Next refurbishes stores with LED luminaires containing GE modules

Next, one of the UK's largest and best-known fashion and home-furnishing retail brands, has implemented an LED lighting scheme that incorporates a range of luminaires from UK-based Luxonic Lighting. In turn, these luminaires utilize Infusion LED modules from GE Lighting.

With over 530 stores across the UK, sustainability is a high priority for Next. One of its key aims is to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy use, with a target to achieve a 35% reduction in electricity consumption by 2015.

The Next leadership team identified an opportunity to make significant energy savings by upgrading the lighting installations in existing stores to LED technology, replacing MR16 halogens, ceramic-metal-halide lamps and compact-fluorescent lamps.

The customer was looking for a reliable solution providing superior light quality, including high CRI and lumen maintenance. Next also wanted future-proof technology, to take account of the quickly-evolving and developing LED market, and this pointed towards the use of replaceable LED modules.

Next specified GE Lighting’s Infusion LED modules (see image) to be incorporated into Luxonic LED Twin Gimbal luminaires, Luxonic LED Window Lights and Luxonic LED Modular Trough luminaires. Luxonic specially developed the luminaires to run the LED modules correctly, and focused a great deal of attention to engineering detail, in order to meet Next’s requirements.

For retailers, the Infusion LED module can help to create attention-grabbing displays, with the flexibility to change beam angles and light packages by simply swapping modules. It also offers future proofing, since the modules will be directly upgradeable as technology develops – allowing a direct replacement as efficiencies improve, without the need to change fixtures.

According to GE, the team at Next was “wary of unsubstantiated LED performance claims” and was assured by the “extensive test data available for the Infusion LED module, supporting its long-term performance promise.”

"Making an informed decision about an LED system is currently very difficult as there are numerous products being sold on the market with varying performance claims," explained a spokesperson at Next.

"Therefore, we were meticulous in our selection process and set a variety of performance parameters for the final products. We are delighted with the lighting scheme. The stores not only look excellent but – for the next five to ten years – there will be no maintenance required.”

The refurbishment looks set to result in an overall 40% energy saving for Next.