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Heritage LED retrofit that leaves the lantern alone
INDO makes retrofit LED gear trays that drop into the lantern already on the column or the bridge, replace the original SON or HPS gear, and leave the fitting looking exactly as it did. The range covers 300+ named heritage and street lanterns. Where a lantern is beyond saving, CHANCERY and MANOR are our own heritage lanterns, built on the same Direct Drive® electronics.
- 300+ heritage and street lanterns covered
- Direct Drive® inside, IP66 rated
- 15-year warranty
- Designed and manufactured in the UK
What a heritage scheme has to protect
On a listed structure or in a conservation area, the appearance of the lantern is part of what the scheme has to preserve. That constraint sits on top of every other requirement: the lit environment still has to work, the energy case still has to stack up, and the asset still has to be maintainable for decades after the contractor has left.
A gear tray retrofit answers all three at once. The existing lamp, gear and reflector plate come out. An INDO gear tray goes in. Nothing about the outside of the lantern changes, so the listed appearance is preserved and the authority gets a contemporary LED maintenance profile inside.
The second constraint is the one most heritage schemes discover later. Most LED conversions put a driver inside the lantern, and the driver is the part that sets the maintenance interval: it carries wet electrolytic capacitors that dry out in service, faster in a fitting that runs hot. Driver failures typically start arriving after eight to 10 years. On a heritage asset that means going back inside a protected fitting, at height, in a sensitive setting, on a cycle nobody budgeted for.
INDO took the driver out. Direct Drive® runs the LED string straight from mains power, so the component that used to set the service interval is not in the lantern at all.
Direct Drive®. No more driver changes. Ever.
Two routes into a heritage retrofit
Which one you need depends on the condition of the existing lantern, not on what we would prefer to sell.
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Keep the lantern, change the gear
The retrofit gear tray is the normal route for heritage and conservation areas. It drops into the existing lantern, replaces the original SON or HPS gear, and offers matching photometric performance using a fraction of the energy. Lanterns with a decorative bowl can take a gear tray supplied complete with a fully sealed IP65 tear-drop or round bowl, so the original seal is matched rather than compromised. Our light engines are IP66 by default.
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Replace the lantern with a heritage lantern
Where the original is past saving, or where a new scheme needs a period-appropriate fitting from scratch, CHANCERY and MANOR are INDO’s own decorative lanterns. Both carry Direct Drive®, a pre-set dimming or DALI control option, an integrated photocell and fully sealed PC glazing.
Got a lantern that is not on the list?
Send us a photograph of the bowl and the gear and we will come back with a fit and a quote. Every gear tray is specified individually per project, with photometric and thermal verification ahead of supply.
What we supply
Retrofit gear trays
Drop-in modules that replace the original SON or HPS gear inside the lantern you already own.
- 300+ named heritage and street lanterns
- Direct Drive®, IP66 rated
- 15-year warranty
See the compatibility list
CHANCERY
Victorian styled decorative lantern, available with or without the frog embellishment, and with a frosted bowl finish for a more diffused light.
- 500 to 9,000 lumens
- 2,200K, 2,700K, 3,000K, 4,000K, 5,000K
- Direct Drive®, integrated photocell
View CHANCERY
MANOR
Suspended on a BSP.P spigot or mounted on a post top stirrup bracket, with a tear drop or round bowl. Designed and manufactured in the UK.
- 500 to 16,000 lumens
- 2,200K, 2,700K, 3,000K, 4,000K
- IP66 and IK08
View MANOR
Heritage schemes already running on INDO gear trays
Published case studies, with the numbers as the client recorded them.
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Grade II listed river bridges
INDO supplied a gear tray sized and thermally tested for the existing listed heritage luminaires on a set of Grade II listed river bridges. The gear tray directly replaces the SON gear without changing the lantern itself, so the listed appearance is preserved.
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A central London heritage rollout
Around 6,500 heritage lanterns are being upgraded to LED on one central London programme, 80% of them a single lantern type. The team identified 13 main lantern variants on the original inventory. INDO covered all of them with a set of eight gear tray designs, which cut the stock holding and simplified installation.
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One for one, across 7,000 lanterns
INDO was asked to supply a retrofit product to replace 7,000 units across a London borough. Lanterns were replaced on a one-for-one basis, and on-site measurements were taken before and after installation by the INDO team, according to ILP technical standards, with the results reported back to the client.
Colour temperature in a sensitive setting
Warmer light is usually what a conservation officer is asking for, and it is often what an ecologist asks for too. CHANCERY is available from as warm as 2,200K, and MANOR from 2,200K to 4,000K, so the lit scene can be matched to the setting rather than to a catalogue default. Where a scheme needs a consistent colour temperature across a mixed inventory, that is set once across the gear tray package rather than negotiated lantern by lantern.
Colour temperature is not the only variable that matters in a sensitive location. Direction, duration and intensity matter as much, and on one INDO scheme those were specified by the consultant ecologist alongside a spectral requirement. That project is written up in full if it is useful ground for your own scheme.
Getting a price
There is no list price for a heritage retrofit, because the answer depends on the lantern types in your inventory, the lit environment you are designing to and the quantity. Tell us those three things and you will get a real number back, along with the photometry to check it. Lead time is confirmed with the quotation.
If it is easier to talk it through, leave your details and a member of the team will call you back, usually within one working day.
What to send us
- The lantern types on the inventory, with a photograph of the bowl and the gear
- Column spacing, mounting height and the lighting class you are designing to
- Quantity, and whether this is a rolling programme or a single scheme
- Any conservation or ecological constraint already agreed for the site
Or call the team on 023 8098 2022, or email info@indo.co.uk
Common questions
Will a retrofit change how the lantern looks?
No. The gear tray goes inside. The existing lamp, gear and reflector plate are removed and replaced entirely with the INDO gear tray, so the lantern itself is not changed and the listed appearance is preserved.
How many heritage lanterns do you have a gear tray for?
The range covers 300+ named heritage and street lantern types, and the full compatibility list is published on the gear tray page. If yours is not on it, send a photograph of the bowl and the gear and we will come back with a fit.
What happens to the bowl seal?
Lanterns featuring a decorative bowl can take a gear tray that comes complete with a fully sealed IP65 tear-drop or round bowl, which matches the original seal-safe arrangement. The light engines themselves are IP66 by default.
Do I still need a photocell and a control system?
INDO gear trays carry an integrated photocell. On one central London scheme that was valued as a fail-safe back-up supporting the central management system being rolled out at the same time.
What warranty does a heritage retrofit carry?
A 15-year warranty, covering the whole unit rather than a list of parts with different terms, on every Direct Drive® product including the gear trays. The luminaire is engineered to a 25-year design life.
Where are they made?
Designed and manufactured in the UK, at INDO’s factory in Southampton. Direct Drive® first came to market in 2010 and won the Queen’s Award for Innovation in 2017.
Send us the inventory
Lantern types, quantity and the lighting class you are designing to. You will get photometry and a price back, and the lead time with the quotation.