Cardiff Eastside Skatepark – LED Floodlighting

Project Overview

SJB Floodlighting completed the LED floodlighting installation at Cardiff East Side Skatepark in Llanrumney, Cardiff, helping to bring a new, purpose-built wheeled sports facility to life.

Eastside Skatepark is a unique project for Betongpark, developed in collaboration with Newline Skateparks from Canada and VDZ Landscape Architects. The project brought together skatepark designers, landscape architects, contractors and other stakeholders to create a facility designed not only for wheeled sports users, but to integrate naturally into the surrounding landscape.

The result is a substantial community facility that has been extremely well used since opening, providing a dedicated space for skateboarders, BMX riders, scooter users and the wider community.

For SJB Floodlighting, the project involved providing a dedicated LED lighting system that would allow the new facility to remain usable beyond daylight hours, extending its availability into the evenings and throughout the darker winter months.

LED Floodlighting Installation

SJB installed a complete LED floodlighting system to illuminate the skatepark.

The installation features five 8-metre-high static root-mounted columns, positioned on concrete foundations around the facility.

Five Signify/Philips LED floodlights were installed to provide high-output white light with good colour rendering, making them well suited to a recreational environment where clear visibility across the skatepark is important.

The lighting system was designed to achieve a maintained average illumination level of approximately 200 lux.

Lighting Designed Around the Skatepark

Lighting a skatepark presents a different challenge to lighting a conventional sports pitch.

The skating surface contains changes in level, ramps, ledges, rails, stairs and other features. Effective lighting therefore needs to provide good visibility across a varied three-dimensional environment rather than simply illuminating a flat playing surface.

The floodlights were positioned and aimed to provide suitable coverage throughout the skatepark, helping illuminate the different zones and features while retaining the character of the facility and its landscaped surroundings.

Controls and Operating Times

SJB supplied and installed the floodlighting switchgear and controls.

A master time switch was incorporated into the installation to prevent the floodlights being operated beyond the permitted hours.

Manual control switches were also installed, together with an egress timer providing a staged safe lighting shutdown.

This provides straightforward operation of the system while helping ensure that the floodlighting operates within the required hours.

LED Technology

The use of LED floodlighting provides the facility with instant full-output operation and instant re-strike, without the warm-up period associated with some traditional lighting technologies.

The LED system also reduces the requirement for lamp replacement and associated maintenance, helping provide a practical long-term lighting solution for a heavily used public facility.

Electrical Installation

SJB installed the electrical infrastructure required to connect and control the floodlighting system.

This included the floodlighting switchgear, controls and XLPE/SWA/PVC cabling between the electrical supply and the lighting columns.

The installation was configured to provide practical control of the skatepark lighting and incorporated the necessary electrical protection and switching equipment.

Testing and Commissioning

Following completion of the installation, SJB fully tested and commissioned the floodlighting system.

Electrical testing was undertaken in accordance with BS 7671, with illumination levels recorded following commissioning.

The floodlights were aimed and adjusted as necessary to achieve the required lighting performance.

Record drawings and operating manuals were also provided as part of the completion documentation.

A Facility for the Community

The Eastside Skatepark is designed to be much more than a collection of ramps and obstacles.

The combination of the skatepark's varied riding features, landscaped setting, sustainable drainage and open circulation spaces creates a facility intended to serve both its core wheeled sports users and the wider community.

The result is a skatepark that is well suited to the community it sits within and, according to Betongpark, has been extremely well used from the day it opened.

The floodlighting adds another important dimension to the facility, allowing the skatepark to remain accessible after daylight hours and helping make better use of the investment in the new community space throughout the year.

SJB Floodlighting

The project was delivered by SJB Floodlighting as a specialist electrical contractor experienced in sports, recreational and exterior lighting installations.

SJB is an NICEIC Approved Contractor for street and exterior lighting installations and electrical maintenance.

The company's site teams are experienced in the installation, testing and commissioning of outdoor lighting systems, providing a complete service from electrical installation through to final lighting checks.

Project Summary

The Cardiff East Side Skatepark project combines an individually designed wheeled sports facility with a dedicated LED floodlighting system designed to extend its use beyond daylight hours.

The completed installation includes:

• Five 8-metre static root-mounted columns

• Five Signify/Philips LED floodlights

• Maintained average illumination of approximately 200 lux

• Dedicated floodlighting switchgear

• Master time-switch control

• Manual lighting controls

• Staged egress timer

• XLPE/SWA/PVC cabling

• BS 7671 electrical testing

• Lux testing

  
  

The completed lighting system forms an important part of the new East Side Skatepark, helping provide a modern, accessible and usable facility for Cardiff's skateboarding and wider wheeled sports community throughout the year.