SGCI’s consultancy and engineering divisions were employed by the centres management company (Hammersons) and their FM company (Integral UK) and their specialist electrical contractor to provide a detailed design to replace the aging and fault ridden ECS/Philips lighting control system (provided and installed originally by others) which covered all of the landlord lighting throughout the shopping centre including car parks and architectural/ facade lighting.

After careful consideration and design development it was decided that this project should utilise KNX technology for its new lighting control system. By using KNX it would future proof the system in the long run, was well as allow both the client and their professional team to select products from multiple vendors due to the open protocol capabilities of KNX.

In the end through our consultancy involvement and detailed knowledge of KNX and through our key partner channels it was decided to use a majority of products from theben and GIRA.

The project itself required the replacement of 25 no. control panels each with a slightly different configuration along with a two new panels, one which provided network communications (both KNX TP1 and KNX IP) and another for centralised supervision which houses an embedded PC server running both the KNX/OPC bridge and SCADA software platforms.

External Car Park lighting utilises both time clock and external light levels to control and disable the Car Park lighting for energy efficiency. The main shopping mall also uses a staged switch on and switch off to preserve energy usage during times of non trading. Seasonal outlets for lighting are also pre-programmed into the system via the intelligent networked time clocks.

Project cost £72, 000.00 incl. Consultancy fees.