Hull-based Sewell Facilities Management has worked with Hull Citycare to replace almost 7,000 light fittings with low-energy LEDs in 13 health centres across the city.
The final light of the programme was fitted by Sewell FM technicians Andy Richardson and Craig Webb at Elliott Chappell Health Centre, making Hull the only city to have all its health centres fully fitted with LEDs.
Sean Henderson, MD of Sewell FM, who manage building maintenance for the health centres, said: “Changing a lightbulb in a health centre isn’t as easy as you think, as you need to close off the space, put up barriers and sometimes even bring in mobile elevating working platforms to reach fittings in higher and difficult to reach areas. It causes disruption for the building’s users and staff, takes our facilities team away from urgent jobs and then, a year or so after you’ve put the new lightbulb in, it needs replacing again.
“After trialling LEDs at Bilton Health Centre, we knew the benefits that moving to LEDs would bring for the buildings, patients and our staff, so we agreed to pay for and fit the new lights to all the health centres ourselves. It was an ambitious target to get all the replacements completed within two years, and our technicians have worked really hard to get the job finished. Now we have much longer lasting lights that don’t need changing every year, they can put their time and energy into ensuring all our buildings stay in the best condition.”
Tim Wigglesworth, Chief Executive of Hull Citycare, said: “Decarbonisation is at the top of everyone’s priority list at the moment, so when Sewell Facilities Management came to us saying they could reduce energy consumption and also save money, it seemed like a win-win situation. It’s already saving the health centres thousands of pounds every year, which is money that can be spent on clinical services and making the health centres even better for patients.”
