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The lights in your office do more than simply illuminate the environment. They influence staff comfort and productivity, and as your team is your most important asset, their satisfaction should be a driving factor for any planned retrofit lighting projects.
What is a Retrofit Lighting Project?
A retrofit lighting project is one that enables you to replace or update your current lighting system with one that was more energy efficient or technologically advanced without creating major upheaval for your team.
For example, you might replace outdated lightbars with stylish modular units that better enable desk sharing and collaboration but make use of existing wiring and connections to do so.
Retrofits tend to offer better value for money than a wholesale lighting upgrade, which may require significant infrastructure changes and considerable downtime for your staff.
The cost savings are not only seen at the point of installation, either, typically, retrofit lighting projects result in long-term cost savings, in terms of reduced maintenance costs and lower energy bills.
How Do You Know If It’s Time for Retrofit Lighting for Office Spaces?
Consider the following questions to determine whether the time is right for you to upgrade your office lighting.
1. Is Energy Getting More Expensive?
Review your energy bills for the last 2 years, and if you’re seeing an upward trajectory, the costs of retrofitting office lighting may be quickly recouped by long-term cost savings resulting from improved energy efficiency.
2. Is Your Office Bright and Welcoming?
Assess the lighting in your office on dull and bright days to determine whether your current lighting solution is adequate. If the office feels dark or gloomy, or your staff are complaining of eye strain, you should strongly consider updating your office lighting. A bright and welcoming environment will make your people feel better and give a great first impression to visitors.
3. How Often Do You Need to Maintain Your Lights?
Old lighting systems typically need more maintenance to keep them operational, so if your lamps are regularly flickering or blowing, your building could be telling you that an upgrade is necessary.
Lighting outages are disruptive, costly and frustrating, so eliminate this issue by switching to energy-efficient LED lights, which can last up to 50,000 hours.
4. Are You Happy With the Office’s Form, Fit and Function?
Does your office layout work well, encourage collaboration and offer a good balance of workstations and quiet breakout rooms? If it doesn’t, should it? Would reconfiguring the working environment enhance productivity or make better use of fallow space? If so, consider refreshing your lighting at the same time to make the new floor plan shine.
5. What Do Your Staff Think?
Staff feedback is valuable and should be used to make improvements. If you’re thinking about updating your office lights, ask your staff what they think needs to be done.
They are the ones who are living with the office lights 8 hours a day, and taking their feedback on board could improve their motivation, comfort and job satisfaction.
6. Are You Happy With Your Green Credentials?
The UK government has issued a challenging goal to achieve Net Zero by 2050, and we must all play our part. Is your organisation on track to hit its sustainability goals? If not, would swapping to more energy-efficient lighting be a reasonable measure to reduce your business’s carbon footprint?
7. Do You Want to Go Digital?
The Internet of Things is no longer a thing of fiction. It is here – and here to stay. If you want your business to become more automated and integrated, you will need to adapt, embedding technological solutions that deliver increased productivity and cost efficiencies.
You could retrofit your office lighting to incorporate motion sensors, programmable scheduling or even daylight harvesting to create an optimally lit environment that capitalises on natural light and aims to improve occupant comfort.
Cost vs Benefit Assessment
All investments require a cost-benefit assessment to determine whether spending money and implementing change is the right thing to do. Retrofitting your office lighting is no different. It will cost money and it will cause temporary disruption, but the benefits far outweigh the costs.
You will benefit from lower ongoing costs, a more comfortable working environment, a future-proof office space that is compatible with the Internet of Things, and you will be prepared to demonstrate your Net Zero compliance.
In short, there is compelling evidence that suggests all businesses should retrofit their lighting systems to seize these impressive benefits. Will yours be next?
