Managers at the Dolphin Shopping Centre in Poole, Dorset, can now quickly and easily change the lit environment of the shopping malls to exactly match their lighting needs, thanks to the installation of scene-setting and dimming systems from Ex-Or Ltd.Ex-Or SceneSelect II controls all the lighting in the malls and public areas of the 43,000
sq m shopping centre. Optimum lighting levels precisely matched to the usage of the centre are achieved, resulting in significant energy cost savings.
Consultant engineers ACDP (Integrated Building Services) Ltd, Maidenhead specified Ex-Or SceneSelect II systems as a vital part of the lighting refurbishment which involved the installation of energy efficient discharge lamps throughout the shopping centre. Rushmoor Mechanical Services Ltd, Sandhurst were the installing electrical contractors.
Managers wanted to create three separate lit environments to suit different types of activity within the shopping centre over the 24 hour period. During normal trading hours, a high level of lighting is required for the safety and convenience of the 11 million shoppers per year that visit the 113 retail units in the centre. A lower level of lighting is needed when the centre is closed to the public but a certain amount of light is required for cleaning and maintenance purposes. The third lit environment automatically comes into operation when the centre is largely unoccupied and just very low lighting levels are required for security purposes.
Managers can program in the automatic switch from one lit scene to another using a simple graphic panel incorporating an LCD touch screen. In addition, floor plans can be simulated on individual screen pages on the touch screen so that lighting scenes in different parts of the shopping centre can be easily changed or adjusted whenever required.
David Kemp-Pickett, deputy centre manager said: "This large scale lighting refurbishment has brought the Dolphin Shopping Centre into the 21st century and we have been getting positive feedback about the improved lit environment from shoppers and retailers.
"We are particularly pleased by the benefits provided by the Ex-Or SceneSelect system - it does exactly what it says. It's easy to use, enabling us to program differently-lit scenes that we can subsequently recall by touching the graphic control panel. Because it automatically delivers the levels of light suited to what is actually happening at the centre at any particular time, it means that we are only using the amount of light we really need - and that means we are making significant energy cost savings."
Other benefits of Ex-Or SceneSelect II include added flexibility - whenever the layout or usage of an area of the shopping centre changes, the system can be simply reprogrammed to suit the new requirements. In addition, the Dolphin Shopping Centre management will enjoy the benefits of dramatically increased lamp life as SceneSelect II automatically protects the lamps from high inrush currents and power surges.
