Sports Pitch Lighting Design: Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate, York

The project:

The project started with a requirement from the school to get their proposed “centre of excellence” planning application through to approval. There had been some concerns raised by local residents about possible increased sky glow from the new multi pitch facilities that QE wanted to floodlight to Sports England levels. The initial design produced had to show how sky glow, glare and spill light would be minimised as well as meeting the standards for pitch lighting at the highest professional levels. Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate is a world leading school for those interested in a sporting career and our client needed the pitches lit to ensure that their facilities could be used well into the evening for important matches, as well as lending out their facilities to professional clubs for additional fixtures therefore maximising their return on investment.

Once the initial planning phase was successfully approved, we then moved on to detailed design to ensure the outcomes would accurately reflect the proposals.

The brief:

Excellence is what Queen Ethelburga’s is all about. Their facilities, for all parts of the school, are second to none and the aspiration for the sports pitches was to end up with a world class facility. Light pollution, in this otherwise dark area, was of the highest concern along with minimising any potential for glare to the few domestic dwellings, within close proximity, who had views of the school grounds. Each pitch had to work independently of the others, and all had to meet the stringent requirements of Sports England lighting levels to ensure training and professional play could take place. As LED floodlights had just begun to be sufficiently powerful enough to be used, we progressed with this technology and the school became one of the first major LED floodlit installations in the UK.

The result:

Football, rugby, hockey, netball, running, tennis, basketball and cricket pitches were all lit for both training and professional level play. Each pitch had controls to switch between the levels and were easy to use for the staff and visitors. The planners, local residents and the school were thrilled with the results which hit all of the initial design criteria, keeping to the strict guidance the planners insisted upon. So if you want state of the art floodlighting at your facility, get in touch now information@itdoes.co.uk or call 01908 560110.