Lighting for Education

Netherburn Primary School

Quattro LED passes its first examination

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New premises built for Netherburn Primary School in Larkhall, Scotland were designed by South Lanarkshire Council to replace the original older building. The new facility will help transform the learning experiences of children, both now and in the years to come. Not unnaturally, the Council required first class lighting - high quality control of the light distribution to ensure good teaching conditions, together with an attractive appearance and economical operation through life. A major feature of the £2.4m building is the use of LED equipment throughout, including four general classrooms, a sports hall, kitchen, circulation areas, toilets, office facilities and nursery.

Among the luminaires used are 108nr. recessed modular 48W Quattro LEDs and 50nr. Base LED downlights. The lighting in the classes are controlled by our Sensa Modular system. 

It was not simply the aesthetic appeal of the luminaires which prompted the choice. The advent of LEDs had given the opportunity of formulating a new lighting package which not only gave high quality colour rendering (Ra 92), but also significantly reduce energy usage. 

Some idea of the improvement in performance can be seen by the fact that to achieve an illuminance approaching 400 lux in one of the larger classrooms with conventional fittings (MenloSoft) using 2x40W TC-L lamps would require 11 fittings, giving 398 lux for an installed load of 14.10 W/m². The same number of Quattro LED luminaires achieves 380 lux for a load of only 7.69 W/m². Running costs are cut by 45%, and the long LED lifetime is expected to generate considerable savings in maintenance.

LEDs do more than provide general lighting; they also help supply emergency lighting. Compact, recessed Voyager LED Series luminaires (Area & Route models) and Voyager Sigma LED exit signs switch on automatically in the event of a power failure.    

Netherburn Primary School is worth watching: with the Council rebuilding or refurbishing every primary school it could become a catalyst for transforming lighting performance.