A leading light in innovation
Power One is seeking to transform Scotland’s street lighting landscape, as Anthony Harrington discovers
THE days of sodium street lamps could be about to go the way of the gas street lighting of yesteryear, before the advent of electricity. Modern technology, as can be seen from the transformation of car headlights, is now focused on LED lighting – which is brighter and far less power hungry than conventional lighting. However, as with every transformation, things have to proceed bit by bit, city by city.
The privately-owned contractor, Power One, specialises in electrical and communications works and over the past three years – as managing director Mark Ward explains – the Paisley-based company has developed into one of the leading contractors in the LED retrofit market. Power One recently won a £9 million street lighting contract from Northumberland City Council to replace 48,000 street lights with LED systems.
“We have a track record of bringing innovation and energy saving initiatives to our street lighting schemes. Increased energy efficiencies lower an adopting council’s carbon footprint.
“We also lower the environmental impact through column replacements and by changing over to LED bollards. We have recently successfully completed the UK’s largest LED retrofit in Salford Manchester, which involved a two year project,” he comments.
The Salford scheme involved Power One swapping more than 22,000 sodium street lanterns for LED lighting. “The completed project has achieved a reduction in the city’s energy usage in excess of 50 per cent. Plus we delivered the works ahead of schedule and within budget,” Ward says.
Power One has recently achieved accreditation under the Lloyd’s Register EMEA National Electricity Registration Scheme, enabling the company to provide a full ‘turn key’ solution for clients undertaking Asset Improvement and/or energy reduction schemes.
Achieving this status was a key contributor in the company being awarded the full installation works on the £9 million Northumberland Invest to Save Street Lighting contract, which has a contract obligation to achieve a reduction in energy usage of 63.5 per cent.
“Our scope of work on this contract has increased to include the LED retrofit, new column installation and subsequent works,” Ward says.
In addition to its Street Lighting division, Power One is also active in the communications sector, with their specialist workforce updating much of the ageing infrastructure for many of the large telecom providers, such as Vodafone and O2.
The company origins lay in carrying out electrical works in the offshore sector and providing temporary electric supplies to large construction sites, with particular logistic challenges.
“We continue to expand as a company. Already this year, we have won a landmark lighting project in Glasgow City Cen- tre and are reviewing exciting opportunities in the Telecoms sector at present,” Ward says. Recent major contract awards by the company’s street lighting division total some £13 million, boosting it to a new stage in its development.
“Our strategic plans are to achieve a £30 million turnover by 2020. This will be achieved by steady and considered growth in our core markets, predominantly with our existing customer base with whom we have developed excellent relationships, while at the same time we are embracing like-minded new customers,” he notes.
“To assist our growth strategy, we aim to develop strategic partnerships throughout the supply chain, from top to bottom.
“We understand the importance of good relationships and the partnership ethos adopted with fellow supply chain members, such as Galliford Try and Thorn, has created opportunities for each other across various sectors,” he adds.
The company recently completed a full review of key staff, business systems and accreditations: “Key additional appointments have already been made and more are due to be made in the coming months. These will add significant industry experience to the company during this period of growth and compliment the hard work and values of the existing team.”
Ward points out the Scottish Government has made a significant commitment to energy saving schemes, and upgrading street lighting assets plays a key role in achieving large savings.
“We have a 2020 vision at Power One where we plan to help reduce the carbon footprint and energy bills of each local authority in the cen- tral belt over the coming five years,” he concludes. The company has invested heavily in the training and development of its 45-strong workforce, and focused on developing key supply relationships over the previous three years. Relationships with blue chip companies such as Thorn Lighting, Gal-
‘To assist our growth strategy, we aim to develop strategic partnerships throughout the supply chain’
liford Try Construction, CTIL, Mono Consulting and Maclean Electrical ensure that the company can deliver the very best in product, design and delivery across all the sectors in which it operates.
All of the company’s delivery teams are HEA accredited and utilise G39-trained electricians to carry out the work in these sectors.
The recent accreditation as an Independent Connection Provider (ICP), has also given the group the ability to provide a complete “one stop shop” to clients. This offers efficiencies where previously several different contractors were required, often leading to programming and delivery issues further disrupting the public.
‘We have a track record of bringing innovation and energy saving initiatives to our street lighting schemes’