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.