Future Energy Solutions (FES), the leading energy performance solutions provider, has started work on a new contract to supply, install and maintain light emitting diode (LED) lighting technology for Britannia Parking, one of the UK’s leading car park management companies.
Britannia Parking operates in both the parking and transport industries and is recognised as one of the leading companies within its field.
A member of both The British Parking Association and the industry’s Approved Operators Scheme, the company operates all types of parking including purpose built multi-storey, underground and surface car parks, together with temporary sites awaiting development.
It leases a number of sites and also offers management services to retailers, institutions, local authorities, supermarket operators, hotel groups and leisure operators. As well as providing bespoke transport solutions for major employers.
Having heard positive reports about the work FES had carried out within the car parking sector, including one of the biggest and most successful rollouts of LED lighting technology anywhere in Europe for NCP, Brian Parker, Managing Director at Britannia Parking contacted the company.
He said: "Along with four other organisations, we invited FES to tender for a contract to replace the inefficient T8 fluorescent lamps across our car parks estate with LED lighting. Having viewed their recommendations, I was impressed with the company’s consistent message and established track record and awarded it the contract in early 2015, with a view to starting work as our Bristol Harbourside car park, as the first site to upgrade to LED lighting."
A popular location due to its diverse mix of shops, restaurants, cafes and bars, as well as fitness and entertainment venues, Bristol Harbourside has one of the city’s biggest and busiest car parks. The project was a straightforward point-for-point LED lighting upgrade, which had environmental enhancements and increased security as priorities, along with the energy savings that the technology could provide. As no occupancy sensors were installed, the lighting has to be on at all times, something that was considered a security advantage.
Britannia recognised that the existing lighting was in need of refurbishment due to a significant number of luminaires no longer working. This therefore meant that the savings were on average less than the usual 60 per cent FES strive for with car parking operators.
With this in mind, FES still managed to achieve a significant energy reduction across all floors – including first floor where a significant number of lights were not working. With the first floor figures excluded, the project provided remarkable energy savings of 50.6 per cent.
As part of a bespoke energy performance contract (EPC), Britannia Parking has not had to provide any upfront capital expenditure to finance the project, as it is being entirely funded by FES. A 6 year contract will allow FES to be remunerated through the cost reduction in energy bills that Britannia Parking will experience and its energy prices are hedged over the life of the contract, reducing its exposure to price hikes.
Another massive benefit is that all the products FES specifies and installs are performance guaranteed and maintained for the life of the contract, therefore taking away the hassle of maintenance and reducing the company’s operational cost.
"This latest contract win at Britannia Parking cements our growing reputation as the leading LED lighting solutions provider within the car parking sector," concluded Marcus Brodin, Commercial Director at FES.
"I’m delighted with our achievements at Bristol Harbourside and we are currently gearing up to carry out similar work at more Britannia Parking sites, which will also benefit from our pioneering EPC."
