Lighting Derby Logo Office Address
Blackburn Road
Longford
Coventry
CV6 6NW

Tel: 02476 708060
Fax: 02476 708061
Email: enquiries@lightingcoventry.com
New Lighting
New Lighting Image As part of the replacement programme, street lighting will be re-designed to meet current European standards.
 
We will be providing a set minimum and consistent level of light, which might not be achieved without changing the position and spacing of the lights. We may add lanterns to existing poles to avoid unnecessary clutter.

Background
Balfour Beatty in partnership with Coventry City Council, are carrying out the work as part of a multi-million pound contract to improve lighting in Coventry City. The 25-year concession will involve the design and installation of new street lights and other associated lighting units (see scope below), during the 5-year capital investment period (CIP). All new and existing equipment will receive ongoing maintenance throughout the full 25 years.
 
The contract, which operates under the name ‘Lighting Coventry’, commenced on 1st November 2010 and has already seen some of the highest risk lighting column types replaced within various wards of the city.  Lighting Coventry have also commissioned an asset survey of the existing street lighting stock in order to prioritise the replacement of lighting columns based on condition. The upcoming replacement programme can be seen here.
 
Scope
The Coventry Street lighting PFI briefly comprises of:
  • 25,500 lighting columns replaced with new modern equipment
  • 75 high mast lighting columns around the ring road will be replaced
  • 6,500 illuminated signs / bollards / beacons will be replaced with low wattage LED lights or de-illuminated when possible
  • 5,000 existing lighting columns will have their lanterns change to more energy efficient lighting
The design and installation works will cover:
  • Residential roads
  • Minor traffic routes
  • Major traffic routes, such as A45, A444, A4114.
  • The city centre, including the ring road.
  • Conservation areas, parks and other public amenity areas.
  • Subways and surface level car parks.
New Lighting
The new street lighting is being designed in accordance with Coventry City Council’s lighting specification which is based on current British and European Standards. Where possible the new lighting will be replaced in the same locations, however in some streets the new lighting column positions and/or heights may change.
 
Residential streets will predominantly be lit using ‘white light’. This solution allows for better recognition of people, objects and colours and is preferable for areas with high pedestrian activity. Typically lamps with wattages of 45W and 60W will be used on 6m tall columns. With 8m columns and 90W lamps being used on wider roads.
 
Traffic routes will be lit with lights that have a more ‘yellow’ or ‘golden’ appearance, and the height of the light columns will be higher than residential streets. 10m columns with 150W lamps will be used on most traffic routes with 12m columns and 250W lamps being used on the main distributor roads and ‘A’ roads.
 
The new street lights are very efficient. They have carefully designed optics that direct light downwards and onto the adopted highway. In residential streets most lanterns will be fitted with a small mirrored louvre inside the lantern. This catches light that would normally go away from the adopted highway and re-directs it onto the road and footway. This may mean that light onto private driveways is reduced, but in fact the new lighting is only intended for the adopted highway. These new optics, combined with shallow or flat glass bowls will also help in reducing light pollution and light trespass into properties.
 
All new street lights (including lantern only swaps on some existing columns) will be compatible with the Coventry Street Lighting Central Management System. The CMS is an electronic system that records the operation of all new street lights. It allows for faults to be spotted (and even predicted) quicker than traditional scouting methods as well as measuring energy consumptions and having the facility to dim street lights during off peak hours.
 
Column Locations
Where possible and practicable the new street lights will be installed in existing locations. For road safety reasons the new lighting columns will be sited at the rear of the footway and when designing street lighting layouts the new column positions are sited on boundaries between residential properties whenever possible.
 
To achieve the new lighting standards there are set tolerances on the distances between columns.  Due to these tolerances, if a new street light is proposed to go on a boundary line it is unlikely this can be changed. To see if the new street lighting layout for your street is in the upcoming programme click here