Northampton High School

Philips LED Floodlighting & Interact Lighting Control

Project Overview

Northampton High School is an independent all-girls school in Hardingstone, Northampton, educating pupils from ages 2 to 18. With more than 145 years of history, the school combines a strong academic focus with an extensive programme of sporting and extracurricular activities.

Sport plays an important role in school life, with pupils competing across a wide range of sports including hockey, netball, swimming, cricket, athletics, tennis and football. The school has extensive sporting facilities, including an all-weather pitch, playing fields, courts, sports hall and swimming pool, with some facilities also available for community use outside school hours.

With the school's sports facilities playing such an important role, SJB Floodlighting was appointed to modernise the existing sports floodlighting installation, replacing the ageing metal halide system with a new Philips LED floodlighting solution and advanced Philips Interact lighting control system.

The project involved replacing the existing 20 metal halide floodlights with 16 Philips BVP528 LED floodlights, together with new operating equipment, cabling and lighting-control infrastructure.

The result is a modern sports lighting installation designed to provide high-quality illumination while giving the school greater control and flexibility over the operation of its facilities.

Philips LED Sports Floodlighting

The new installation uses Philips BVP528 LED floodlights, providing a modern replacement for the school's previous metal halide system.

The 16 new floodlights were installed onto the existing columns and accurately aimed as part of the installation. This allowed the existing column infrastructure to be retained while significantly modernising the lighting equipment.

The Philips scheme was also selected with consideration given to light spill towards neighbouring properties. The SJB proposal recorded a maximum calculated illuminance of less than 1 lux on the façade of the adjacent flats, compared with the 5-lux maximum cited for an E2 environmental zone, and therefore recommended the Philips solution.

Upgrading the Electrical Infrastructure

As part of the LED conversion, SJB safely isolated the existing installation and removed the redundant metal halide operating equipment.

New LED drivers and operating control gear were installed within the column base compartments or associated with the floodlights. The existing flexible cabling between the column bases and floodlights was removed and replaced with new cabling as part of the installation, ensuring the electrical infrastructure was suitable for the new LED floodlighting system.

Each column was function tested following installation, before the complete system was fully tested and commissioned. After-dark illumination testing was also undertaken, with the completed electrical installation tested to BS7671 and certification provided.

Philips Interact Lighting Control

A major feature of the upgraded installation is the integration of Philips Interact lighting control technology.

The Interact WSE system provides a wireless lighting-control network using wireless control nodes, a central segment controller and RF mesh communication. The system is designed to communicate with compatible luminaires using DALI and DALI-2 control technology.

The Interact documentation identifies Philips OptiVision and BVP528 'SR' configurations as compatible system-ready luminaires, with Zhaga Book 18-compatible wireless nodes providing the connection between the lighting equipment and the wireless control network.

The central segment controller acts as the control hub for the system and provides connectivity for remote support where required.

Flexible Control of the Sports Lighting

The Interact system provides a much more advanced level of control than a traditional simple switching arrangement.

The system can control individual lighting points through the wireless network, while local push-button interfaces provide convenient on-site operation. The Interact documentation describes the ability to dim individual light points as required and provides a centralised control architecture for the installation.

For a school environment, this provides greater flexibility over how the sports lighting is used, allowing the installation to be operated in line with the activities taking place on the sports facilities.

Testing & Commissioning

SJB completed the project through a full programme of testing and commissioning.

The floodlights were function tested on completion of each column, followed by full-system commissioning. An after-dark illumination test was then carried out to verify the lighting performance, with operational instruction provided to the relevant school staff. The electrical installation was also tested to BS7671, with certification issued on completion.

The Result

The completed project transformed Northampton High School's existing sports lighting from an ageing metal halide system into a modern Philips LED floodlighting installation with advanced Interact lighting control.

The project combined new LED floodlights, replacement electrical cabling, new operating equipment and modern wireless control technology, creating a complete sports lighting solution suited to a busy school environment.

The result provides the school with:

Philips LED floodlighting16 new Philips BVP528 floodlights installed to the existing sports lighting columns.

New electrical infrastructureReplacement cabling and new LED operating equipment installed as part of the refurbishment.

Philips Interact controlWireless control technology using Zhaga-compatible nodes, RF mesh communication and a central segment controller.

Consideration of neighbouring propertiesThe selected Philips lighting scheme was assessed for light spill, with the proposal recording less than 1 lux on the façade of the adjacent flats.

Complete testing & commissioningColumn-by-column function testing, full commissioning, lux testing and BS7671 testing were completed as part of the installation.

SJB Floodlighting

SJB Floodlighting specialises in the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of sports floodlighting systems for schools, clubs, local authorities and sporting facilities across the UK.

The Northampton High School project demonstrates SJB's ability to modernise existing sports lighting installations using leading LED technology while integrating advanced control systems such as Philips Interact.

From the removal of the existing floodlights and operating equipment through to the installation of new Philips LED luminaires, replacement cabling, lighting-control equipment, aiming, testing and commissioning, SJB Floodlighting provides a complete specialist sports lighting service.