It has turned the derelict farm into a research and educational complex that is also completely energy efficient. As part of this LiGO was selected to control the building’s lighting.

The building has:-

• An Exhibition Area, to display the most important technologies.

• Resource Centre, housing both computer-based and hard-copy information.

• Training and Education facilities, in which businesses and community members can attend short courses, consult with experts, and evaluate ‘sustainable’ options.

• Applied Research wing, evaluating technologies throughout the campus, and elsewhere.

• The Earth Observatory, an ‘outreach centre’ to demonstrate the environmental importance of the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and the earth’s mantle.

Now complete the LiGO system can not only be used to control the buildings lighting but a PC provides students and visitors with chance to see how simple good lighting control can be.

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 Room 63 of the Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery is the first to have its lighting controlled by LiGO. More by accident than design the artist’s work on show here is famous for their ‘observations of landscape and light effects.’ The LiGO is controlling ERCO OPTEC 14 Watt LED Spotlights with DALI drivers mounted at high level and focused on the 4 walls of the room. These replace the existing 90 watt fittings in the gallery and will reduce the number of lamps from 40 to 25, a significant energy saving .

 Colour rendering properties of the LED means the previously installed combination of blue and clear lamps is no longer required. Control is a combination of natural daylight and artificial light from the roof space above. Where ever possible natural light is used then augmented as required. The control and measurement is through a combination of LiGO and the Building Management System (BMS). Here LiGO comes into its own as it is designed to be interfaced directly to BMS systems without the need for costly interfacing components and engineering.

 Local control in the room is from a LiGO View panel where gallery staff can select scenes from the panel and override the lighting scenes as appropriate. Lamp failures are reported to the BMS so prompt repairs can be made.

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 LiGO’s ability to combine the 2 lighting control technologies provides the additional benefits of DALI which deliver better energy savings and more flexible control possibilities. Open Technology also installed LiGO in the James France Theatre earlier this year.

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With the theme of the Conference being ‘Engineering the Old and the New’ it was clear that control and especially lighting control has a huge part to play in delivering the right teaching environment in the future.

Control systems need to be flexible  and work to meet all the design challenges that will provide an energy saving, low maintenance solution which is simple to use by staff and students alike.

Synapsys Solutions took the opportunity to launch their new automatic metering and targeting package which shares the same brand values of LiGO namely. No licence fees, unlimited users and no on-going maintenance costs.

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The first 6 months of 2011 have been challenging. It seems every project is a fight to the death to win it, with contractors playing a game of last man standing on price, placing orders late and insisting on unachievable programs from the offset.　 Sound familiar? It’s the same for everyone but we remain focused on delivering what our real customers need and expect from Open Technology.

 Systems need to be commissioned correctly and the training undertaken in a timely manner to ensure customers get the most from their investment. To that end we have now ensured that we undertake 2 training regimes, one under the contract ,usually shoehorned into the program and then one arranged with the customer post-handover and when the building has settled down. That way we ensure everything is set up to maximise energy saving and reduce maintenance on the system.

Overseas News

Hotello our LiGO Partner　in Israel have secured a project at the prestigious Leonardo Hotel in Tel Aviv. Both our Danish LiGO Partners DAS and HO Services have secured more DALI projects and face a busy summer getting them installed and commissioned.

Panels Away

We have now established our own panel shop here at Burgess Hill. Welcome to Dave Turner who we have known for years and he is charged with delivering a competitively priced LiGO built to the very highest standards. Priority being delivery on time and ready for installation. In addition the software for LiGO is loaded and tested so the start-up time on site is minimised. All panels have their drawings and certificates issued prior to despatch. Dave is joined by Daniel Lake our Apprentice, a commitment we are proud to make so we can be seen to be putting something back into the industry. We are expecting much of Daniel.

 LiGO in Education

Somerset House East Wing, part of the King’s College Strand Campus represents the single largest project we have undertaken with LiGO. The iconic London building is being refurbished to provide new teaching spaces correctly lit and controlled to provide the right teaching environment for staff and students alike. Valued at some £100k the project will complete in October 2011. The system is made up of 5 LiGO Panels and with the vIQ in the LiGO the PIR’s in all the teaching areas will ensure the heating and cooling is only ever on when the rooms are in use.

 At the other end of the educational ladder is Greasley Beauville Primary School. The brand new school opens in September and the Parents Children and Staff are rightly excited at the prospect of their new school. Here LiGO will control the lighting throughout, carry out emergency light test, report faults and work with the natural ventilation and heating systems to ensure much needed resource can be channelled towards the children’s education and not utility bills.

 Home Farm at Keele University is a technology and innovation centre opening in October. An earth observatory with 　exhibition spaces which include solar, ground source and biomass technologies which can be seen close up and in action. LiGO is in control of all the lighting and students can interact with the system through the LiGO’s web pages.

New challenge for LiGO in B&Q

B&Q Chelmsford is the first store without roof lights to have LiGO installed. The use of free daylight is an integral part of B&Q Store design and a must for new store design, however there are some stores which do not benefit from this feature and therefore have not benefited from LiGO. Since the introduction of aisle by aisle control and the presence / absence detection as well as light level LiGO now offers close control across the store.

 Interfaced to the intruder system lights are all off when the alarm is set. When the trading day starts the store sets to a low level of lighting which is quite adequate for store replenishment or cleaning. It takes the arrival of a customer in an aisle to automatically bring the lighting up to its trading set point. During quiet times the aisle lights will reset down to the lower level meaning the store is not over lit during quitter trading periods. Again using the direct digital control of LiGO the trading level is set and the ballasts float to control the lighting. Despite there being only daylight at the store front the groups are all running below 100% and typically on a bright day they are below 60%, again providing valuable savings. At the end of the trading day lights switch down to their lower setting and when no activity is detected in each aisle the lights turn off. LiGO’s flexible programming means that energy saving improvements come with the system and LiGO can be programmed by the user to get the most savings possible from the system.

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Open Technology are installing LiGO into the East Wing of this landmark London building. Now part of the Strand Campus of Kings College London the fully refurbished teaching spaces will be completed by October 2011.

This project represents a landmark in Open Technology’s 3 year history. Lee Percival-Smith explains :-

”It’s not just the contract value and scale of the project but this project demonstrates Open Technology’s ability and commitment to interpret the client’s requirements and get these delivered through the often  ”turbulent waters” of contacting! Since installing our first LiGO on the campus 18 months ago we have worked to ensure all projects large or small are carried out to time and budget in an atmosphere of collaboration not confrontation. That way we firmly believe we ensure the Client get’s what he is expecting and the projects are delivered , right first time, commissioned correctly and with training completed. Having the same person responsible from concept to handover ensures this happens.”

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The refurbishment of the 1960′s theatre by SSE Contracting is the first 100% LED project for LiGO.

Using 80 Marlow Integrated Designs 200mm 36w down lighter the auditorium is lit and controlled using a single LiGO controller and simple to operate scene plates located in the lectern on the stage and in the control room. The down lighters are supplied with DALI so simply work with the LiGO.

In addition the emergency lighting is automatically tested by LiGO with results of both function and duration tests being stored in the LiGO. With LiGO being so straightforward and quick to program the scenes were set with the College’s AV Technicians on the morning of handover.

Having all the tools you need in the LiGO ensures programming to the customer’s exact requirements always happens with Open Technology.

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An eight month project to completely replace the 160 year old glass roof at Portsmouth and Southsea station has been completed, resulting in a lighter, brighter concourse for the thousands of passengers who pass through it each day.

The station is a Grade II listed building, so the new roof had to closely match the original design. One difference which was allowed was the use of clear glass rather than the frosted glass used in the original. This will let more natural light onto the concourse, providing a better environment for passengers.

Richard O’Brien, Network Rail’s route managing director for Wessex, said: “This is a great example of how we can improve stations for passengers at the same time as preserving Britain’s rich rail history. The station now has a better environment and ambiance which we hope will make a positive difference to passengers passing through it. We thank people for their patience while we carried out this upgrade.”

Jake Kelly, customer service director for South West Trains, said: “Portsmouth and Southsea station will now be far more welcoming for passengers, benefitting from a beautiful new wooden roof and more natural light entering the building.”

The project also included the installation of a new LiGO energy-efficient intelligent lighting system designed and installed by Sussex based Open Technology Ltd. Passengers will notice that lights are only on when they are needed, and when they are on they automatically adjust depending how bright it is outside. This is not only helping reduce the cost of running the railway, it is more environmentally friendly, which could save up to 18 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year – the equivalent of seven average cars being taken off the road.

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The new facility has the capacity to hold 575 cars and marks the final phase of South West Trains’ car park investment programme which has seen the addition of 2000 parking spaces across the train company’s network since the beginning of it’s franchise. 

The new multi-storey car park at Southampton Airport (Parkway) Station is fully lit by LiGO from Open Technology a DALI energy efficient lighting system.

A single LiGO panel with 3G Modem connection to the web ensures the DALI Lighting is controlled to the optimum level 24/7 and any faults are reported promptly.

Customers will notice that lights are on only where necessary and when it’s a bright day lights will be off. A visible sign of SWT’s commitment to save energy wherever practical.

The car park is covered throughout by monitored CCTV cameras for improved passenger security.

Cashless Pay and Display machines will allow payment by debit and credit cards, making parking even more convenient for passengers using Southampton Airport Parkway.

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