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Lights
The company has five years in which to replace
or refurbish all street lighting within Surrey. This involves replacing like
for like or in some cases, where the actual standard is new, a replacement head
only.
Currently they are well in front of their
targets as to this replacement process. They try to ensure that there is
the minimum of disruption in the area where new lamps are being fitted. They
get their excavation teams in, cordon off and replace the lamps as quickly as possible.
They have a follow up team who come along afterwards and remove barriers /cones
etc. and follow up quality control examinations.
When the new lights have been installed,
the electrical connections are done by their own in house electrician team,
which all saves time. This means that lights will become live immediately they
are connected.
The light itself is a fluorescent tube and
they have a quantifiable life expectancy.
The lamps standards themselves have a wireless
transmitter located on each lamp head. Each group of lamps in an area are
grouped together and one of the lamps will have a receiver on the lamp head
(its a wide bulge construction that can be easily identified). Once the lamps
have been connected electrically a signal is sent out from the control
lamp to all those in that particular group and are effectively 'logged on' and
'locked into' the control centre based at Burpham. From then on, the control
lamp receives signals from the control centre, which are then relayed to the other
lamps within that particular group.
Whereas in the past, lamps had photo sensors on
them that made them come on at dusk and go off at dawn, the news lamps can be
finely controlled at any time from the centre. For example in Mill Lane
Felbridge it is intended to reduce the light intensity by 50% after 11.0pm.
They can also be turned further down or even off if required.
Because the tubes have a notional life span, the
control lamp notifies the centre, prior to a lamp reaching that notional time
span. This information is then sent out to engineers who will attend
those lamps and replace the tubes.
If a tube mal functions or doesn’t light,
the control centre are made aware via the control lamp. In addition, if member
of the public rings in to a centralized number (0300 200 1003) reporting a fault, the
problem is received, logged and a unique reference given. Part of the overall
contract means that Skanska have 5 working days to attend and rectify the
problem whatever it may be, or in default are fined by surrey at the rate of
£26 per day.
If residents find they have problems with light
pollution caused by the brighter light emitted by the new lamps, they can
report that problem to the central number, and Skanska will respond. The lamp
head can be fitted with integral shields, which will deflect the light and help
to prevent light spread.
When new lights are fitted they are likely to
burn continuously for a period of time until the new group of
lamps has been locked into the control centre................Not a long
term problem should people think there is something wrong because the lamps are
burning through the day and night initially.