Corridor Lighting

At present all light in the corridors of Ben Jonson House comes from the fittings above the door to each flat.  Some of these lights (those on the south side) are LEDs and some (those on the north) are old incandescent bulbs.  The BEO will be sending out a survey shortly to ask residents if we'd like to pay to switch the north side lights to LEDs too at a short term cost but with fairly quickly realised savings (because LEDs use so much less power and need much less maintenance).

I'm told that long ago the lighting story was different, and in may ways more sophisticated:

... a few years back a small number of residents, apparently backed by the Estate Office, wanted to increase lighting in our corridors suggesting that they were too dark for people to make their way along them safely.

The Estate Office spotted some metal plates in the ceiling. They decided that as these concealed lighting sockets this meant that the full corridor lighting had never been properly completed. They proposed to stick bulbs in them to brighten things up. 

It was pointed out to the BEO that when the block was first built, these few ceiling sockets were used for night time lighting. They came on (providing just enough light to see your way, saving energy and money) when the lights above our doors went out between, say, midnight and 6.00am when most people are tucked up in bed and not roaming the corridors.

It's not clear why that arrangement was ended.