Design and technology workshop LED lighting, St Columba's, Bexleyheath

Back at St Columba's.

After we upgraded the sports hall lighting at St Columba's Catholic Boys' School in Bexleyheath, the school asked us back to do the same in its design and technology department. The workshops were lit by ageing fluorescent fittings, which are costly to run and increasingly hard to get tubes for. Good, even light matters more here than almost anywhere else in a school, because pupils are working at benches with vices, pillar drills and a band saw.

What we did.

• Removed the old fluorescent fittings across the design and technology workshops
• Installed LED battens between the exposed steel beams, giving bright, even light over every bench
• Planned the layout around what was already on the ceiling: pipework, projectors, cable runs and fire detection
• Kept good light over the fixed machinery, such as the pillar drills and band saw, where pupils need to see clearly
• Worked around the school timetable so the rooms stayed usable
• Tested the lighting circuits and handed over the certification

The result.

Brighter, more even workshops that cost less to run and need far less maintenance, matching the LED lighting we fitted in the school's sports hall. See the sports hall project.