Three trades, one programme, no hold-ups.
Electrical fit out, lighting and HVAC for the French Connection outlet store in Leeds, delivered inside a full store fit-out programme alongside the other trades on site, with every ILUX task finished in its slot so nobody else was kept waiting.
The project
French Connection were fitting out a new outlet store in Leeds. The store was closed for the duration and the work ran as a full fit-out programme: shopfitters, flooring, decorators and other trades from several contractors, all working to one schedule. ILUX was appointed for the electrical fit out, the lighting installation and the HVAC.
On a job like this the technical work is only half of it. Every trade depends on the one before it. First-fix electrics have to be in before the walls are closed, the lighting track has to be up before the ceiling is finished, the cassette has to be swapped before the shop floor is laid out. Miss a slot and the trades behind you slip with you.
What ILUX did
Electrical fit out
New electrical feeds throughout the store for everything the layout needed: the till counter, illuminated signage, light boxes, and sockets for the shop floor and back of house. First fix ran ahead of the shopfitters closing up; second fix and testing followed once the fixtures were in.
Lighting installation
A suspended lighting track system across the shop floor with track-mounted spots, installed and aimed for the merchandise layout. Emergency lighting was installed on the same system so the store had compliant escape lighting from day one, ready to hand into planned testing.
HVAC
The unit was a Samsung twin 10kW cassette system on the shop floor, installed as a like-for-like replacement for the aged units the store had inherited from the previous tenant. Replacing it during the fit out meant the store opened with new plant rather than carrying someone else's end-of-life equipment into the first year of trading. An over-door air curtain was fitted at the entrance to hold the shop-floor temperature with the doors open.
- Electrical feeds for the till counter, signage, light boxes and sockets, first and second fix
- Suspended track lighting with track spots, installed and aimed to the merchandise plan
- Emergency lighting installed with the new lighting
- Samsung twin 10kW cassette, like-for-like replacement of inherited units
- Over-door air curtain at the entrance
- All works sequenced to the fit-out schedule around the other trades on site
Our slot, our deadline, nobody else's problem.
ILUX worked to the main schedule of works and treated each of its own tasks as a fixed window. Electrics, lighting and HVAC were all completed in their allotted time frames, so no other contractor on the programme was held up waiting for us.
Why it matters for a retailer
Fit-out programmes are unforgiving. A store has a reopening date, the trades are booked back to back, and a contractor who runs over costs everyone behind them time. Having one company cover electrical, lighting and HVAC removes two hand-offs from the schedule and gives the project manager one number to ring for three trades.
ILUX covers the whole of a store's electrical fit out, lighting for fit-out projects and air conditioning, and then looks after them under one planned maintenance contract once the store is trading.
On site.
Track lighting, the cassette and the entrance air curtain going in during the fit-out.
Common questions.
Can ILUX work under another contractor's fit-out programme?
Yes. Most of our fit-out work is delivered as one package within a wider programme run by the client or a principal contractor. We work to the schedule of works we're given and report progress against it.
Do you replace air conditioning during a fit out or only service it?
Both. Where the existing plant is at the end of its life, a fit out is the cheapest moment to replace it, because the ceiling is already open. We install like-for-like or resize the system if the new layout needs it.
Who maintains the lighting and HVAC after the store opens?
We do, if you want us to. The new equipment goes onto the site's asset register and is covered under the same planned and reactive contract as the rest of your estate.
Electrical, lighting and HVAC as one package.
One contractor, one slot on the programme, one number for the project manager to ring.