The retailer has installed luminaires supplied and adapted by Edge Lighting, incorporating GE Lighting’s Infusion LED modules, at its new store in Ipswich. Some 500 LED modules were fitted throughout the store, including non-trade areas, and the lights were turned on a few weeks ago.

Barry Ayling, lighting design manager at John Lewis said the lighting average benchmark across the John Lewis business is 30 watts per square metre based on ceramic metal halide lights, but the equivalent figure for the Ipswich store is just 10 watts per square metre.

Ayling told Lighting: “Eighteen months ago the cost of LEDs was prohibitive. Only this year did it become a viable option. We opted for GE Lighting’s second generation range of LEDs because not only did it meet all of John Lewis’ lighting criteria but it had a twist and lock capability which I wanted to embrace. It means we can re-lamp easily and just replace the LED chips.”

GE Lighting’s rapid development of the Infusion modules means Ayling has already decided to replace the Ipswich store’s second generation chips (fitted in November) with third generation chips next February. At 1500 lm (23 watts), the efficacy of the second generation Infusion LED modules is 65 lumens per watt but this will increase to 94 lumens per watt in the third generation LED chip fitting. Once installed, the new lighting benchmark in the store will be seven watts per square metre. 

The LEDs were fitted after Ayling conducted pilot tests of different lighting products at John Lewis stores in Oxford Street and Stratford as part of an 18-month process.

“Ipswich is a line in the sand as to whether as a business we will continue with LEDs or stick with ceramic metal halide,” he said. “The shop staff, customers,procurement and CSR team are happy, so we won’t be going back to ceramics. LEDs are working for us. Lighting is the biggest step change needed for CSR targets. LEDs would make between a 15 and 20 per cent energy saving across the business.”