SLL publish specialist lighting guide for FMS

The Society of Light and Lighting (SLL) has published its first guidance document designed specifically to address the key lighting tasks required of facilities managers. Lighting is absolutely critical to providing a safe and productive working environment and much of the management required to procure, maintain and optimise lighting systems falls to facilities managers.

The SLL Lighting Guide (LG) 20 sets out a logical approach for non-specialists to identify and undertake the tasks required in order to “provide the right amount of light in the right place for the right amount of time.”

There are three critical aspects to meeting this objective. First is the quality of light: levels, uniformity; unified glare rating (UGR) and colour rendering. Second is the quantity of light: watts and lumens, colour temperature and fidelity; useful life expectancy of LED light sources. Third is timing: lighting controls.

LG20 includes guidance on energy consumption and assessing the maintainability of existing lighting installations. This information is often required in relation to service level agreement, or can create a compelling argument for upgrading lighting systems, in terms of investment in energy savings, reduced carbon footprint and increased reliability.

The guide includes three case studies, providing practical examples and context. These look at lighting for a data centre; upgrading emergency lighting in a 6-storey building; and the circular economy and repurposing luminaires. There is a growing interest and need for a circular economy approach, meaning that future lighting installations may be made up of refurbished, or even leased products.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“Provide the right amount of light in the right place for the right amount of time.”[/perfectpullquote]

Written by Sophie Parry FSLL, vice-chair of the SLL Technical and Publications committee in conjunction with the CIBSE Facilities Management (FM) group, LG20 is designed to be supportive of facilities managers with knowledge of electrical services, but whose work may occasionally involve lighting or related decision making.

As with all SLL Lighting Guides, it is not intended to be exhaustive or definitive and it will be necessary for the user to exercise their own professional judgement.

Regarding the aims of this guide and in developing communication between related disciplines, Sophie commented; ‘As the construction industry aligns with the increasing drive to net zero carbon by 2050, one of the methods being considered to reduce embedded carbon within a buildings’ fabric is to re-furbish existing buildings where possible, rather than demolish and re-build. The refurbishment scope and complexity will vary on a project-by-project basis, but in many instances will require local knowledge and input from the incumbent facilities manager. It is therefore imperative that facilities managers have the correct knowledge level/access to knowledge of many construction disciplines to add value to such projects.’

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