Let There Be Light
Throughout Emirates Stadium there are more than 12,500 seperate lights. From the state-of-the-art pitch floodlighting to the lamps illuminating the stairways, one firm has installed nearly all. Goodmarriott & Hursthouse started on the project in June 2004, installing conduits into the concrete structure of the stadium to run cabling through. It has since tested and procured lighting of all types from manufacturers including Cooper, Philips, Whitecroft, Glamox, Louis Poulsen and Siteco, spending around £1.5 million in the process.
"For the pitch lighting equipment we went to Philips, the best in the industry," says Goodmarriott & Hursthouse Director, Darron Littlehales. "Philips had provided the original lighting at Highbury, so it was nice to continue with that relationship from both a historical and a maintenance point of view."
The pitch floodlights are considered the best in Europe, if not the whole world. This has been achieved with 188 Philips Arenavision lights each with a 2kW lamp mounted on a gantry that runs all around the stadium, on the front of the main roof ends.
The careful placement of these light fittings ensures a smooth, bright illumination of the entire pitch with virtually no shadow. It is designed to provide an average lighting level of 1,400 lux to meet UEFA requirements, which is five times the average office.
The lamps within the floodlights are of two different types. There are 80 standard and 108 hot-restrike lamps. Conventional floodlighting takes a considerable time to reach full illumination. It cannot be simply turned off and on again for fear of damaging the lamps and starting equipment. However, Emirates Stadium's hot-restrike lamps are able to cope with instant restarting following a power-cut, for instance, allowing interrupted matches to continue or people to see well during an evacuation, although at reduced levels.
The floodlights each last for about 5,000 hours: that's around 10 years at an average use of twice a week during a 10-month season. Realistically though, the Club will probably change them every two or three years.
The lighting that illuminates the spectators' seating area is just as crucial. Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd (SRM) and Goodmarriott & Hursthouse wanted to ensure that the whole system could be maintained from above, without using scaffolding.
However, SRM did not want merely to fix weatherproof light fittings to the underside of the stand's soffit because they felt it would impinge on the overall design. "We designed a bespoke recessed fitting that would not in any way spoil the downward sloping roof of the stadium," says Littlehales. "Careful coordination took place with input from many parties and a proper engineered solution was delivered."
Then there was all the behind-the-scenes lighting. Goodmarriott & Hursthouse worked tirelessly to ensure that everything ran smoothly on the construction contract. "We worked particularly hard to install lights at main thoroughfares around the site at early stages in the contract," says Littlehales. "For instance, staircases, with around 600 bespoke lights, were completed before the areas became very congested as the labour levels on site peaked."
At the busiest stage of the project, Goodmarriott & Hursthouse had approximately 270 personnel on site. "Sir Robert McAlpine created a team ethos around the site and everyone entered into the spirit of it," Littlehales explains. "This is a significant factor in the successful delivery. For me it is particularly satisfying that we delivered exactly what we said we would from the outset. I am proud of what we have delivered and proud to have association with this prestigious stadium project."