Staffordshire’s light fantastic
The innovative 25-year PFI (Private Finance Initiative) is now half-way through its first five-year phase and ABB is comfortably ahead of its target of ensuring that a minimum of 98 per cent of all highway lighting is working correctly at any given time
ABB’s ‘Lighting for Staffordshire’ team has taken delivery of 20 new mobile elevated work platforms (better known as ‘cherry pickers’). The innovative 25-year PFI (Private Finance Initiative) is now half-way through its first five-year phase and ABB is comfortably ahead of its target of ensuring that a minimum of 98 per cent of all highway lighting is working correctly at any given time. At the same time fault repairs and emergency call-outs are also down on previous years.
The first five-year phase of the asset renewal programme is well under way with ABB having already replaced 7,576 lighting columns, 764 illuminated signs and 232 bollards.
ABB is also responsible for the maintenance and repair of Staffordshire’s entire stock of 106,000 illuminated items. The company is well ahead of target with over 99 per cent of the equipment in full working order. The emphasis on inspection, combined with the renewal programme, has seen a considerable drop in the level of routine fault repairs, from a typical 2,500 to 3,000 per month at the start of the project to just over 2,000 per month. At the same time, emergency call-outs, where there is a perceived risk to life or property are also well down - from an initial level of 200 per month to around 100 per month.