A warehouse lighting retrofit should be compared against the work people do and the space they use. For UK facilities teams, the useful question is whether each proposal lights the rack faces, aisles and loading areas appropriately, with workable controls and an installation plan that fits operations.
Start with a survey, not a replacement wattage
Provide a current layout showing racks, mounting positions, pedestrian routes, vehicle movements, picking stations and loading areas. Include planned rack changes, daylight openings, operating hours and known complaints such as dark labels or glare.
HSE guidance on workplace transport calls for suitable lighting where vehicles and pedestrians move, including loading areas and junctions. It also highlights glare, shadows and abrupt changes in lighting as issues to address.[1] Use these observations to identify locations for the lighting designer to assess.
Ask the designer to set project-specific performance criteria for the actual tasks and applicable requirements. There is no single illuminance figure in this guide that certifies every warehouse. The proposal should state where and how its criteria will be assessed.
Compare rack aisles with open areas
Ansell’s warehouse-lighting guide distinguishes the needs of different warehouse areas, including illumination on rack faces and within aisles.[2] This gives buyers a practical reason to compare the distribution of light rather than choosing solely by fixture power.
Rack aisles and labels
Information to supply: Rack height, aisle width, storage arrangement and reading positions.
Evidence to request: A layout and calculation showing the relevant rack faces and working positions, including shadows from the proposed arrangement.
Open handling areas
Information to supply: Vehicle paths, pedestrian crossings and changing storage locations.
Evidence to request: A design that explains coverage, glare assessment and the effect of temporary obstructions.
Packing or inspection stations
Information to supply: The actual task, work surface and working hours.
Evidence to request: Task-specific criteria and a clear boundary between general lighting and any local lighting.
Loading and transition areas
Information to supply: Door use, daylight conditions and internal/external movements.
Evidence to request: An assessment of the transitions and control behaviour during normal operations.
Keep the same layout and assumptions across suppliers. A favourable calculation for an empty building is not directly comparable with one that includes the installed racks.
Ask for exact products and photometric assumptions
Lumenloop’s HighRack product page lists luminaire variants and optical and control options.[3] Such a product-specific page is more useful for checking a proposed item than a general retailer category, but it does not establish the performance of a complete warehouse design.
Require each quote to identify the exact model, optical distribution, control option, mounting arrangement and photometric data used. Ask the designer to document the assumptions for surfaces, obstructions and maintenance, and to identify any items still awaiting a site survey.
Compare proposals against the agreed task criteria, fixture positions and installed scope. Do not substitute nominal lumens or a model’s maximum output for the design evidence.
Demonstrate the control zones
Ansell discusses controls as part of warehouse lighting design, including their application in warehouse areas.[2] In the proposed system, ask how zones follow actual aisles and tasks, rather than assuming a building-wide switching arrangement is appropriate.
Request a demonstration or commissioning plan for occupied aisles, short breaks in activity, low daylight and normal shift changes. Establish who can adjust settings, how staff report unwanted switching and how the agreed behaviour is restored after maintenance.
If energy savings appear in the business case, ask for the baseline, operating hours, proposed control assumptions and calculation method. Treat the estimate as conditional on those inputs. This comparison does not establish a guaranteed saving for any product.
Price the installation and disruption
Request an itemised scope covering luminaires, controls, access equipment, electrical work, removal of existing equipment, commissioning and documentation. State the permitted work windows and how the contractor will coordinate access with warehouse operations.
Compare a phased installation with a single planned shutdown using the same completed design. Ask each contractor to identify the operational restrictions, temporary arrangements and contingency if a work area cannot be returned on schedule.
Keep emergency lighting as a separately identified design and verification scope for the responsible professionals. A product option labelled for emergency use does not, on its own, establish that the building’s emergency-lighting requirements have been met.
Agree acceptance before purchase
The handover should include the installed product schedule, final layout, applicable installation records, control settings, operating instructions and evidence against the agreed lighting criteria. Specify assessment locations and conditions in advance so the completed work can be compared with the proposal.
Walk the relevant routes and work positions with the designer and operations team, record unresolved issues and assign responsibility for correction. Select the offer whose documented design, installed scope and acceptance plan address the warehouse you operate, then compare the full price and support terms.
References
- HSE: Workplace Transport Lighting (hse.gov.uk)
- Ansell Lighting: A Guide to Warehouse Lighting (ansell-lighting.com)
- Lumenloop: HighRack Warehouse Luminaire (lumenloop.co.uk)
