Ex–Or Ltd, Haydock–based European leader in lighting management, has won the contract to supply lighting controls throughout the University of Manchester, the country's largest single–site higher education institution, for the next three years.The award follows the successful installation of Ex–Or's lighting management systems and controls in a large number of new-build and building refurb projects on the huge campus over the past two years. These had been awarded via OGCbuying.solutions, the Government procurement agency for the public sector, following successful tenders.
The University of Manchester is embarking on the biggest programme of capital investment ever seen in British higher education. It is spending £350 million to deliver eight new buildings and 15 major refurbishment projects by 2010.
Faced with escalating energy costs of up to 80 per cent, and the requirement to reduce carbon emissions, the University of Manchester sees energy conservation as a critical factor in their building programme. The installation of energy efficient lighting, together with sophisticated and reliable energy-saving lighting controls from Ex–Or, is regarded as a major contributory factor in helping to curb the soaring energy bill.
"Our total energy budget next year is £15 million, and £9 million of that is accounted for by electricity," said Chris Cunningham, Manchester University assistant mechanical and energy engineer. "We estimate that lighting alone accounts for around 50 per cent of the electrical load. With 10,000 staff and 35,000 students it is equivalent to the entire lighting load of a typical town.
"Having installed a variety of Ex–Or control systems in a number of newbuild and refurbishment projects, we have seen the dramatic cuts in energy costs that automatic and efficient lighting control can deliver. Now we are embarking on this unprecedented capital investment building programme we have decided that each and every building involved will benefit from automatic lighting control.
"We have found Ex–Or's equipment to be cost effective to install, flexible enough to cope easily with the constantly changing work and study layouts common in a dynamic university setting, and capable of providing significant energy cost savings by automatically delivering lighting only on an 'as needed' basis."
"We first measured the amount of electricity used in a trial area, then installed Ex–Or detectors, and took the same measurements again. These showed a saving in electricity use of 69 per cent. We are satisfied that the Ex–Or equipment is delivering a solid and consistent reduction in the amount of electricity used."
Corridors, meeting rooms, computer suites, science labs, reception lobbies, office areas and lecture theatres are just some of the locations in various University of Manchester buildings where Ex–Or equipment has been installed. Ex–Or's LightSpot system, which comprises discrete controllers and photocells, is employed to automatically switch lights on and off, and dim and brighten them, by monitoring the presence of occupants and by measuring the amount of natural light available.
The Ex–Or MLS Digital Managed Lighting System is also in use in various University of Manchester locations. This is a building–wide integrated system which manages the lights throughout a building, or throughout designated sections of the building, in an intelligent and co–ordinated way. MLS detectors "talk" to each other in order to deliver lighting exactly as required, at levels consistent with occupancy and use of the space.
