Thorn Lighting has provided a full LED refurbishment for the pitch lighting at Cardiff’s Gol Centre, which has almost 300 five-a-side football teams competing every week.
Initially, the brief was to light one of the pitches so that the results could be assessed before commencing work on the rest of the site. The lighting solution that Thorn provided proved popular and the refurbishment took on momentum for the rest of the installation.
The existing 400W metal halide fittings highlighting the eleven pitches were constantly blowing out, required lamp replacement every three months and didn’t provide bright enough illumination for the pitches. The challenge was to ensure that the new LED fittings would have an adequate amount of light spread across the pitch using the same point for point positions for the replacements.
Thorn’s Areaflood Pro floodlights mounted on 8 metre columns proved to be the best solution for the application, averaging around 100 lux where previously less than 50 lux was achieved in the centre of the pitches. Areaflood Pro is a general purpose area floodlight with high optical performance and optimal light control of 0cd at 90 degrees with minimal spill light for the comfort of users and spectators. The compact proportions and reduced weight of the floodlights avoids additional structural costs in retrofit installations and maintenance is kept to a minimum due to 100,000 hours rated lifetime on both drivers and LEDs.
There is over 100W reduction per luminaire and, with 46 luminaires installed, this equates to a total of a 4,600W reduction across the site. Rhys Boore, owner and a director of Gol Centre, is happy with the improvement the new lighting system has made, confirming that it has massively improved the pitch lighting levels and enhanced the detail for the cameras to record match highlights and even improved the standard of football!