LED lighting nets big savings for sports hall facilities in London

LED lighting is the ideal choice for sports facilities, where bright, even illumination is essential. LED specialist Earlsmann was recently invited by contractor Approved Electrical to design and supply new lighting for the sports hall at Tolworth Leisure Centre in south London. The innovative new LED lighting has created a bright and energising environment and is achieving annual energy savings of 51,000 kWh.

Before: the sports hall was under lit by the energy -hungry metal halide units	After: the new LED lighting creates a bright, evenly-lit space, ideal for indoor sports

LEDs provide clear advantages over energy-hungry metal halide lights

Tolworth Leisure Centre is operated by Places for People Leisure, which is keen to continually improve the quality of the facilities while also achieving energy savings. Through its working partnership with Approved Electrical, Earlsmann was invited to review the lighting in the main sports hall at the centre.  The existing metal halide lights had been regularly repaired but the old technology was energy-hungry and becoming uneconomical to maintain.

The Tolworth sports hall was originally designed for multi-use, with lights evenly distributed across the area. It is now predominantly used for badminton. Badminton guidelines recommend that lighting should be placed outside of the main play area to provide the best possible experience for players. Mick Brackpool, technical support manager at the centre, was concerned that glare was a potential issue with the current lighting positions.

Earlsmann creates clever and cost-effective LED solutions

To achieve a balance between good light levels, uniformity and minimum glare, Earlsmann devised an innovative design using high bay LED lighting that achieves the target lux level of 500+ with >0.7 uniformity in line with CIBSE guidelines. The new lighting units include reflectors that provide a ‘cut-off’, preventing any excessive glare and allowing the new lighting to be installed in the existing positions – avoiding the need for costly relocation. The individual courts can be turned on separately, achieving energy savings while still providing excellent light levels.

LED technology hits the spot for energy savings

The new low-maintenance LED lighting is long-lasting, reliable, and already achieving significant energy savings – the power requirement has been reduced from 15.5kW to just 4.75kW. This has created savings of over 51,000 kWh/year, allowing the centre to recover the cost of its investment in the new lighting in under two years while also cutting its carbon footprint by over 27 tonnes.

Earlsmann, your experienced partner in creating total LED lighting solutions

Earlsmann is a UK-based LED lighting company with many years’ experience in the LED marketplace, providing a comprehensive range of lighting solutions to suit every interior and exterior application. In-house designers use Relux modelling to create innovative solutions tailored to client requirements.

You might like to take a look at our sports hall lighting projects.

Find out more about Earlsmann’s commercial lighting products, call 08456 434 740 or email sales@earlsmann.co.uk.