Circular Lighting Live 25 | Programme
The conference offers eight carefully curated sessions
each focusing on a critical aspect of circularity in lighting
These sessions have been designed to ensure relevance across the full supply chain,
from designers to manufacturers to facility managers. Highlights include:
New formats include the Just One Thing’ micro presentations which will focus on inspirational stories of sustainability in action and a Moonshot Panel tasked with exploring ambitious ideas will be complemented by expert discussions, keynote speakers and explainers on legislation, certification and more.
8:00am to 9:00 am | Registration, coffee, and exhibition
Fenchurch and Lombard Suites
9.00am Welcome
SESSION 1: Climate driven design
Creative design – of products, projects and even processes – is the most powerful tool we as an industry have to mitigate the impact of lighting.
Lessons from Base Camp
What we can learn from sustainability practices on Mount Everest. Asela Rodrigo of Projlojik and architect Hamish Angus McAndrew, recently returned from Everest, shares the principles and practices which can inspire and inform our industry.
Just One Thing Micro Talk: The birds and the bees: A biodiversity gain from lighting
We explore Thorlux Lighting’ self-managed sequestration project at Brook Farm, Longtown in Hereford.
11am to 11:30am Coffee, exhibition and networking
SESSION 3 Smart remanufacturing
How the addition of intelligence during a lighting upgrade is adding extra services and functionality, and changing the value proposition for clients
Project: Aston University Library
Some 657 T5 fluorescent luminaires were upgraded to LED using Thorlux Lighting’s standard retrofit kits while preserving 60% of the original luminaire and saving 127kg of embodied carbon compared to a new luminaire. The addition of the company’s SmartScan control system further reduces energy consumption to 50% of the previous installation.
1pm to 2pm Lunch, exhibition and networking
SESSION 5 Creative Cat A
New lights in speculative Cat A office fit-outs often end up in the waste stream when a tenant moves in. Here we explore creative solutions to the problem.
Cat A waste: Can we fix it, yes we can…
The commercial office sector continues to churn out unnecessary waste, including the scrapping of new and nearly new luminaires, through outdated Cat A fit-out practices. Here John McRae, director of Orms and member of the End Cat A Lighting Waste campaign, explores efforts and ideas to fix the system from within.
What if Cat A lighting could be rented — and reused?
That provocative question is the starting point for an ambitious new model from 18 Degrees, a London-based lighting design consultancy. In this session, principal Paul Beale shares the story behind 18 Circular — a radical rethink of the Cat A lighting supply chain anchored in circular economy principles. From the earliest concept to practical pilot projects and stakeholder buy-in, Paul charts the project’s evolution, and the real-world hurdles faced along the way. The session opens with a short documentary capturing the early momentum behind this initiative.
3.00pm to 3:30pm Coffee, exhibition and networking
SESSION 7 Logistics: Closing the loop
How do we create a vibrant market for useable luminaires at the end of their ‘first life’ that keeps them operating and compliance with industry norms?
The Circular Lighting Live moonshot panel
Our experts consider a range of ambitious, creative and disruptive ideas and approaches to accelerate the lighting industry’s transformation into the circular economy.
Take Back case study: SAS Recover
SAS International has made a radical decision to take back, recondition and reuse its ceiling tiles, and it now has 28,000 square metres of refinished stock available for sale, roughly the size of London Zoo. Here business development manager Tim Phillpot takes us through the challenges and the successes of the initiative and how it can serve as an example for lighting and other suppliers of building products.
Minster Forum
9:00am Welcome
SESSION 2: The Regulatory roadmap
The lighting industry is facing a complex set of both UK and EU regulations that will impact product design and circularity as well as company processes.
Navigating the Circular Economy rules
In the coming years, the EU and UK will implement a wide-ranging set of circular economy and sustainability regulations that will significantly reshape how luminaires are designed, manufactured, and specified. In this session, Teresa Selvaggio, Director of Public Affairs at LightingEurope, offers strategic guidance to help companies and specifiers understand what’s coming—and how to get ahead of it.
Lighting and the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard
The UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard is a new technical standard that will enable the built environment to robustly prove that built assets align with the UK’s carbon and energy budgets. Reportable works include lighting and lighting-only retrofit projects. Here our speaker walks us through the standard and its implications for the lighting supply chain.
11am to 11:30 Coffee, exhibition and networking
SESSION 4 Managing metrics
We unpack the raft of new sustainability metrics and standards, including EPDs, LCAs, TM66 and TM65.2. How can we make them work better?
TM66 Update: What to expect in Version 1
TM66, which measures the circular performance of luminaire, has been in a preliminary ‘beta mode’ since its introduction since 2021. A full version is now being developed by Cibse’s Society of Light and Lighting with changes expected in materiality, language and its ability to be used in greenwash. Here TM66 co-author Kristina Allison updates on the development of Version 1.
EPDs: A designers’ guide
What does an Environmental Product Declaration actually tell you? What does good look like? Here Recolight environmental metrics manager Max Robson walks us through the creation of an EPD using life cycle assessment methods to their use in practical specification.
EPDs on trial: Are they fit for purpose?
Environmental Product Declarations are famously expensive and labour intensive. But do they stand up to scrutiny? Are they accurate, robust and comparable? In this panel discussion, experts from across the supply chain explores the issues.
1pm to 2pm Lunch, exhibition and networking
SESSION 6 Innovations in Circularity
We explore a host of exciting developments and ideas in the circularity of lighting products and processes. How can we harness them to drive change?
The office light challenging material norms
The pioneering OptiClip office light is challenging industry assumptions about materials. It combines easily-replaceable light sources with luminaire housings made from recycled and recyclable materials, including cardboard and sugarcane. Here Sylvania Group regional director Gareth Petley explores the OptiClip, its development, application and unique properties.
Just One Thing Micro talk: The Pyrex fool dish light
How French lighting firm Roger Pradier created an exterior light from a lunchbox
3.00 – 3:30pm Coffee, exhibition and networking
SESSION 8 Pioneering projects
A walk through of the most inspiring and ground breaking sustainable lighting projects of recent times in the company of their designers and creators.
The challenges of luminaire reuse: Dom Tower
For the relighting of the Dom Tower in Utrecht, Speirs Major Light Architecture reused 70 per cent of the luminaires which it originally specified back in 2013. This led to design challenges with optical design and light distribution. Outside of circularity, it was the practice’s first project, where it got to ‘redo’ one of its original designs. Here Benz Roos, associate partner at Speirs Major Light Architecture, shares his learnings and insights from the project.
5pm Build Back Better awards
5:30 Drinks reception
6:30 Event close