Wepre Park is a large park located near Connah’s Quay in Flintshire, North Wales. Spanning an impressive 160 acres, this beautiful park is home to Ewloe Castle, a native Welsh castle, built in 1257 by the Kingdom of Gwynedd. The castle was mainly built with hard sandstone, which forms another striking feature in the park, known as The Red Rocks.

Today, Wepre park is not only visited for its historic castle, but also its many walks, ponds, brooks, and vibrant wildlife oasis. The park is now also home to a popular outdoor gym, children’s playground, football pitches and Wepre Park Visitor Centre, run by Flintshire County Council Local Authority. The Visitor Centre serves the public year-round, providing meeting rooms, event space, cafe, and toilets.

As part of their on-going commitment to conserving the environment, Flintshire County Council Energy Conservation Team are continually on the lookout for ways to reduce their carbon footprint and increase energy savings across the county. An opportunity for this was observed in the Visitor Centre building, which they recognised could be improved to meet their criteria for energy and sustainability. The client approached Dextra, as we were thought to be a good potential fit, due to our retrofit products, which could meet the requirements of the project. These particular lighting products could produce the crucial energy savings and carbon reduction while enhancing the aesthetics of the current building.

THE SOLUTION

Flintshire County Council Energy Conservation Team were responsible for this project. This was part of a larger project encompassing 7 other buildings, the majority of which were county Primary Schools. These were completed by the same tender and awarded to contracting firm Mega Electrical to conduct the installation.

Dextra attended the site to carry out initial surveys of several properties and then populate designs, drawings and energy-saving reports for each building. These were then submitted to FCC to validate. The client required lighting for the Cafe area, the office spaces, storage and kitchen areas, and staff WC areas.

For the cafe space, we chose to supply a combination of the COMTEC LED, COULIS MINI and HI-TRACK luminaires. We chose the COMTEC LED for this area as it proved to be a perfect fit for the existing plasterboard cut-out size. This lighting features a modern, white ring aesthetic which would bring the lighting up-to-date. Dextra Lighting’s COMTEC LED provides the same leading performance, lifetime and warranty as our popular Protec LED, but in a much larger housing size. Replacing fluorescent luminaires with LED downlight installations can be challenging and costly due to existing holes in ceiling tiles and plasterboards. Our COMTEC LED is suitable for a 210mm cut out, which ensures a quick and easy replacement of the majority of fluorescent installations with minimal ceil-ing adjustment. The COMTEC downlighter we provided was a direct fit to the existing plasterboard, which meant that most fittings were a point for point exchange. We installed 24 of these LEDs in this area.

Dextra Lighting’s COULIS MINI was also used in the cafe due to its flexibility. This lighting can be moved and repositioned using a track, allowing it to highlight walls and various focal points. 0Made from die-cast aluminium, it features a classic tubular design, pin-stripe detailing and a deep-set black reflector bezel adding a modern aesthetic. Thanks to a unique annotated dial on the mounting arm, the head can be easily adjusted to the precise angle required. This LED is available with 3 beam angles, multiple lumen outputs, and a choice of two body sizes. For the Visitor Centre cafe, we supplied 7 COULIS MINI LEDs.

Complimenting the COULIS MINI, we also supplied 12 of our HI-TRACK luminaires. We chose this product due to the mounting height, which allows the adjustable direction of light onto tables or feature artwork. Dextra Lighting’s HI-TRACK range is ideal for retail and display lighting applications, featuring a robust, durable design and contemporary aesthetic. A versatile solution, the HI-TRACK range can be customised to meet a variety of display lighting applications. Individual luminaires can be switched on and off as re-quired, instantly maximising energy efficiency. All luminaires can also be rotated and pivoted as needed, for quick and simple adjustment of lighting displays.

For the station offices, we opted to supply 15 of our GRADUATE LEDs. We chose this particular lighting as it can be surface mounted to flat ceilings and is in-keeping with UGR (Unified Glare Rating) guidelines. Dextra Lighting’s GRADUATE LED is an ideal lighting solution for retrofit applications, enabling sensor control minus the high cost associated with modifying external wiring. It is a popular, attractive choice for both academia and suspended applications, and is available with numerous dimming and emergency op-tions.

We selected a combination of our HYDRA LED and IMPR LED for storage and kitchen areas. The IMPR LED was selected for the kitchen as this luminaire is ideal for a commercial kitchen environment. Opting for these LEDs also allowed us to reduce the fitting quantities, thus improving energy efficiency. Dextra Lighting’s IMPR Luminaire range is durable, recessed, and IP65 rated. This lighting is designed to be uniquely suited to arduous applications with dirty, dusty and wet environments. Dextra offer this lighting in a wide range of sizes and lumen outputs, complete with dimming and emergency options, allowing easy customisation to the application at hand. Now available with an LED vari-ant, this robust range comes with the added benefits of reduced energy consumption and low-maintenance. This made it an ideal solution for the requirements of this project. We supplied a total of 6 luminaires in this area, which included emergency (M3) versions.

For the storage and other kitchen areas, we chose to supply 15 of our HYDRA LEDs. This product was selected due to its suitability for kitchen and storage environments and the ability to meet various hygiene requirements, such as moisture levels. Similar to the IMPR LED, Dextra Lighting’s HYDRA LED is IP65 rated, and ideal for storage and industrial applications in which protection from dirt, dust ingress and light impact are crucial. This LED is available in a wide range of lumen outputs, dimming variants and integral emergency options.

The Visitor Centre WC and circulation lighting required updating, and for these areas, we supplied 10 of our emergency version (M3) AMED LEDs. We chose this product as it could provide a more decorative alternative to the existing installation while providing better energy efficiency. Dextra Lighting’s AMED LED (The Amenity Decorative) is an attractive luminaire featuring an opal diffuser. This lighting is available with a range of optional coloured ring attachments, as well as semi-recessing kits.

The staff and wardens WC areas also required updated lighting; however, this needed to be a more budget fitting, being in a non-public area. The AMENITY PLUS LED was selected as it best fitted these requirements. Dextra Lighting’s AMENITY PLUS LED is sealed to IP65, and is ideal for both external areas such as wall mounting as well as internal areas including toilets and corridors. Our AMENITY PLUS LED is available in a range of lumen outputs with numerous sensor, dimming and emergency options, offering a low cost, energy-efficient solution. We supplied 16 of these luminaires.

The Wepre Park Visitor Centre refurbishment was a great success and completed to time. Dextra supplied retrofit products suited to the requirements. The lighting supplied would both enhance the aesthetics of the building and allow Flintshire Council Energy Conservation Team to achieve their commitment to energy savings. For ease of maintenance, Dextra supplied all lighting products with a comprehensive 5-year warranty, comprising labour and parts for the first 3 years, and free-of-charge components for the final 2 years.