Icknield Primary School

The greenest school in Luton

Believe, Achieve, Succeed

Icknield Primary Icknield Primary had set themselves a challenge to be the greenest school in Luton. They had already achieved an Eco Schools Green Flag Award and the whole school understands the importance of taking care of their immediate and wider environment.

Their motto, ‘Believe, achieve, succeed’, shines through everything Icknield Primary do: from creating an inspiring learning environment to ambitiously including their whole school, even the youngest four-year-olds, in their sustainability efforts.

School Challenges

Icknield Primary was facing several challenges:

Rising energy costs. After staff costs, energy is the next biggest expenditure for schools and the rise in costs could not be ignored.
The lighting system was outdated – the lighting consumed excessive energy, frequently needed replacing and fixing, and the harsh fluorescent lighting was causing eye strain.
The existing boiler was inefficient and reaching the end of its usable life.
Luton Council is committed to decarbonising by 2040 and Icknield Primary needed to support the council.

Lower running costs would free up the budget for new books and eventually a new playground.

Project Objective

CILS main objective was to reduce school energy consumption to lower the running costs and support the local Council in achieving their net zero carbon targets. CILS also wanted to help the school improve its teaching and learning environment with better quality light.

To achieve this, we designed and implemented a smart LED lighting system, solar panels, and a sustainable air source heat pump.

Results

The lighting savings were immediately verifiable, from actual energy reporting from the lighting system – lighting savings are over 86%, compared to the previous installation. We expect the onsite solar energy to offset the remaining lighting load.

With our smart energy reduction solutions, the school has significantly reduced its energy demand and carbon footprint. Among other benefits, this has greatly lessened the impact of recent energy price increases on the school budget.

The staff and pupils alike take great pride in their well-earned title of now being the greenest local school.

86% +

lighting energy saved annually with smart LED

Own green energy

65.96 kWp solar arrays generate onsite renewable energy for school own use

Low-carbon heating

is times more efficient warming up the school

Want to hear directly from Icknield Primary? Watch our schools video below.

“We’ve always found that everybody that we’ve come into contact with, at CILS, is very professional. They really listened to what our objectives were for the projects that we’ve had.

But also, the fact that you can’t disrupt learning in a school day was really key. All of the works were done outside of the school day. Nobody noticed that any engineers had been in.

The classrooms were left really, really tidy – as were the corridors. People weren’t aware that we had had work done until they actually looked up and saw, for example, the new lights in the ceilings or the solar panels on our roof.

They have made everything very easy. If we’ve had any questions, they’ve been answered really quickly and very knowledgeably.“

– Joanna Farbon
Headteacher
Icknield Primary School

Why CILS

CILS is a trusted lighting and smart building infrastructure solutions provider, and has worked with Luton Council for many years.

When CILS secured Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) funds for Luton Council decarbonisation works, Icknield Primary was delighted to be offered an energy consumption review and upgrade. For implementation, CILS worked closely with the school and Siemens, the main project contractor.

Solution Implemented:

CILS implemented the following solutions:

453 LED light fittings with integrated smart controls were installed, and the old discharge lights were disconnected and disposed of safely.
Enlighted IoT was installed and commissioned for a fine-tuned smart lighting system and future-proof smart infrastructure.
65.96 kWp solar panel arrays were installed & commissioned on KS1 and KS2 roofs.
Air source heat pump (ASHP) was installed to replace old carbon-intensive pump and decarbonise the school heating system.

See another project

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