2017

Office/Industry

Manchester

Amazon is the world’s largest e-commerce retailer and one of the ‘Big Five’ companies in the US information technology industry , along with Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft. Amazon has invested more than £32 billion in its UK Operations since 2010, employing 55,000 people across the country. The company has several offices, 21 fulfilment centres and more than 40 delivery stations nationwide.

Brief

Amazon needed to install a lighting system at its Manchester-based warehouse and offices. With 80,000 sq m of total floor space, we were tasked with designing the lighting installation and supplying luminaires to improve the energy efficiency of the global internet retailer’s operation on a project of epic scale.

 

The Solution

We recognised that the mixed-use environment of the office and warehouse would require a variety of lighting and control solutions. After carefully assessing the purpose each space would have for Amazon employees, our expert lighting engineers and designers chose from the company’s vast range of sustainable LED fixtures.

For the warehouse, split into four mezzanine levels, we were tasked with lighting occupied areas to 300 lux. For mezzanine levels, the MULTILENS LED was built into LINEARLUX® pre-wired trunking and, for racking and double-height mezzanine areas, the AISLELUX® and HI-MAX® luminaires were selected respectively. Each of the 5,000 luminaires were grouped according to the client’s specification and controlled by a wireless lighting controls system, allowing Amazon to use Android tablet technology to adjust light levels and monitor energy consumption. In aisles where Amazon’s KIVA robotics system operate, areas were lit to 50 lux to further reduce unnecessary energy consumption.

Though smaller in size, many different luminaires were selected for use in the office space. For office and meeting areas, the MICROLUX® downlighter was selected while our V-LED® 180 downlighter was installed in communal areas such as the staff internet café. For locker rooms, plants, risers and stores, CORRIST ranges were chosen, along with our V-LED® 100 downlighters, which were built into bathroom ceilings. Our CORRILUX® 450C LEDs were used for stairways and MEDILUX® for kitchen areas, with our emergency luminaires, SINZ E® and PRW, installed externally and internally throughout. Each of the 800 luminaires contained a built-in wireless sensor and transceiver, linked up to the wireless controls system.

 

The Result

Thanks to the expertise of our lighting engineers and designers, we had the knowledge and experience to deal with the huge scale of the project and delivered purpose-lit, contemporary offices and warehousing spaces. The highly efficient lighting scheme minimises energy, as well as automatically testing the emergency lighting system and monitoring energy consumption. Amazon’s large-scale retailing operation will certainly benefit from our energy-cost reducing luminaires and intelligent, wireless lighting controls.

The images below are stock images.

 

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