Fife based Kingdom Housing Association Ltd operate over 4000 social housing properties in the east of Scotland. Following recent reports in the wake of the Grenfell fire tragedy the associaition has commited to imediate action to improve the provision of emergency lighting in all communal areas of their properties.
Aiming to keep their residents as safe as possible their proposal for retrofitted lighting in existing three storey housing blocks was improved without an inquiry. The challenge they faced was to procure a product that did not require rewiring, as most of these blocks were wired in two core cabling. With the need to keep costs, installation time and disruption to a minimum, and with various products given consideration, it was Scolmore’s innovative EVO LED bulkheads which provided the solution to this full refit project.
Andy Walls, Kingdom Housing Association’s property maintenance manager, responsible for overseeing the installation project, commented: “After researching various products we found that Scolmore’s Inceptor EVO LED Bulkhead range was ideal in meeting with our specifications. The fitting is capable of working on two core cabling whilst still providing battery supply for the emergency operation of the fittings. The fitting is also capable of supplying a background light during the day, as it has the capability to have the LEDs on at a reduced rating or turned off fully. This also suited our needs as we have several blocks that have darker areas and this would also provide better security and comfort to our tenants.”
The Inceptor EVO Bulkhead was designed by Scolmore with the contractor very much in mind. It is quick to install and simple to use and offers a number of features and benefits unmatched by competitor products. As well as integrating the control gear and the light source within the diffuser, the bulkhead has the added benefit of a Flow plug which allows for fast and simple connection and disconnection for testing and maintenance of the luminaire.
With other bulkhead products, the installer will need to first unscrew the diffuser and then the gear tray, fix the base to the wall, terminate the conductor, re-attach the gear tray and re-screw the diffuser. Scolmore has taken away the need for time-consuming and unnecessary screws and integrated the control gear and light source within the diffuser and added a Flow connector. The installer, therefore, simply removes the diffuser, fits the base to the wall/ceiling, wires the conductor into the flow connector and secures the diffuser in place.
The products specified for installation by Kingdom Housing Association was the EVO microwave sensor & emergency version for the emergency lighting provision and for the replacement of general lighting it was the EVO standard bulkhead.
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