LIGHTING & CONTROLS
A bright future for emergency lighting management
Wai Cheung, senior product manager at CP Electronics from Legrand’s Energy Controls business unit, discusses the importance of selecting emergency lighting systems that fit well into evolving working environments
A
s building occupancy continues to evolve following the pandemic, it is likely electrical engineers will be called upon to ensure
building systems keep up with new requirements, like shared workspaces. This includes safety-critical areas, such as emergency lighting systems, ensuring they are designed to offer user-centric, automated features that can be accessed remotely.
Changing demands
The pandemic has caused a change in how offices are used and managed. New layouts, refurbishments and an increase of multiple occupancies are just some of the key challenges facing facilities and building managers. Consequently, finding ways to automate processes has never been more important, helping to reduce workload while maintaining building safety.
One way this can be achieved is by selecting an emergency lighting system that is simple to use, allowing for automation, simultaneous user access and bespoke reporting. New developments in emergency lighting solutions can be introduced to buildings to not only increase safety but offer time-saving and value- added processes for facilities managers. For electrical engineers, having an understanding of the advancements in available solutions is crucial when designing these safety-critical systems.
Increased occupancy
The introduction of hybrid working has led to a demand for even more flexible spaces when compared to pre-pandemic requirements. This has resulted in many organisations changing the layout of their offices, with some now choosing to share buildings with other companies. For the building itself, there are different layouts and refurbishments to manage, bringing greater challenges for facilities managers.
Multiple occupiers in a building means an
increase in clients for facilities managers to support. This can lead to a need for more bespoke reports, adding to an already crowded workload. Historically, emergency lighting reports were restricted to the whole building, with limited opportunity for bespoke and automated reporting. The change in the way buildings are occupied, however, has meant a change is needed. Modern solutions can help to produce bespoke reports without compromising security. Allowing segregation of multiple company occupancies as part of a building, or even
within a floor, can simplify reporting and be a real aid to facilities managers. Not only can this provide facilities teams with greater access to a building’s operations, ensuring they can monitor overall performance and safety, but it also gives them the option to only reveal specific areas to each tenant. Importantly, reporting and scheduling can be set-up remotely, with automatic updates which can be accessed by tenants via a personalised portal. This value-add benefit can help facilities teams and building owners provide bespoke reports for their tenants without adding to workload.
Remote monitoring
A second trend to come from the pandemic is remote working, something that, has increased in facilities management. With growing portfolios of buildings on multiple sites, managers now have an increased need to access data from their office to reduce travelling between multiple properties. Traditionally, emergency lighting systems
were not designed with remote work in mind. Indeed, facilities managers would need to physically test individual emergency lighting fixtures in the building itself. When considering the number of lighting fixtures, rooms, corridors, floors and even buildings that a facilities manager might have responsibility over, the task could potentially take days and require longer lead times. Introducing a system which can be accessed and monitored remotely – and by multiple users at any one time – can help simplify monitoring and ease the pressure on facilities teams, while also reducing travel costs for those in charge of multiple locations. Facilities managers can have the flexibility to monitor buildings from a single location. With remote testing, rather than visiting each individual light fitting, testing it and recording the results, the time requirements of this take can be significantly reduced. The time spent testing is reduced with modern systems and maintenance demands are also lessened. This is because user-centric solutions allow multiple users to have access simultaneously, helping to increase efficiency.
Ongoing support
Electrical engineers have the task of finding the most appropriate solution available in
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order to meet ever-changing requirements of office spaces. Along with this, they must also anticipate the need for ongoing support once the system is in place, so partnering with a reputable supplier is an important consideration. It is crucial that suppliers become allies to electrical engineers by consistently delivering products that meet modern demands and ensuring that the industry is actively assisted with skills development and expert training. This enables engineers to deliver high quality, long-lasting projects now and in the future. CP Electronics, part of Legrand UK & Ireland, for example, has over 50 years’ experience in developing innovations that keep up with modern requirements. Crucially, its team work closely with engineers, ensuring they are supported with any query. With an increased focus on health and safety, it is perhaps more important than ever that emergency lighting systems are well maintained, adaptable, simple to use and aid with compliance to building regulations. CP Electronics is dedicated to providing industry support through the sharing of expertise, facilitating training courses and offering high-quality products to ensure that engineers can give the best long-term service to all of their customers.
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