Sports LED Lighting | The Coventry Building Society Arena

The Coventry Building Society Arena’s energy-efficient LED upgrade enhances flexibility of use for the renowned Coventry events venue.

The award-winning venue has recently implemented high-efficiency, long-life Tamlite LED EXPO products in its Ericsson Exhibition Hall. The Coventry Building Society Arena (formerly The Ricoh) is a pioneer in the world of sport, business and entertainment. This world-class destination has provided a catalyst for urban regeneration and economic development since it opened in 2005.

The venue continues to maintain its advantage and reputation for incorporating the most efficient technologies. In particular, the exhibition hall recently underwent a lighting upgrade designed to meet an increased range of customer requirements. Therefore, it can expand into new exhibitions, cultural and sporting events.

Tight constraints and broad requirements

There were a number of constraints to factor into the design. This included ducting, existing trunking and air movement, as well as working within Sports England’s Artificial Light Guidelines. On top of this, there were ‘Zero Reflect’ requirements (black walls and ceilings and dark grey floor). Point to point replacement was needed whilst significantly increasing the level of illuminance.

In addition, the customer’s key project objectives specified the need for increased levels of illumination. The space needs this in order to continue servicing major national and international sporting tournaments, such as netball and snooker championship events.

Also specified was the need for a flexible and controllable lighting solution to meet the needs of different customers’ requirements. From exhibitions and sports tournaments to concerts, needing multiple lighting options from a wireless device.

The crucial objective was to ensure an overall cost saving compared to the previous design. On top of this, a non-negotiable 2-week installation window ending January 2017. The solution was devised by Tamlite’s Product Manager, Dan Griffiths and manufacturing lead, Stuart Besford.

Design with demonstrable benefits

The design featured Tamlite’s EXPO LED luminaries, which provide one of the highest outputs in the industry and superior controllability. In addition, they are versatile enough to perform when significant changes in requirements are needed. For example, lighting areas to 800 lux for netball one day and under 200 lux for snooker the next.

Speed of installation was crucial and zero maintenance requirements key. The EXPO has been designed specifically for halls and industrial-warehousing facilities and can be mounted at up to 20m height. Incorporating the Tamlite I-Tec optic technology, the EXPOs offer DALI dimming capability. This is one through wireless control via an integrated lighting management system.

Featuring in-house LED boards, EXPO delivers a number of benefits. For example, high-output LED low bay, Emergency and VISION control options, up to 150 lumens per Watt efficacy and 50,000 hours’ lifetime. The EXPO supplied to The Coventry Building Society Arena was customised for their trunking system. This ensured that the luminaires would not swing or twist.

Flexibility, on time, within budget

The project achieved an impressive illuminance uniformity of 0.96 against the industry standard of 0.7
Light levels increased from 150-200 to 1000 lux, a 400% increase in available lux levels
All lights can now be recommissioned on site wirelessly via the security room so that lighting for specific events can be readily customised
Eight pre-set scenes have been created for constant lighting control to satisfy various scenarios, sliders and mini-control panels are also available for fast manual override without affecting pre-sets
This means the arena can now adapt its lighting to any format and they are now using this as a major upselling feature in commercial approaches
There has been a reduction in the need to hire-in additional equipment for specific sporting events thanks to the improved quality and coverage of the permanent system

Delight Alan Pickering, Deputy Facilities Manager at The Coventry Building Society Arena, said: “Thanks to Tamlite, The arena now has a system that offers improved lighting levels as well as full remote control. A projected overall energy saving of 20% also means that the arena can deliver long-term reductions to the venue’s energy expenditure. We are delighted with this outcome.”