A new lighting installation set the scene for an international sports competition in June 2015. The Channel Island of Jersey played host to the biennial NatWest Island Games, an event on a par with the size of the Sochi Winter Olympics. Sportsmen and women from around the globe descended on the Island for the event, which saw more than 2,700 competitors do battle in sports such as archery, tennis and sailing.
Taking its place amongst the sporting events was the highly-anticipated table tennis competition at Jersey’s Geoff Reed Table Tennis Centre. New lighting installed by MHA Lighting Ltd at the St. Clement centre has smashed lux level targets in the purpose-built facility, where a total of 11 islands took part in table tennis tournaments on 27 June.
Audrey Tupper, President of the Jersey Table Tennis Association, said: “The NatWest Island Games is a prestigious sporting event on an international scale, and we were honoured to be hosting the table tennis competition at the Geoff Reed Table Tennis Centre.
“As part of the improvement works in preparation for the Games we identified that the lighting installed above the nine-table hall fell short of official international competition standards as recommended by Sport England. After speaking with St. Helier based LED Lighting Technology Ltd it became apparent that switching to LED is an investment that would achieve our exacting requirements, and that installation could be fully completed before the beginning of the Games.”
After researching various options, LED Lighting Technology Ltd’s Managing Director Paul Couser recommended MHA Lighting’s products, which offered the highest quality light uniformity and colour rendering for the table tennis centre, as well as being extremely low glare.
The team at MHA sprung into action and designed a bespoke solution for the centre installing 60 LightStar 203 LED luminaires. In doing so overall lighting energy consumption was reduced by 61% – providing an annual saving of £2.5k and 8Tonne reduction in Co2 emissions. Using patented waveguide technology MHA’s LightStar 203 can deliver up to 120 lumens per circuit watt and 5700Kelvin to ensure the lit-environment is at the optimum level for table tennis players.
Sport England specifies 600 lux for community competitions and 850 lux for national competitions. The new lighting installation has smashed the international standard and achieved 1000 lux, creating an environment suitable for sporting activities featured on TV. MHA Lighting’s MD Tom Harrison said: “It was essential that we achieve the lux levels required for such a prestigious international competition as the NatWest Island Games. We understand that good lighting is paramount in sports and leisure facilities, and in particular we ensure that our unique technology provides an extremely low glare rating.
“We are delighted that this has been such a successful project, and it was great to see the winners take the NatWest Island Games Table Tennis Trophy under MHA’s LED luminaires last month.”
MHA’s sealed LED lighting units have also been designed to resist damage from ball games – an essential requirement for a sports hall or indoor play area. The fitting’s 66,000 hour minimum life span means that there is no need for regular maintenance and bulb replacement, which can prove to be a major benefit for installations above leisure facilities such as swimming pools and indoor ski slopes.
Based upon an eight hour/day operation the lifetime of the new light fittings equates to 21 years. The lifespan can further be increased to a minimum of 109,000 hours if the driver is replaced at the 66,000 hour point. The lack of heat given off by LED lighting allows further energy savings to be made through reduced air-conditioning systems, and is an additional benefit to table tennis players in participants in a competitive setting.
Paul Couser, Managing Director at LED Lighting Technology Ltd, said that there is a strong local business community on the Island, which led to his partnership with the centre: “The management team at the Geoff Reed Table Tennis Centre were keen to find a Jersey-based lighting business like mine to manage the refurbishment project. Having worked with MHA Lighting for a number of years now I knew their LED fittings would improve light levels for table tennis players, creating the ideal environment for the sporting action.
“The new lighting has more than accomplished the project brief. It also benefits the Island community by cutting energy costs and carbon emissions.”
Geoff Reed Table Tennis Centre President Audrey Tupper added: “Reducing our energy usage and associated carbon footprint is something we were also focussed on. We are delighted to say that the new LED lighting fittings have delivered on all our collective objectives.
“MHA Lighting’s technical engineers caused no intrusion during installation either, which was completed outside of the centre’s team training hours, causing zero disruption to day-to-day operations.”
