For many building owners, facilities teams and specifiers, HID lighting has been quietly doing its job for decades.
Metal halide and high-pressure sodium lamps can still be found across warehouses, external areas, industrial buildings, retail spaces, sports facilities and older commercial properties. In many cases, the fittings themselves remain perfectly serviceable.
But an important regulatory change is approaching.
On 24 February 2027, a number of exemptions that currently allow mercury to be used in certain discharge lamps under the UK’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Regulations are due to expire in Great Britain. These include the exemption covering metal halide lamps and several exemptions relating to high-pressure sodium lamps. GOV.UK
For anyone responsible for buildings that still rely on these technologies, now is a sensible time to understand what is installed and decide what happens next.
What is actually changing in February 2027?
The RoHS Regulations restrict the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, including mercury. Some lighting technologies have historically relied on exemptions allowing mercury to be used above the normal permitted concentration because suitable alternatives were not always available.
Those exemptions are time limited.
For metal halide lamps, the relevant mercury exemption is currently scheduled to expire on 24 February 2027. Several exemptions covering high-pressure sodium lamps for general lighting purposes also expire on the same date. Some other high-pressure sodium exemptions have already expired, including certain improved colour-rendering lamps covered by earlier deadlines. Legislation.gov.uk
The legislation therefore represents another significant step in the move away from mercury-containing legacy light sources.
It is worth stressing, however, that describing this as an HID “ban” or “phase-out” can be misleading if left unexplained.
Will existing HID lighting become illegal in 2027?
No.
The expiry of the exemption does not mean that a building owner has to remove every existing metal halide or high-pressure sodium fitting on 24 February 2027.
RoHS is primarily concerned with electrical and electronic equipment being placed or made available on the market. It does not retrospectively prohibit a building from continuing to operate equipment that has already been legally installed. GOV.UK
In practical terms, the bigger issue for estates and facilities teams is likely to be availability.
As affected lamp technologies disappear from the market, maintaining older installations becomes progressively more difficult. Replacement lamps may become less readily available, lead times may increase and maintaining large estates around diminishing stocks of obsolete technology becomes increasingly unattractive.
So the question is less:
“Will my existing lights suddenly become illegal?”
and more:
“How long do I want to maintain a lighting installation built around a disappearing light source?”
Which lamps are affected?
For most commercial property professionals, the two particularly relevant technologies are metal halide and high-pressure sodium.
| Lamp technology | GB RoHS position |
|---|---|
| Metal halide lamps | Mercury exemption scheduled to expire 24 February 2027 |
| Other high-pressure sodium lamps for general lighting | Exemptions across the listed wattage ranges scheduled to expire 24 February 2027 |
| Certain improved colour-rendering HPS lamps | Some exemptions already expired on 1 February 2024; a specific Ra >80, ≤105W exemption runs to 24 February 2027 |
| HPS lamps for horticultural lighting | Relevant mercury exemption scheduled to expire 24 February 2027 |
The regulations contain more detail and several specialist applications, so individual lamp types should always be checked against the current legislation rather than relying on the term “HID” alone. Legislation.gov.uk
It is also worth noting that Northern Ireland operates differently from Great Britain in this area. Great Britain has its own RoHS exemptions regime, while Northern Ireland continues to follow the relevant EU system under the Windsor Framework. GOV.UK
Why building owners should start looking at HID installations now
There is no need for panic replacement.
There is, however, a good argument for knowing where HID lighting remains within an estate before replacement lamps become a maintenance problem.
That starts with an audit.
A building may contain a handful of older external fittings, or hundreds of high-bay, floodlight or specialist luminaires. In a larger estate, there may be several different lamp types, wattages and control gear arrangements installed over many years.
Waiting until lamps begin failing can turn what should have been a planned engineering decision into a reactive maintenance project.
An earlier assessment creates more options. It allows the existing fittings to be inspected, suitable candidates for retrofit to be identified, lighting requirements to be reviewed and any areas requiring complete replacement to be planned properly.
Does the whole luminaire need replacing?
Not necessarily.
This is where the distinction between the lamp technology and the luminaire itself becomes particularly important.
A metal halide lamp may be reaching the end of its commercial life, but the enclosure surrounding it may still be structurally sound, correctly positioned and perfectly suited to the building.
Replacing the entire luminaire therefore isn’t automatically the only solution.
Depending on its construction and condition, an existing fitting may be suitable for re-engineering around modern LED technology. This can involve removing obsolete lamps and control gear and introducing new LED modules, drivers, optics, gear trays or other components appropriate to the application.
The original luminaire housing can then remain in service.
For some projects that can avoid unnecessary replacement of substantial amounts of perfectly usable material while also reducing the disruption associated with changing an entire lighting installation.
Retrofit or replacement?
There isn’t a universal answer.
Some luminaires will be ideal retrofit candidates. Others may be damaged, unsuitable for modification, unable to achieve the required lighting performance or simply not worth retaining.
The decision should therefore begin with the existing installation rather than with an assumption that either retrofit or replacement is always preferable.
Condition matters. So do thermal management, electrical safety, optical performance, emergency-lighting requirements, accessibility, controls and the condition of the surrounding infrastructure.
The desired result matters too. A new LED solution should be engineered around the requirements of the space rather than simply attempting to recreate the wattage of the lamp it replaces.
This is why a proper survey is so important.
There is also an energy argument
Many remaining HID installations were designed at a time when substantially higher installed loads were normal.
Moving to LED can significantly reduce energy consumption while offering much greater control over light distribution and operation. Depending on the project, there may also be opportunities to introduce occupancy sensing, daylight control, dimming or improved emergency-lighting arrangements.
But the energy calculation should be based on the actual installation.
Existing wattage, control-gear losses, operating hours, proposed LED load and control strategy all influence the potential saving. A credible business case should therefore use measured or verified project information rather than a generic percentage applied to every building.
What should specifiers be asking?
For refurbishment projects, the approaching deadline makes it worth identifying legacy discharge lighting at an early stage.
Simply writing “replace existing lighting with LED” into a specification can overlook the value already contained within the installation.
Existing luminaires may form part of architectural features, specialist housings, difficult-to-access infrastructure or systems that would be disruptive and expensive to replace. In those situations, assessing the feasibility of retrofit alongside complete replacement can provide the design team with another option.
It also allows the decision to take account of material use and embodied carbon, rather than considering operational energy alone.
The objective shouldn’t be to preserve every old fitting at any cost.
It should be to avoid throwing away something useful without first asking whether it can continue to do the job.
Don’t wait for the first failed lamp
February 2027 shouldn’t be treated as a cliff edge. Existing HID lighting will not suddenly stop working the following morning.
But it does provide a useful deadline for estates containing metal halide and high-pressure sodium lighting.
If you know these technologies remain within a building or portfolio, the sensible approach is to identify them now, understand their condition and establish a plan for their eventual transition.
That might mean complete replacement.
It might mean a combination of replacement and retrofit.
Or it may be possible to retain much of the existing lighting infrastructure and re-engineer it around modern LED technology.
At Revitalite, we assess existing commercial lighting installations to establish what can be retained, what needs replacing and where retrofit offers a practical alternative to starting again.
Still have HID lighting in your building?
Don’t wait until replacement lamps become the problem.
Talk to Revitalite about your existing lighting installation
