Gloucester County Cricket Club is bowled over by Zumtobel luminaires

Zumtobel has provided lighting at Gloucester County Cricket Club to meet the requirements set by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and created the first indoor cricket net facility lit to international standard of 1500lux @ 0.8 uniformity as defined by the ECB’s Technical Standards 2 & 3 (TS2 & TS3) by LED lighting in the UK. gcp Chartered Architects working closely with Zumtobel has not only created the perfect training and practise environment for the club but also achieved considerable energy consumption by switching to LED.

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. Founded in 1870, GCCC has always been at the forefront of English cricket and has played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England. The club’s most famous players have been W. G. Grace, whose father founded the club, and Wally Hammond, who scored 113 centuries for them.

The use of Zumtobel’s CRAFT luminaires and Dimlite controls, wireless technology, has created a low glare, energy efficient solution with maximum uniformity. The centre, now renamed as Bristol Cricket Centre, was previously lit using 50 x 400 watt metal halide fittings with a total load of approx. 21KW, which has now been replaced with 35 x 238 watt CRAFT LED fittings with a total load of 8.33KW, producing energy savings of over 60%.

CRAFT high-bay LED luminaires were chosen for the indoor cricket nets and sports hall for their efficiency, compact proportions and powerful performance. Sealed to IP65, CRAFT has a specially developed wide beam optic for uniform, square illumination with no dark areas (UGR 80 (4000 K), Ra > 70 (6500 K) and a transparent PMMA diffuser with additional safety cover. The lighting installation also meets the ECB’s requirements on glare and uniformity that has been verified by Griffiths Evans, the ECB’s retained lighting consultant.

Zumtobel’s DIMLITE system and scene plate has also been incorporated into the project to produce 3 scenes, 1500lux professional, 750lux Local and 500lux general.  Additionally, a microwave sensor has been included to act as absence detector and switch off lighting should it inadvertently be left on by occupants. The DIMLITE system has helped to reduce total energy consumption and the true saving will be far in excess of 60%. DIMLITE is a multifunction lighting control system that is based on the principle of a jigsaw puzzle, with various components connected to a basic module according to requirements. The basic unit features a series of practical functions such as dimming, a central ON/OFF function and a lighting scene but this can be expanded.

Zumtobel’s lighting solution has provided the perfect illumination for the training environment at the club as well as dramatically reducing energy consumption.