Hampshire Records office – Re-lighting Project

Hampshire Records Office contains a vast wealth of local, national and international material, including historic documents, film and sound archives relating to Hampshire and central Southern England. The building is a specialist environment with high ceilings and internal strong rooms for archives across three floors.

As part of a council-wide energy performance programme, a review of the energy efficiency of the Records Office was undertaken by the Engineering Team, which lead to the full replacement of lighting in the building.

The project involved upgrading the lighting to Light Emitting Diodes (LED) and retaining the existing controls. On the first and second floors, new lights illuminate the desk areas, as well as the ceiling. By providing the correct lighting level, the Record Office could be more flexible, resulting in a better customer experience and the ability to accommodate different activities and events.

The LED lighting replacement is a self-financing work stream intended to assist the County Council in its drive to reduce energy consumption as laid out in Hampshire County Council’s Carbon Management plan.

The proposal of investing £1.62m into energy reduction measures throughout the Council’s built estate is expected to pay itself back within eight years.

The building’s high ceilings presented a significant challenge to this project as the energy and maintenance cost needed to be significantly reduced, whilst improving the quality of lighting for visitors. Careful consideration was given to the lighting in the strong room and exhibition area as all archive media can be damaged by exposure to Ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Objects of different forms vary in their sensitivity to light and therefore the ability to vary light levels was crucial to the success of this project.

The project involved upgrading the lighting to Light Emitting Diodes (LED) and retaining the existing controls. On the first and second floors, new lights illuminate the desk areas, as well as the ceiling. By providing the correct lighting level, the Record Office could be more flexible, resulting in a better customer experience and the ability to accommodate different activities and events.