Communal area LED lighting in Seville, Spain: stairwells, entrance halls and shared spaces

Why renew the communal area LED lighting in your building

Lighting in stairwells, entrance halls and corridors is one of the fixed costs on the communal services meter (servicios generales), and many buildings in Seville still run on fluorescent tubes, energy-saving bulbs or halogens switched by a timer that lights every floor at once. Moving to communal area LED lighting with occupancy sensors cuts that consumption, greatly extends the life of the fittings and ends the calls about flickering tubes and failed starters.

A well-lit staircase is also a safer one: fewer trips, better visibility on the steps and an entrance hall that looks cared for. If you are new to Spanish apartment living, these costs are shared by all the owners through the comunidad (the community of owners), so every saving shows up in the monthly fee.

What the renewal includes

• Survey of the current installation. We count the light points, check the type of fitting, how they are switched and the condition of the line from the communal services board.
• LED fittings with a built-in sensor on landings and corridors, or LED fittings with separate motion sensors and dimmers where the ceiling or the shape of the space calls for it.
• Switching by zone. Each floor or section lights up only when someone is there, instead of the whole staircase.
• Entrance halls and lobbies with courtesy light when the door opens and a minimum level if the entrance is busy.
• Outdoor areas and gardens with a dusk-to-dawn switch or an astronomical clock.
• Check of the emergency lighting, replacing lights that no longer work. See emergency lighting.
• Tidy-up of the communal board: we remove timers and impulse relays that are no longer needed and leave the circuits labelled.

We work to ITC-BT-44 of the Spanish Low Voltage Electrical Regulations, which governs the installation of lighting equipment, and take into account the efficiency criteria of the Spanish Building Code (CTE HE 3) for communal areas.

Building types and solutions in Seville

• Blocks from the 1960s and 1970s in Nervión, Los Remedios, La Macarena or Heliópolis: staircases with a push button on every floor, a timer in the board and old wiring. Here we check the line first, because a new fitting on an old cable does not solve the faults.
• Traditional courtyard houses (casas de vecinos) and buildings with patios in Triana and the city centre: open areas with damp, where we choose sealed fittings with the right protection rating.
• Recent developments in Sevilla Este, Dos Hermanas or Mairena del Aljarafe: several entrances, gardens, a pool area and a garage. Here the big saving comes from controlling outdoor schedules properly and from the communal garage lighting, which usually has many more points than the staircase.

How it is approved and how we work

1. No-obligation visit to the building and a count of the light points.
2. Quote per point, clear and itemised, so the property administrator (administrador de fincas) can present it at the owners’ meeting.
3. Installation in one or a few days, floor by floor, without blocking access and with the staircase always lit at the end of the day.
4. Adjustment of the sensors (range, time and light level) and a test with the neighbours if needed.
5. Invoice in the name of the comunidad and a warranty on the fittings.

If you want a wider renewal, switching every fitting in the building to LED, see our LED upgrade service. And if you would rather forget about faults, the lighting can be included in building maintenance, with periodic checks and fault call-outs.

Guide prices

Prices are a guide. The final price depends on the number of points, the chosen fitting and the condition of the lines. You will find every other service for communities of owners on the homeowners’ associations page.