Discover more about the lighting upgrade at the Bolton Arena Sports Village.
To remain a world-class tennis centre, the Bolton Arena Sports Village in Greater Manchester must provide state-of-the-art facilities.
Its status as the Lawn Tennis Association's regional development centre meant that the15-year-old fluorescent tube lighting at its eight indoor tennis courts had to be upgraded. Not only was the lighting energy inefficient, but the lux levels couldn't be adjusted for different events.
Bolton-based NT Electrical Solutions (NTES) was appointed to install the new high-level lighting after tendering for the job, but finding the most appropriate high-level lights proved challenging.
"There isn't much on the market for high-level light fittings, particularly where the lux level for tennis courts is guaranteed," says Justin Plimley at NTES. "But then lighting manufacturer Luceco contacted us because we'd previously worked with them, and they recommended their Luxbay ULTRA."
The Luxbay ULTRAis ahigh performance specialist LED luminaire designed for high-level applications.
The lights are housed in aluminium and have polycarbonate lenses with specially designed lens optics to ensure installation points are maximised. Crucially, the lights have five light settings that can be controlled remotely via a phone app, enabling tailored control of light on each court. Bolton Arena wanted three different lighting scenes: 300 lux in the morning for the cleaners, 500 lux for general tennis use and 800 lux for championship tennis events. After the lights were installed, the lux levels were set using a computer-controlled light meter.
Plimley says installing lights15 m above the ground using scissor lifts, and working while the courts were still in use weren't the key challenges. The trickiest bit was the rewiring, which took two weeks.
"The cables sat on top of 600 mm baskets suspended 1 m from the ceiling and we had to run the cables from the courts to the plant rooms [where the distribution boards sit), which are located outside the arena's perimeter on the third floor," says Plimley. "This was very difficult to do but it all went well, and the new lighting produces a much cleaner light on the courts, which looks great."
