The Rapid lighting control system from market leaders CP Electronics has been installed to provide energy-efficient switching and dimming in new buildings recently constructed by Pembroke College, Oxford. The brief was to provide accurate and easy adjustment of light levels, something vital for today’s places of learning, particularly the lecture theatre which has to cater for both traditional teaching and high tech presentations. Flexibility and ease of use, combined with maximum energy efficiency, were key considerations for the College.
Founded in 1624, Pembroke is one of the traditional colleges which make up Oxford University. The college recently completed a major new build project on a site adjacent to its main site, connected by a footbridge. The new buildings comprise over a hundred en-suite bedrooms, seminar rooms, a lecture theatre, café, art gallery and other facilities.
Specified and installed by R T Harris & Son, Oxford, various products from CP have been used to control illumination levels in student accommodation areas, corridors, the lecture theatre, café, seminar rooms, toilets & stores. These include the passive infrared detector EBDSPIR-PRM, which can be set for absence/ presence detection, switching the load on or off according to occupancy after a preset time. The time delay is adjustable between 10 seconds and 99 minutes and, if there is sufficient natural light, a built-in photocell will keep the lighting switched off. It also has the benefit of optional manual override and has been utilised in all corridors in student accommodation areas, in addition to toilets & stores.
As part of the college installation, the lecture theatre, café, seminar rooms and assembly room required a dimmable lighting system with scene setting for different applications and CP’s Rapid system was chosen for this application. Rapid is a fully addressable, networked lighting control system which is configurable, enabling a change of illumination to suit the mood in the area, without the need to change the hard wiring. The system was set up to allow scenes to be called from local scene plates for both phased dimming and digital dimming protocols to preset levels to the end user specific requirements.
Fully addressable, the system optimises energy efficiency by controlling lighting in relation to daylight, presence and absence. The high level of addressability has enabled the designers to establish control parameters that best suit the design and usage of each space.
CP Electronics
Brent Crescent
London
NW10 7XR
Tel: 0333 9000671
