Thorn Lighting improves the learning environment for 515 lucky pupils in Pembrokeshire

Thorn Lighting has provided the lighting for the £12 million new Gelliswick Church in Wales Voluntary Controlled (VC) Primary School to assist Pembrokeshire County Council in its target to provide a flexible and adaptable 21st Century learning environment for pupils. Thorn worked closely on the project with consultants Hoare Lea Cardiff and M&E contractors Highadmit Projects Ltd in Beddau. The 515-pupil school replaces Hakin Community and Hubberston VC schools and is one of several new schools which have been built, or are being built, under the 21st Century Schools Programme, a £150 million initiative between Pembrokeshire County Council and the Welsh Government to build state-of-the-art schools. In addition to a new build primary school, the facility provides an Early Years Unit for around 60 pupils; a Complex Needs Unit for 24 pupils and other facilities accessible to the local community. One of the main requirements of the project was to improve the learning environment, which is key to improving wellbeing and attendance levels, raise standards and provide dedicated facilities for family integration. To create the desired environment, Thorn’s next generation luminaire IQ Wave luminaires were chosen for the classrooms and offices. IQ Wave is a smart recessed LED luminaire that focuses on intelligent controls, optics, design and installation, creating a smooth, homogenous illuminance with no visible LED. Low glare (UGR 19, <3 000 CD/m2 at 65°) ensures a comfortable ambient light while high efficacy (>100Llm/W) achieves significant energy savings in comparison to traditional light sources. IQ Wave provides excellent lighting quality, high user comfort and a guaranteed communicative working environment. As Pembrokeshire County Council is committed to embedding sustainability within all of its new schools, Thorn’s Chalice was an obvious choice for the corridors, offering a 60% reduction in energy usage when compared to conventional fluorescent downlights. Chalice is available fixed (13/26/38W) with a choice of colour temperatures (3000 or 4000K). A lifetime of up to 50,000 hours (@L70, Ta 25 degrees C) also significantly reduces maintenance demands and costs. Cetus, Thorn’s recessed LED downlight sealed to IP44, was installed in the bathroom areas. Aquaforce IP65 rated LED luminaires provide the required lighting levels via low energy lighting in the more rugged environment of the school stores. The durable AquaForce LED range from Thorn provides the highest level of light, efficiency and reliability in harsh wet and dusty environments and is robust enough to withstand impact. Energy consumption and costs are reduced, and further savings arise from longer maintenance lifecycles. Emergency lighting throughout the facility is provided by Voyager C, a high performance, surface mounted, emergency lighting luminaire with an open area optic and three hour manual test. Voyager C can be operated in either maintained or non-maintained modes. The new Gelliswick Church in Wales VC Primary School offers the best quality education to all children in the Hakin and Hubberston areas and provides purpose built specialist facilities, including community rooms and community facilities.