Office design and fit-out firm Morgan Lovell and lighting remanufacturer Silent Design saved 300 linear metres of luminaires from a commercial office building on the South Bank when a tenant moved in and wanted a custom Cat B scheme. 

The fittings – initially earmarked as waste – were then taken to the Silent Design’s Marlow, Buckinghamshire, facility where they were upgraded and tested.

A number of 3m runs of linear LED were cut and fabricated into shorter 1500mm units. Each had two custom end-caps added. 

Downlights were converted from fluorescent to LED.

The company even reused floor tiles rescued from a job in Watford as packaging for the lights while they were transported. 

The luminaires were then upgraded where necessary, remanufactured and tested. 

They were installed in the Building Crafts College, an educational establishment in Stratford, East London which trains bricklayers, stone masons, joiners and carpenters. 

They are controlled via presence and daylight dimming using wireless Casambi technology, a discrete Bluetooth-mesh based system that lends itself well to remanufacturing projects.

‘When I walked the floors with my colleagues Lina Grinceviciute and Paul Richardson, we agreed that we had to find a practical solution and that we could not let the unused lights go for WEEE recycling,’ said James Ivin, environmental and sustainability manager of Morgan Lovell. ‘We were persistent in finding a solution and through contacts at Recolight, we found John of Silent Design who took the lights away, and repurposed them. 

‘We obviously have a long way to go, but giving these things 'a go' has had positive impacts and overall carbon savings. Happy clients and customers all around.’

Silent Design has given the customer a five-year warranty on the reused lights.