As class-sizes reach all-time highs and budgets keep shrinking, Martyn Frear, Business Development Manager at CP Electronics, explains why modular buildings and lighting controls can ease the squeeze on schools and education.
There were 66,000 more children in the nation’s schools in June 2018, compared to the same point in the year prior. The increase is undoubtedly influencing learning.
Last year, the Department for Education revealed that the average secondary school class size is 21.2 pupils, up from 20.8 in 2017.
The vast majority of classes are between one and 30 students, but there is also data that shows 11.5% of students were in classes of 31-35, and 0.6% were in classes with 36 students or more. Funds are clearly the issue.
Whilst new funds might not magically appear any time soon, there is the prospect that money, more classrooms and learning facilities can be made through a growing source: modular buildings and modular lighting controls.
Going modular
Modular construction is not new, but it has recently taken off as more and more clients turn to it for quicker construction and real benefits in time and cost savings.
Rather than having materials and hundreds of staff on a construction site, sections of buildings are instead constructed off site in factories and then delivered for assembly and installation.
This mitigates traditional construction issues, such as delays in materials and poor weather, which ultimately produce higher costs.
The real beauty is that modular construction is not just about floors, walls and ceilings. Every part of a modular building needs to come together seamlessly in as quick a time frame as possible, and this includes the lighting controls.
To this end, plug and play modular lighting controls have been developed specifically for this purpose.
These controls include the Vitesse Modular standard & dimming versions which can adapt and grow from 2-way to 16-way by simply adding extender modules.
The Vitesse Plus 7 can also be easily configured to take into account the complexity of classroom control requirements, with on-board programmes numbering 90 different configurations from a single standard LCM.
A different class
Designing lighting and lighting controls for educational buildings, particularly schools, is a different animal altogether when compared with sectors like healthcare and commercial.
It is imperative that contractors follow the guidance from CIBSE (the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers) and the ESFA (Education and Skills Funding Agency). With schools, the functionality requirements demanded for new projects funded by the ESFA are varied.
However, the common requirement is that lighting controls must now be automatic to all spaces in order to facilitate control of the visual environment and energy savings. Control devices are to be simple and intuitive too.
Additionally, schools should make the most of natural daylight as much as possible in order to increase energy savings.
Depending on the space in question, there are also other considerations. Balancing these criteria may seem tricky; however, modular lighting controls are designed to accommodate these demands.
The Vitesse Modular can handle the general areas requirement and be specified in four-pole or six-pole connections for auto-on/off switching or dimming, and its ‘plug and play’ design ensures a quick, hassle-free installation.
Meanwhile, the Vitesse Plus 7 with pre-designed control schemes can accommodate more complex classroom requirements of graduated dimming in rows adjacent to windows and the interactive whiteboard control.
A single source
One of the biggest challenges of the construction market is that the supply chain is traditionally long and fragmented. With many suppliers, this can cause delays as information is sought and clarified, thus pushing up costs.
To avoid unnecessary complications, it is always good practice to work with a single manufacturer where possible.
This ensures that systems can work together as intended, the manufacturer can advise on best practice with its solutions, and installation and commissioning stages are pain-free.
Modular buildings can typically save up to 30-50% construction time over traditional bricks and mortar.
As it continues to increase in popularity, it’s well worth engineers investing time to understand how modular lighting controls work in tandem with this construction method.
To find out more about CP Electronics and modular lighting controls, visit: www.cpelectronics.co.uk.
