A leading public girl’s school located in beautiful grounds in Essex, New Hall has very tight planning constraints. As many LED floodlighting options can generate significant levels of spill light, Christy were brought in to help design an LED system that met both the performance requirements of England Hockey and the strict spill restrictions imposed by the planning office. A combination of GigaTera Gen3 LEDs and 50 years of Christy experience paved the way for a successful planning proposal and subsequent installation. Because of the superior design of the GigaTera SUMA LED, Christy were able to lower the column heights to 13m, thus reducing the visual impact, whilst still projecting light across the pitch and controlling unwanted spill. The design provided the client with 350 lux with an electrical saving of 59%.
After the successful completion of the Hockey pitch floodlighting, Christy’s were tasked with lighting a 3G Rugby pitch, with play lines of 70m x 43m, to 200lux keeping the column height at 13m, and yet still restricting the spill onto the surrounding area.
As with the Hockey pitch, tight spill combined with a low mounting height has been achieved by using the combined experience of Christy’s and GigaTera.
This system lights the pitch to 200lux using just 12kw of electricity.
Close to the beautiful village of Otford in Kent, St Michael’s Prep School has had a new All-Weather Hockey Pitch built within its extensive grounds.
Surrounded by landscaped grounds and rural wooded areas, planning conditions were naturally very strict in order to protect the local area.
In order to reduce the visual impact of the floodlighting system, the columns were restricted to 12m and finished in black.
GigaTera flat glass floodlights were chosen due to their unique reflector design allowing the pitch to be lit to 500lux whilst restricting the spill lighting around the pitch.
At Birmingham University two new 500 lux hockey pitches were built along with ten new 400 lux tennis courts and a full size all weather 200lux rugby pitch on the university campus.
The GigaTera/Christy LED system was chosen due to substantial cost savings over lifetime of system, and due to the close proximity of the A38, with GigaTera LED floodlights being uniquely able to comply with spill restrictions onto this road.
St Teresa’s School is located in the picturesque grounds of Effingham in the Surrey Hills, which comes with a classification of Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The planning restrictions were therefore extremely tight with one of the main stipulations being a restriction on the height of any floodlighting masts to a maximum of 13m. This was further restricted by the control of spill light surrounding the pitch. Height restrictions can cause issues with both the projection of light to the centre of the pitch and the amount of spill light surrounding it. The combined use of the GigaTera MAHA and SUMA range meant that the floodlighting system was able to exceed the minimum requirements for uniformity on the pitch and also meet the restrictions for spill light.
The Christy system utilises a total of 20.94kW to light the hockey pitch to 350lux, which represents an electrical savings, when compared to a standard metal halide system, of 50%.
The requirements for Ketts Park were to floodlight a full size football pitch with the use of 6no 15m columns. The combination of the GigaTera SUMA and MAHA range was again used to great effect. The ability of the SUMA LED floodlight to project light to the centre of the pitch whilst still controlling the amount of spill was a crucial component to the success of the floodlighting system. The use of a six column system over an eight column version means greater distances between floodlighting masts and greater projection distances for the floodlights. This can lead to issues with uniformity and spill, but the Christy system was successful in producing a uniform 200lux over the playing surface, whilst also providing tight control of spill light.
The Christy LED system utilises a total of 16.07kW to the light the football pitch to 200lux, which represents an electrical savings, when compared to a standard metal halide system, of 54%.
Marden Cricket and Hockey Club had a new 500lux Hockey pitch and 400lux tennis courts built in 2017. A Christy LED design was chosen due to its ability to comply with strict local planning conditions regarding spill lighting, as well as being unparalleled in terms of energy efficiency.
The GigaTera LED floodlighting scheme has a 54% saving in electrical energy across the Hockey pitch and Tennis courts compared to a metal halide scheme resulting in much lower running costs and having spare electrical capacity for future needs.
In 2004 Christy installed a metal halide floodlighting system at South Hunsley School. At the end of 2019 the school contact Christy regarding the options associated with upgrading the existing floodlighting system to LED. As the original manufacturer of the floodlighting masts Christy were able to provide information on the existing system and walk the school through the various stumbling blocks associated with upgrading to LEDs. The main issue is generally associated with the existing structures. Modern LED floodlights can be very heavy and can lead to increase loads applied to the masts. At the very least this can have a detrimental effect on the life of the columns, leading to costly structural upgrade works. In October 2019 Christy were able to offer an upgraded high output, light-weight LED floodlight from the GigaTera MAF range that incorporated the technology of the SUMA and MAHA floodlights in one. This meant that the proposed LED system actually reduced the loadings on the columns by a combined reduction in headload and windage area, and allowed the school to continue to use the same structures.
The improvement to the quality of the pitch lighting was highlighted by the client, and Christy were able to generate this with an electrical saving of 41%
Huddersfield New College contacted Christy regarding the possibility of upgrading their existing metal halide floodlighting system to LED. The original system was installed by Christy in 2002 and was designed to meet the high winds the site is exposed to. Christy were able to offer an LED floodlighting solution that did not increase the headload and windage area, thus allowing the system to be installed without negatively effecting the life of the columns. This meant that upgrade works to the columns, that would be needed at the end of their natural design life, did not need to be brought forward and thus the cost spread over an extended period of time.
The Christy LED system utilises a total of 11.27kW to the light the playing surface to 200lux, which represents an electrical savings, when compared to the existing metal halide system, of 68%.
Christy had the privilege of providing the LED floodlighting to rugby pitch at Dartford RFC. The requirements were for a 4no column system that provided an even 200lux across the playing surface with a high level of control of spill light due to the proximity of neighbouring properties. Christy installed a GigaTera LED system that utilised the MAHA and SUMA range mounted on 18m floodlighting masts. The system was highly competitive on both cost and efficiency, offering the client savings on comparative floodlighting systems.
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