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successful projects Streetlighting Retrofit Programme, Salford

At a time when many other local authorities are switching off their streetlights to save money, Urban Vision has devised a strategy to improve the street lighting performance in Salford whilst making significant financial savings for the council and helping to meet their carbon reduction targets.
Salford City Council recognised the risks posed by the poor condition of its street lighting stock and was concerned that the energy costs were rising considerably each year. The carbon reduction targets set by the government could not be met due to limited budgets available for projects. The Council knew that something must be done but concluded that an entire column replacement programme would be unaffordable and recognised that a more innovative solution was required. Urban Vision devised an invest-to-save programme to retrofit the existing columns with lanterns that create energy and maintenance savings. These savings are financing the retrofit of the existing lanterns whilst covering the cost of dealing with any columns that are structurally defective. An evaluation of the options available by Urban Vision concluded that white light had the potential to achieve the desired criteria. However the existing lamp

replacement solutions were limited in the amount of energy that could be saved. Utilising the practices of overnight dimming and trimming lights was recognised to add further savings. In order to make the financial model work, Urban Vision specified that the new lanterns must provide a 50% reduction in the street lighting energy bill, have a 20 year guaranteed design life and a base unit cost of approximately 250. Recent advances in the technology involved in Light Emitting Diode (LED) lanterns were identified as likely to meet these three criteria, so Urban Vision carried out a soft market testing exercise with the top ten LED suppliers. LED Roadway Lighting from Canada was selected.

successful people, projects and performance

successful projects Streetlighting Retrofit Programme, Salford

including savings during the year of installation, even after funding 2,500 new columns, repairs to others and repayment of the capital and financing costs, making this self-financed project massively beneficial to council. This has meant that a number of other local authorities are now turning to Salford to use their invest-to-save model to improve their own street lighting. The project was also recently received the award for the Most Innovative Highway Scheme of the Year at the Highways Magazine Excellence Awards 2012. An initial project of 2,000 lanterns, installed in early 2012, saved at least 80,000 each year in reduced energy and a 65% reduction in maintenance costs. Unlike traditional lanterns, which need to be replaced every four years, LED lanterns do not require routine maintenance during the warranty period, only electrical inspections required by law every six years. In order to assemble the case, Urban Vision drew upon Capita Symonds in-house staff from offices across the UK to research carbon and energy inflation. Calculations showed that without investing in LED lanterns, Salfords street lighting energy bill would rise from 1m to 10m over 20 years if energy costs continue to rise at 12% per year. Urban Vision subsequently compiled a report for the council that demonstrated the financial case for retrofitting the remaining 24,000 streetlights with LED lanterns. The proposal included the necessary work to repair, refurbish or replace all columns needing attention. The substantial energy and maintenance savings meant that Salford had two revenue streams to fund an invest-to-save solution over 20 years. The use of these lanterns in the retrofit of 24,000 lanterns in Salford will potentially provide the Council with 56% energy savings and maintenance reductions of two thirds. This enabled year on year budget savings

Keys to Success
Innovative design Effective programme management Environmental benefits including reduction in energy costs and carbon footprint Potential enhanced detection of crime Creative solutions Commercial understanding Financial benefits including annual savings in energy and maintenance Establishing a new market for Capita Symonds as the solution is relevant to all UK local authorities

Citation
An innovative and self-financing solution to our Council partner's dual efficiency challenges, generating significant financial savings and helping to meet its carbon reduction targets. This is a model that is relevant across UK local government and is an excellent example of how we can 'create' new markets and revenue streams for ourselves, another worthy recipient of our Discretionary Award for Innovation.

Nominated by: Simon Butt, Salford

successful people, projects and performance