July 2011 saw the start of the 25 year Street Lighting PFI partnership between Cambridgeshire County Council, Connect Road and Balfour Beatty Living Places.
Within the first five years of our partnership, we replaced and upgraded the County’s street lights, which provided essential energy savings, minimised light pollution and reduced the overall number of streetlights by c.10% across the County. Our partnership is set to continue until 2036, during which time Balfour Beatty Living Places will focus on maintaining and operating all of the county’s street lighting, ensuring a more sustainable system for years to come. The assets which are maintained under the PFI agreement include:
- Street lights.
- Illuminated bollards.
- Illuminated signs.
- Subway lights.
- Illuminated beacons.
- Electrical feeder pillars.
- Some underground street lighting cable networks.
The benefits include:
- Safer steel columns and an innovative, future-proofed asset.
- Savings of approximately 46% in energy usage.
- Dimming of lights in off peak periods.
- Conversion to solar powered or high reflective bollards.
- Improved performance and response times to faults.
- A greener street lighting stock, saving a huge 4.5k tonnes of carbon emissions per year.
