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 | | ABACUS REACHES NEW HEIGHTS IN SPORTS LIGHTING | | | Abacus Lighting Ltd | | 07/07/2008 | | | Over the last 50 years, Abacus Lighting has enjoyed incredible growth and earned an exceptional reputation for its products and its people. Constantly innovating, exploring and experimenting, its commitment to pioneering products, in-depth research and environmental responsibility has made the company the genuine success story it is today.
And as the company celebrates its 50th Birthday, 2008 is no exception. Abacus has unveiled its latest range of stadium masts which is set to revolutionise the field of sports lighting.
Reinforcing its commitment to providing bespoke sports lighting solutions and following three years of intensive design and development, Abacus has introduced its new “Stadium” range of telescopic masts (patent pending). Developed from the need to satisfy ever-stricter planning requirements, these unique floodlighting masts can now be extended up to 45m high and lowered when not in use, effectively minimising their daytime visual impact on the environment.
Abacus’s European Sales & Marketing Director, Mike Hallam, commented: “We’re really excited about this new innovation which has been three years in development. Planners worldwide are placing increasing constraints on the size and nature of floodlighting structures at sports stadia, particularly in residential zones and areas of architectural interest. The unique design of the telescopic masts enables them to be lowered telescopically to half their operating height, meaning that visual intrusion is minimal when the masts are not in use.”
The stadium masts were developed following the success of Abacus’s “Club Range” of telescopic masts, originally developed in 2005 following requests from customers facing planning application restrictions. Abacus carried out extensive research which revealed that, although there were telescopic products on the market, there was nothing that complied with the standards required for commercial applications. Abacus set about designing its Club Range with the aim of satisfying these standards whilst delivering professional lighting levels to tennis, football and hockey clubs.
Interest in the concept of telescopic masts quickly grew. However, with the Club Range only offering operating heights from 8m to 15m with a maximum carrying capacity of 3 Challenger® 1 2kW floodlights, it soon became apparent that there was a demand for larger solutions.
Abacus has invested around £1/4million in time and materials and has had to overcome a number of design challenges in order to successfully develop the larger masts.
Mike said: “One factor is that the head weights, which can now hold up to 110 2kW floodlights, are significantly heavier. The significant bulk of electrical cables also posed a problem. We originally looked at placing the cables on the outside to avoid the problems associated with multiples of large diameter cables folding and tangling inside the structure. However, this made the masts rather unappealing to the eye. We are delighted to say that our engineers solved the problem ingeniously, resulting in a very imposing and impressive looking mast without external cables.”
The elegant structures, which can feature architecturally interesting head frames, are designed to enhance any stadium. They can telescope to their full height in approximately 10 minutes and operation can be carried out either locally or from a remote central point.
The first stadium to benefit from the new Stadium Telescopic Mast Range is the new Al Shamal Stadium in Qatar. The ground breaking stadium has been designed with 4 corner turret structures around the football field which mimic the original Al Shamal fort itself. The 43m masts will disappear down inside each of the 4 turrets when not in use, allowing the stadium to maintain its low profile.
The floodlighting for the stadium has been designed to meet HDTV standards of 2,000lux for TV transmissions and the masts will each carry up to 105 Challenger 3 2kW floodlights.
Mike concluded: “We are in the process of actively pursuing other projects in the UK and overseas and are very optimistic for the future of the telescopic structures. Abacus has been at the forefront of mast engineering innovation for 50 years and we look forward to working with our customers to overcome their own stadium development challenges in the future.” | |
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