Skanska - Sustainability Rail Project

Skanska has shone a green light on works at London’s Euston station to demonstrate the potential for solar-powered off-grid temporary lighting to contribute sustainability benefits and cost-savings to major infrastructure projects.

Temporary lighting was needed to illuminate night time working and to protect site security in a project to replace and upgrade an electricity substation at Barnby Street, NW1 for Network Rail.

Skanska chose to work with the Prolectric ProTemp LED solar lighting tower to provide powerful and reliable lighting at the Euston site, with no noise or emissions. As it does not use mains power, the ProTemp dispenses with the need for a contractor to dig trenches, install trunking or cables and saves significantly on groundworking and installation costs.

Skanska Environmental Manager Richard Cattan, said: “I was familiar with the off-grid benefits of Prolectric solar lighting from previous trials, so I knew that using the ProTemps at Euston would mean we would get reliable site illumination without having to connect to mains electricity, therefore achieving a welcome saving in utility charges.

“As the substation site is next to a residential estate, it was also important that we make all reasonable efforts to reduce our impacts, such as noise from generators. The lights were easy to install and avoided pinning cables to the hoarding fence which could be a hazard.”

The lights also removed the need for temporary diesel generator lights, which would have been the only alternative to mains connection at Barnby Street.

Mounted on a concrete base, the stand-alone ProTemp tower light can be moved into position quickly and easily with a forklift or sack truck. Eight lights will be positioned around the perimeter of the Barnby Street site until the completion of the contract in mid-2018.

The ProTemp lights continue reliably even when winter days are dark and short. Every ProTemp is fitted with smart Passive Infrared Sensor (PIR) to optimise power usage. A bright light is activated when the area is entered by a vehicle or person. When the area is unused this ‘smart eye’ technology switches off to save battery usage and minimise light pollution.

Richard Cattan added: “My role at Skanska is to encourage environmental improvement and promote the use of equipment powered by renewable sources. It is important for contractors to be aware of solar-powered alternative for temporary lighting where it can reduce any adverse environmental impacts, and it will also help to save on project costs.”

Managing Director Chris Williams and Commercial Director Tim Brooks are the driving forces behind Prolectric. The company was the first to introduce solar-only permanent street lights to the UK market in 2011 and there are now more than 2,000 units installed nationally.

Richard Cattan continues: “I first came across Chris and Tim at a trade fair and I was impressed by their solar lighting knowledge, the flexibility of their product and their ability to answer my questions about the technology. Tim and his team have always provided what we require, and we actually purchased more lights at Euston than originally recommended.”

Tim Brooks added: “We are proud to be associated with Skanska, as they are well-known for their dedicated, high standards of environmental performance and we’re delighted to see them supporting our efforts to promote solar alternatives to conventional temporary lighting.”