Sports Floodlighting at North London Collegiate School, Dubai

North London Collegiate School, one of the highest achieving schools in the UK, has also established a school in Jeju, South Korea, which since opening has quickly been recognised as one of the leading schools in North East Asia. A rising demand for English international schools abroad has led to NLCS making the strategic decision to also open a school in Dubai. With a capacity for 1,800 students, aged between three and sixteen, NLCS will initially take up to Grade 10, with plans to expand to Grade 12 by 2019.

Located on a 38,000 square metre plot, the school will offer 13 science laboratories whilst already boasting premium IT facilities, a state-of-the-art performing arts centre, a large dining hall and an array of sporting facilities, which include tennis courts, basketball court, eight lane indoor swimming pool and a cricket / rugby field.

In keeping with the high standards already set by the other two NLCS schools, the sports facilities had to be of the highest quality, including the sports lighting. For this reason, Abacus were enlisted to provide floodlighting for the multi-use sports pitch.

Abacus supplied North London Collegiate School with four GL400 base hinged masts at 22m high. Originally, fixed masts were on the specification for the lighting of the pitch, however, once made aware of the benefits of a based hinged mast system, NLCS made the decision to have the base hinged masts installed on the school pitch instead. Being safer than a standard mast, all maintenance, cleaning and floodlight adjustments can be completed at ground level once the mast is lowered using a hydraulic counterbalance unit. This style of mast was most suited to North London School as it is safe and simple to operate, and easy to install. Requiring minimal maintenance, the GL400 mast ensures uninterrupted play throughout a packed sporting calendar.

Lighting the pitch is a mix of 20 x AAA-LUX STAD and AAA-LUX WS Series LED floodlights all mounted onto the four GL400 masts. Lit to 200 lux, these high quality / high performance floodlights deliver excellent uniformity on the pitch whilst at the same time, adhering to the restrictions on light overspill as specified in the lighting design. Having instant start-up combined with being fully dimmable without any loss of uniformity, the floodlights can be switched on, off or dimmed as and when required, saving on energy costs by reducing wasted light. With the high temperatures typical to the Middle East, a floodlight needs to be able to operate efficiently in these conditions. Rated as T50, AAA-LUX floodlights have been tested and certified to perform in ambient temperatures of 50 degrees Celsius for their impressive 60,000hr life (LEDs and drivers).

Each AAA-LUX floodlight comes complete with built-in wireless operation. When used in conjunction with the AAA-LUX Light Control Management System (LCMS), a host of features become available such as fingertip control with smart phone, computer, wireless button boxes and sensors. Controllable pre-programmed lighting scenes can be defined with an emergency lighting function to activate all lights for the safety of both the players and spectators. In addition, the integrated management system tracks vital information to assist with the provision of preventative maintenance and to further reduce costs.

The opening of North London Collegiate School with its world class educational and sporting facilities promises to provide outstanding levels of both education and sport for students in the UAE for many years to come.

Sports Floodlighting at North London Collegiate School, Dubai

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