EsyLux LED bollard offer precision lighting, cost savings and durability in retirement villages The opportunity When Lighting Direct Tauranga was asked to suggest a range of bollards for use in the Metlifecare Villages in and around Tauranga, Eric Fisher, Lighting Consultant for the firm, did some digging to see what was available, reviewing a number of bollards - including the new Esylux ALVA from Simx. “The Metlifecare village at Bayswater has been open since the late 1990s and the bollards the village installed when first built were certainly past their use by date,” explains Eric. “They asked me to show them suitable options with a few must haves: energy savings, aesthetic appeal, durability, unobtrusive lighting … and they couldn't be astronomical in price.” “The biggest bugbear for most people with bollards, which are often PVC, is that they are easily damaged by vehicles,” says John Braggins, Market Manager for Simx. “Also the paint fades and chips making them look shabby pretty quickly. And that's before we even talk about power usage, and lighting efficiency and maintenance.” The solution “John showed me the new Esylux bollards which have European componentry and are made from very high-grade alloy,” says Eric. “The first thing that caught my attention was the LED technology (which would offer the village significant power savings), the electrical componentry is integral (making them very easy to install - another cost saving), and because of the coastal location of the village, they needed to be hardwearing.” With equivalent products pricing around $1,100 each, Metlifecare made the decision to trial the more reasonably priced Esylux units at the existing village at Bayswater to review their performance. “I was pleasantly surprised at how good the quality was – especially considering the price - and was pretty much sold on the unit before we installed them, but I was even more impressed once they were installed,” adds Eric. “As soon as they were installed we received very good feedback with residents saying that when the bollards light up at night, they don’t shine through into people's homes like the old units did. Everyone is very happy with the units. Metlifecare is delighted and so are the residents.” With the successful installation at the Bayswater village, Metlifecare has now introduced the Esylux ALVA bollards at the new Papamoa Gardens Village. “Everyone has been very impressed with the looks, durability and the lighting performance of these bollards and it has meant that we will now use these units in other Metlifecare facilities,” says Eric. “It does everything that Simx said it would do.” The benefits “The versatility and capability of this bollard are second to none,” explains John. “With two lenses, two colours - warm or cool, (PIR) Passive Infrared Technology, *DALI intelligence and two heights this effectively gives designers 48 variations to choose from. One other very cool feature worth mentioning is the orientation feature which kicks in if the unit is inactive to automatically reduce the output to 10%, providing enough light for people to orientate themselves. The output will then increase when the PIR picks up activity. This reduced orientation light helps people get their bearings at a distance.” *DALI (digital addressable lighting interface) is a two-way communication system that brings digital technology to lighting. It offers the user easy planning, lower costs and interoperability in optimising control of artificial lighting. The system allows individual ballasts to ‘talk’ to the user ... and allows the user to ‘talk’ back via DALI controllers, computers equipped with appropriate software, or building management systems (BMS). For more information on the Esylux ALVA Bollard from Simx click here or contact us at sales@simx.co.nz or ph 09 259 1660.