Energy boost

Energy boost
Marks and Spencer debuts an energy-efficient lighting program

By Vilma Barr, New York Editor
May 01, 2009

Dave Thrower, Redshift Photography, Milton Keynes, U.K.

The new 70,000-sq.-ft. Marks and Spencer (M&S) store in the Silverburn Shopping Centre, Pollock, Glasgow, U.K., is the fourth largest in the 885-store international chain. London-based M&S, founded in 1884 and the United Kingdom’s largest clothing retailer, is also a purveyor of food, wine, housewares, furniture and technology products. Recently, when M&S decided to encourage its environmental sustainability program, the store’s shell was already 75 percent complete. So the architects at London-based 3D Reid and the lighting designers at Hertfordshire, U.K.-based LAPD Consultants had to quickly reposition their ideas for the store.

“Our firm’s role was to reduce the lighting levels while maintaining the image of a high street store and the public perception of what a Marks and Spencer store should be,” says Steve Dean, director at LAPD, which has served as M&S’s green lighting consultants for the past five years.

The lighting solution for the Silverburn store was based on the geometric rhythm created by alternating fixtures containing fluorescent lamps and spot lights, and a system of fluorescent-lit overhead sculptural Barrisol elements. “The eco-fit-out of Silverburn is the first new-build project that is part of M&S’s five-year plan,” Dean explains. The plan’s main objectives are for M&S to become carbon neutral and to extend sustainable sourcing.

Dean notes that energy requirements and emissions at M&S Silverburn have been reduced through lowered ambient lighting levels, from 98 footcandles to 78 footcandles. Energy-efficient lighting systems include daylight sensors, as well as a combined heat and power system. “Lamp wattage in the accent fittings was reduced from the typical 70-watt to 35-watt CDM-T lamps (ceramic discharge metal halide with single-end attachment) without loss of visual emphasis,” Dean says. “The overall lighting load dropped 15 percent.”

Ian Kerr, director of 3D Reid, explains that the lighting runs are designed to sit between the ceiling raft layout. “They provide both ambient light to the sales floor, and specific adjustable spot lighting to merchandise and displays,” he observes.

LAPD designed suspended fittings that are fixed to the underside of the rafts. Dashed lines produced by alternating spots and fluorescent tubes run horizontally across the store. Between the fluorescents are Concord Torus CDM-T narrow beam spotlights to accent the merchandise, hung 11 1/2 ft. from the floor level. The roofline is 5 ft. above.

Overhead, light boxes formed of Barrisol containing 6,000˚K T5 fluorescent lamps are used at the entrance, above vertical circulation areas and as a major feature in the lingerie department. “They function as backlit light boxes,” Dean says. A double skin of Barrisol, placed 2 in. apart, creates the overhead elements. “The look we wanted to achieve and did create is that of a white block of ice,” Dean explains.

A post-occupancy survey will provide data on the performance of Silverburn’s systems to apply to future M&S store openings.