Lighting upgrade for WA netball courts

Kingsway Sporting Complex in Madeley, Western Australia, has upgraded lighting at its 30 netball courts. 

With a steady increase in the number of netball teams in the past few years and the need for quality and performance in lighting, Kingway appointed Gerard Lighting to illuminate its netball courts with the latest LED technology, part of a 43,000 m² area.

Gerard Lighting has previously contributed to other sporting areas at the Kingsway Sporting Complex including five soccer, two rugby and one AFL field and a few training zones. The challenge of illuminating the Kingsway Netball Courts was to sufficiently provide light without interfering with the adjacent sporting fields. 

The installation had to also meet the requirements of AS2560 2.4–1986 recreation and training level, which meant an average of 100 lux at 0.5 uniformity ratio. The Sylvania Briteline LED Raptor was chosen for the project, as the level of control of the luminaire was a head above the competitors who pitched for the job.

Dino Panebianco, Regional General Manager, Gerard Lighting Western Australia, said two luminaires were specified and Gerard had the Sylvania Briteline LED Raptor approved, as they knew this would get best results through the product’s control capabilities, while also meeting the Netball AS2560.2.4 training and competition standards requirements. The Sylvania Briteline LED Raptor distributes light where it’s needed, providing better control, lower glare and less spill light, to increase efficiency and reduce impact on neighbouring courts or residents.

“We are on-site and in the cherry picker during the aiming process to make sure it’s done correctly, working with the contractors to provide real-time solutions to any issues that arise. We survey our aiming points rather than manually marking or relying on the contractor to get orientation and the tilt angle aiming correct,” said Panebianco.

The Gerard Lighting team also assisted the contractor with lux testing, which led to providing accurate data to the councils and consultants involved. “If we receive a poor result we jump straight back in to fix it rather than distance ourselves from issues — even if the issues have nothing to do with us,” said Panebianco.