been the premier US show for lighting design and technology innovations. Taking place this year in New York, Lightfair is the world’s largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show. New York City, US www.lightfair.com 21 MAY 2015 MEET US Lighting for Large HERE Lighting Large Estates Conference Estates CONFERENCE 2015 Are you responsible for a large number of fittings across different buildings? If it’s
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proving a maintenance and energy headache, this special conference will give you the answers to key challenges, such as how to manage the assets to your best advantage, and cutting energy costs. Cavendish Conference Centre, London www.lightingforlargeestates.com 27-29 MAY 2015 MEET US The Sparc International HERE Lighting Event 2015 The Sparc International Lighting Event 2015 offers world class speakers on topic lighting subjects and the latest in lighting technology. Taking place at the Sydney Exhibition Centre on the harbour foreshore, and featuring exhibitors from both Australia and overseas, Sparc 2015 is Australia’s premier lighting event. Sydney, Australia www.sparcevent.org 24 JUNE 2015 MEET US Lighting for Rail HERE Conference The current wave of investment in the UK’s rail network represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to upgrade to world-class lighting. In this one-day conference, we’ll help you do just that. London, UK www.raillightingconference.com
UK’S BIGGEST LIGHTING SHOW MEET 18-19 NOVEMBER 2015 US HERE LuxLive 2015 The UK’s biggest and best lighting show is back again. Come and see the latest in low-energy hospitality lighting solutions from hundreds of exhibitors, and hear from experts about how to upgrade your lights while keeping that crucial look and feel. ExCeL London, UK www.luxlive.co.uk
2015 18-19 November 2015 | ExCeL London
www.luxlive.co.uk
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Contact Batwing at thebelfry@luxmagazine.co.uk
Fitting room light: Batwing’s top tips For many shoppers, the store fitting room is a place of real excitement. This is where it all happens: where new outfits take shape and new looks are born. Give the place the respect it deserves. Here are Batwing’s top tips on how and how not to do it.
1. DON’T MAKE YOUR CUSTOMERS LOOK BAD This rule’s pretty obvious: if your customers hate the way they look in your fitting rooms, you’re not going to sell many clothes. Writing on women’s lifestyle site xoJane, AK Whitney says of a fitting room in Macy’s in an LA shopping mall: ‘The lighting was abysmal, with overhead fluorescents that make even the foxiest among us look like the Crypt Keeper.’
2. ...BUT DON’T MAKE THEM LOOK TOO NICE EITHER
3. AND WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T SHOW PEOPLE HOW THEY REALLY ARE The only thing that angers shoppers more than bad light in the changing room is light that is just too clear and honest, and reveals their imperfections. AK Whitney of xoJane says: ‘When I took off my shoes to try on the first pair of jeans, I noticed cellulite on my toe. My toe.’
4. PRESENCE DETECTORS CAN BE MISTAKEN FOR PEEPING TOMS Changing rooms are a great place to use lighting controls to get your energy use down. But if you install sensors, make sure you let customers know. One shopper at a Walmart in New Mexico caused quite a stir on Facebook when she posted a video of a blinking red light in the fitting room – was it a secret camera spying on her? No, just a presence detector.
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Fashion blogger The Budget Fashionista complains about the changing rooms at Forever 21 using a soft amber light to ‘even out skin tones’ and make you look hot. It’s known as ‘the Oprah Light’ – apparently a similar one is used in the Oprah studio to make guests look prettier than they are. You’d think that was a good thing, but not if you get home and find you’re actually as ugly as ever.
5. FITTING ROOMS ARE NOW PHOTO BOOTHS The camera phone has transformed the shopping experience with the rise of the fitting room selfie. Shoppers routinely photograph themselves in outfits they’re trying out, to consider and compare later and share with friends. That means your fitting room is now a photo studio, and that means they need great lighting. If you’re not familiar with the concept of the fitting room selfie, we advise against googling the term at the office – some of the results are distinctly NSFW…
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ERCO has reconsidered office lighting. The Skim downlight with LED is the better alternative to linear fluorescent luminaires. Skim produces exceptionally glarefree light that illuminates offices with excellent energy efficiency in full compliance with the relevant standards. With a diameter of only 182mm, the low-cost luminaire integrates into the ceiling with minimum space requirements. Perfect light efficiently calculated. www.erco.com/skim
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