New Regulations for Emergency Lighting 2025
December 10, 2025
What the New BS 5266-1:2025 Standard Means for Emergency Lighting in Your Building
The recently published BS 5266-1:2025 represents the first full update of the UK’s emergency-lighting Code of Practice since 2016.
What’s Changed
- Expanded Scope: The standard now covers not just escape-route lighting but also local-area and standby lighting — acknowledging that modern buildings often need more than just exit illumination.
- Resilience & Wiring Requirements: In high-risk or essential areas, emergency luminaires may now require dual-circuit supply, fire-resistant cabling and stricter circuit limits to avoid a single fault disabling many lights.
- Testing & Verification: System maintenance is more rigorous — monthly functional tests, annual full-duration checks, and photometric verification every five years to ensure light levels remain compliant.
- Purpose-based Lighting Strategy: Depending on building type and use case, lighting design may need to account for evacuation, safe stay-put scenarios, or maintaining operations under power failure.
What It Means for Building Owners and Managers
- Emergency-lighting specifications should be revisited designs based on older standards may no longer comply.
- Maintenance regimes must be documented and scheduled properly.
- Systems should be designed to match real usage and occupancy patterns, not generic rules.
How Nu Electrics Helps
At Nu Electrics Ltd, we stay current with BS 5266-1:2025 requirements.
We offer:
- Expert design & installation of compliant emergency-lighting systems,
- Structured testing, commissioning and maintenance services,
- Clear, documented handover with logbooks and compliance certification.
If you’d like to review your existing lighting or plan new installations under the updated standard, we can help — get in touch for a free site survey.
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