Emergency Lighting
Recommending the right emergency lighting solution
Archbishop Lanfranc Academy’s new state of the art multi-million pound building in Croydon features the latest in future proof emergency lighting systems.
By focusing on application requirements, other factors, such as the way the emergency lighting scheme is powered, maintained and operated, play a much more vital role, says Ed Wilkes, Connected Solutions Product Manager at Zumtobel Group.
F
unctional emergency lighting is more than just a requirement by law. Over and above all other
considerations, emergency lighting is a life safety system and its ongoing effectiveness to provide the right levels of light to allow the inhabitants of the building to escape is its primary role. For a few years now, the responsibility for this compliance within commercial buildings has rested with building owners, landlords, facilities managers or other such responsible persons. Failure to maintain the on-going compliance of the emergency lighting within a building may result in prosecution and in some cases, prison sentences have been imposed. Choosing the right emergency lighting is vitally important and safety should be at the forefront of that decision. There are a number of reasons why emergency lighting is often
20 | electrical wholesalerAugust 2018
treated as an afterthought. For instance, emergency lighting is typically only around 10- 15% of the building’s lighting and many building administrators are content to leave the emergency lighting to the electrical contractor. Of course, there is also the question of cost and many building operators may be tempted to go for the cheapest option that will enable them to comply with the regulations. This is a short-sighted approach that fails to take account of the lifetime costs of such a system.
Luminous flux As LED technology has improved there has certainly been an increase in lumen output and improvements in semiconductor technology now allow a huge amount of luminous flux to be generated from tiny dedicated LED fittings sipping only tiny amounts of power. Don’t be fooled by the lm/w numbers
though as, an increase in luminous flux will not necessarily give a proportionally linear increase in spacing and, therefore, quantity of emergency lighting. It is essential to factor the optical performance of the fitting in the design as failure to do so can actually result in more luminaires being specified, with an increase in cost for the overall project. The ideal solution is to use dedicated
emergency luminaires with tailored optics to ensure optimum distribution and maximise spacing, resulting in a lower cost of ownership per square metre. These can sometimes be found at a lower cost than a 3hr emergency version of a standard fitting, which is often unexpected.
Power sources The right choice of battery is also vital. There are two main power sources that can provide power for emergency lighting; firstly central
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