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Case Studies

Magnet Group

Magnet Group

Quick Facts

Sector: Commercial/Retail
Project: Lighting
Location: UK wide
Energy Saving: 226,000kWh/ year

“The visual impact has greatly improved and I’m sure the savings will prove to be significant. The feedback from Magnet staff is extremely positive with regards to the improved lighting ” Dennis Shiels, Magnet Group Store Design & Operations Manager

The Project

As part of a wider drive to reduce group CO2 emissions and operating costs, Magnet Kitchens, the UK’s leading kitchen specialist, asked TGE Group to review the efficiency of lighting in some of their busiest showrooms. TGE’s lighting department identified considerable savings to be made by replacing older light fittings with high efficiency T5 fluorescent and LED technology. Further savings were proposed by the careful use of occupancy and daylight linked controls, in appropriate areas such as the warehouse, back office and welfare spaces. An estimated return-on-investment analysis for the whole project by area was also produced.

The Solution

TGE Group carried out initial site surveys and designed new lighting for six trade and retail showrooms at Chichester, Leicester, Slough, Minworth, Stratford-on-Avon and Cambridge.

A demand for high quality display lighting, seven days a week was identified. TGE Sales Engineer Ian Clifford said: “It isn’t just a case of fitting low energy lights. In a retail environment, high quality lighting is critical to the customers’ experience, so we had to ensure that – as well as using less electricity – the new lighting would offer a cleaner, brighter, enhanced environment.” Another key issue for Magnet was reduced lighting maintenance costs. The new LED installed will last up to 20 times longer than the halogen lamps replaced, and so require far less relamping in the future.

For the warehouses and back office areas, we compared life-cycle costs for LED and fluorescent technology, including retrofit LED ‘tubes’. However the overwhelming best value for money was to fit brand new T5 fittings, with high frequency ECG ballasts, which last 80,000 hours. The ballasts and fittings are all British-made and carry 5 years manufacturer’s warranty. We also only fit branded (Philips, Osram and Sylvania) T5 lamps, for maximum reliability. The lamps last 24,000 hours and do not decay as much as LEDs, so light levels are assured. When they do eventually fail, replacement T5s cost less than £3 each, whereas LEDs would have to be replaced at much greater cost.

To maximise savings, Ex-Or® PIR sensors were fitted to switch off or dim the lamps, based on occupancy, with daylight linked override function.

Energy Savings

Based on the meter readings since the installation, this project is exceeding the expected electricity savings.

The upgrade of all six showrooms should reduce electricity used by lighting by around 72%, resulting in a 120 tonne decrease in CO2 emissions annually and a cash saving of around £36K a year on combined electricity bills and maintenance. With a payback period of around 30 months, the project gives Magnet an average return on investment of 45%.

Because all the new lighting meets the ETL criteria for high efficiency lighting units (HELUs), this project also qualifies for 100% First Year Capital Allowance, under the DECC/HMRC sponsored Enhanced Capital Allowance (ECA) scheme.
Visit https://etl.decc.gov.uk/etl/site/about.html for further information. Depending on Corporation Tax rates, this will speed up the project payback by 20 to 28%.