Lighting remains one of the most dynamic and forward thinking areas in building services. Rob Shepherd finds out from Ayça Donaghy, CEO at The Lighting Industry Association (LIA), how it is championing training and apprenticeships, driving sustainability across the supply chain and helping to shape a rapidly evolving future.
Q: What is The LIA?
A: The LIA is the UK’s largest trade association dedicated solely to the lighting industry and its supply chain. We exist to support manufacturers and importers of lighting products operating in an increasingly complex technical, regulatory and commercial environment. Our work is structured around four core pillars – compliance, advocacy, sustainability and education.
Q: What are The LIA’s core aims and objectives?
A: The LIA supports businesses in placing safe, compliant and high quality lighting products on the market with confidence. We provide access to independent testing, certification, technical guidance and regulatory intelligence, helping members navigate UK, EU and international requirements without having to interpret them in isolation. This is increasingly important as product compliance intersects with wider frameworks such as building safety, environmental legislation and market surveillance.
Alongside this, we act as the collective voice of the UK lighting industry. Through direct engagement with UK government, regulators and European bodies, we ensure that the practical realities of lighting manufacture, design and installation are understood and reflected in policy, standards and regulation.
Q: How is the lighting industry changing?
A: Sustainability expectations, digitalisation and skills shortages are reshaping what it means to design, manufacture and install lighting. Through training, events, technical committees and task forces, The LIA supports members to build capability for the future, whether that’s understanding circular economy metrics, preparing for new regulations or developing the next generation of lighting professionals.
Ultimately, our objective is to strengthen the credibility, resilience and long‑term success of the UK lighting sector, while ensuring that lighting continues to deliver safe, efficient and high quality outcomes for people and buildings.
Q: How is the lighting sector responding to increasing sustainability demands, particularly around circular economy principles and product lifecycle design, and what more needs to be done?
A: There is a growing focus on whole‑life thinking and better decision making at project level. Practices such as Category A fitouts, where equipment is installed, lightly used and then removed, are being challenged by clients, designers and specifiers. However, the issue is less about whether Category A fitouts should exist, as they play an important role in meeting baseline requirements for illuminance, safety and emergency provision, and more about how they are delivered and integrated into the wider lifecycle of a building.
We are already seeing improvements in practice. Examples include lighting equipment being leased specifically for Category A purposes, as well as infrastructure being designed to support a smoother transition from Category A to Category B. This can include approaches such as track‑based systems or adaptable lighting infrastructure that allow Category A installations to be easily disconnected, reused or reconfigured rather than removed and discarded.
There is clear momentum towards understanding the full environmental impact of lighting choices, but The LIA is clear that there is no single solution that works for every project. Options such as reuse, refurbishment, remanufacturing or replacement may be considered, but all need to be assessed appropriately on a case by case basis, taking account of compliance, safety, performance, environmental impact and commercial viability.
Across our membership, we are seeing increased use of recognised product level assessment tools to support these decisions including circularity assessments such as CIBSE’s TM66, embodied carbon estimates for lighting using TM65.2, and Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). These tools help specifiers and clients make informed choices rather than relying on assumptions about what is ‘more sustainable’.
As regulatory frameworks evolve, including building regulations and initiatives such as the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard, we expect greater emphasis on whole‑life value, helping the market move beyond upfront cost alone and towards more balanced, evidence based decisions.
Q: What practical challenges do electrical contractors face when dealing with the recycling and disposal of old lighting equipment?
A: All lighting equipment manufacturers selling into the UK are required to be members of a waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) scheme, contributing financially to the recovery and treatment of products at end of life. While there are high quality WEEE scheme providers in the UK, there is a clear mismatch between the volume of lighting equipment placed on the market and the volume actually processed through these schemes. Contractors are often left navigating collection logistics, storage constraints and site pressures, even where schemes can provide dedicated containers for lamps or luminaires.
The LIA believes there is an opportunity to improve outcomes at the design and strip-out stage by better evaluating existing equipment before it is automatically classified as waste. Once products formally enter the WEEE system, options for reuse or remanufacture are effectively closed off. However, this does not mean that reuse or remanufacturing is always appropriate.
Any alternative approach requires early assessment, clear responsibility and confidence that compliance, safety and performance can be maintained. For contractors, this can introduce additional complexity and cost, as careful removal and segregation take more time than straightforward disposal. Without clear project direction and appropriate commercial recognition, these approaches are difficult to deliver consistently on-site.
Additional challenges arise with older technologies. Fluorescent lighting contains lamps with mercury that must be handled through specialist recycling routes, increasing both cost and administrative burden. Older emergency lighting systems can also present risks, particularly around battery removal. Improper handling or transport of waste batteries can lead to serious safety incidents and significant legal consequences, especially where contractors are not authorised waste carriers.
Q: Are tighter environmental and safety regulations making installations safer, or simply more complex and costly to deliver?
A: It’s important to distinguish between regulations and standards. Product safety is primarily driven by standards, which evolve to reflect new technologies, emerging risks and improved understanding. Updates to safety standards tend to have a direct impact on product safety because they embed these developments into technical requirements.
Regulations set the legal framework for placing products on the market and often affect areas such as documentation, traceability, market access and enforcement. While changes to environmental and safety regulations can increase complexity and cost, particularly where requirements are unclear or inconsistently applied, well‑designed regulation can play an important role in raising baseline quality, supporting fair competition and helping prevent unsafe or non‑compliant products from reaching the market.
Regulation is most effective when it is proportionate, clearly communicated and consistently enforced, and when it is supported by up-to‑date standards that reflect how products are designed, manufactured and installed.
Q: Is the current apprenticeship and training pipeline adequately preparing electrical contractors for installing data‑driven lighting and lighting controls?
A: Apprentices continue to receive a strong grounding in wiring, containment and electrical compliance, which remain essential skills. However, many have limited exposure to lighting specific topics such as luminaire design, lighting legislation, controls integration and system commissioning.
On-site, electrical contractors are increasingly expected to work with data‑driven systems, interpret software outputs, configure devices and troubleshoot across disciplines. This represents a shift from traditional product installation towards system integration and for many contractors it feels like a significant skills jump.
The opportunity now lies in better integrating digital confidence with core electrical competence. Training needs to reflect real world installations, including imperfect environments and evolving technologies, rather than idealised scenarios. Through industry‑led training, closer collaboration across the supply chain and continued investment in skills development, the sector can ensure electrical contractors are equipped not just to install lighting but to deliver the performance and outcomes modern buildings demand.
