Blackburn Rovers

Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a renowned professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, with a history of success, and which currently competes in the EFL Championship, within the English Football League system, playing their home matches at Ewood Park since 1890.

The club understands the significance of success, through creating an optimal training environment for its players and to enhance player performance, it was decided to modernise the lighting system at their training ground, by way of an upgrade of the lighting equipment.

Apex Electrical North West Ltd, headquartered in Darwen, Lancashire, was approached by Blackburn Rovers. The football club needed a lighting solution that would provide consistent and efficient illumination for various training activities. Additionally, the solution required versatility and high performance while maintaining visual comfort for both players and coaching staff.

After much careful consideration and evaluation for this crucial project, the club turned to Ansell Lighting and opted for the Pace Plus 600×600 Multi-Wattage LED Panel for the internal illumination at the Blackburn Rovers Training Ground, to replace the existing lighting system, which was both outdated and inadequate in supporting the diverse activities taking place within the facility.

The Pace Plus LED Panel was selected as being an industry leading solution, encompassing a superb high efficiency performance of up to 180 Lumens/Watt, whilst also providing excellent suitability across a range of sectors, including commercial, educational, and retail, as well as for numerous other ancillary applications, such as for this project.

With its slimline design and shallow depth, this allows installation into internal spaces having depth restrictive ceiling voids, alongside an ingress protection to IP44, which further widens the installation opportunities. Having a TP(a) rated diffuser as standard, means that the fitting can be used within areas requiring protection against surface spread of flame across the ceiling, a common specification prerequisite within the specification of many applications.

The Pace Plus 600×600 multi-Wattage is power selectable at the point of installation, in either 12/14/16/18 Watts, thereby offering a choice of different performance outputs contained within a single luminaire, allowing for the opportunity to vary the illumination levels across different spaces, whilst still maintaining both a level of good uniformity and a superb aesthetic appearance across the entire project.

Numerous different installation opportunities are on offer for the Pace Plus 600×600 luminaire, through selection from a wide range of additional accessories, including a suspension kit, a surface mounting frame, a recessed plasterboard mounting kit and a skylight recessed frame, as well the addition of an Anti-Ligature Kit for applications requiring the installation of secure fittings within appropriate environments.

Various options including 1-10V Analogue, and Switch Dim or DALI Digital, dimmable capability is offered through the addition of the 30Watt multi dimmable driver accessories ADDIM30/MC, as well as the addition of selecting the OCTO option. A DALI Emergency option is also available for those installations requiring an integral emergency lighting solution.

This fitting is constructed with the ability to eliminate unwanted glare and enhance aesthetic appearance, thereby assisting in achieving a UGR<19 (unified glare rating) compliant installation, based upon a space of dimensions 4Hx8H, whilst also aiding in providing enhanced visual comfort and visual performance, which was a crucial requirement for maintaining player focus and avoiding eye strain during intense training sessions.

With a controlled light distribution pattern through having a beam angle 80 degrees, and providing light with a CRI of Ra80, as well as an operating lifetime of L90 to 50,000 hours, culminates in the Pace Plus LED Panel providing an optimum solution, being specifically designed for a wide variety of internal spaces, alongside offering excellent performance and optimum energy efficiency.

In concluding, the Pace Plus 600×600 Multi-Wattage LED Panels have perfectly met the lighting needs and aspirations of Blackburn Rovers for their Training Ground, providing exceptional illumination for the various training activities. The installation has also led to improved player performance, reduced energy consumption, alongside an increased overall aesthetic enhancement of the training sessions and an overall better experience on the field.