Via East Midlands has been celebrating after winning the 2020 Association of Public Sector Excellence Street Lighting Innovation Award for its work on an LED street lighting renewals project in Nottinghamshire.
‘Nottinghamshire’s Lighting the Way to Save Energy’ project, run in partnership with Nottinghamshire County Council’s Energy Team and Salix Finance, has now seen over 70,000 LED lanterns installed in the county, saving 71.3 thousand tonnes of carbon and reducing electricity consumption by 81.5 million kWh since its conception in 2014.
The project was shortlisted for the nationally recognised award in March of this year, but Covid restrictions meant the ceremony took place virtually this November, with Via’s project scooping top prize.
Not only has the project delivered significant environmental benefits through carbon savings – It has also seen a 47% reduction in street lighting faults, resulting in an improved service and value for money for Nottinghamshire residents.
The project has also achieved almost £10m in energy savings to date and is set to be extended to convert more of the county’s 94,000 streetlights through to 2023.
As well as providing services to Nottinghamshire County Council, Via’s Operations and Design Consultancy has a host of street lighting expertise. Our team is able to provide end-to-end solutions for commercial customers, from design of a scheme through to construction and connection to the grid.
Via Managing Director, Doug Coutts, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to win this award and it is richly deserved by the team for the positive impact the project has had environmentally, financially and more widely for Nottinghamshire residents.
“It has grown from 10,000 lanterns to almost three-quarters of the streetlights on our network since 2014 and with another bid submitted to Salix, we hope it will continue for another three years.
“We’re really pleased to have such as strong street lighting service, which has been recognised by APSE, and the award provides an ideal showcase for other potential clients to see the benefits we’re capable of delivering.”
