Premier lighting for Middlesbrough FC’s TV debut

Thorn Lighting’s luminaires have been installed at Middlesbrough FC (MFC) to elevate the facility to Premier League standards following the club’s promotion to the English Premier League.

In the seven years since the Teesiders dropped out of the top division, the broadcasters’ requirements have changed, meaning that Riverside Stadium needed a refurbishment. The decision was made to partner with local company, Thorn, for the supply of internal lighting.

Staff offices and hospitality areas have been reconfigured to accommodate a media suite, while the reception has been modernised, with entrances created for the players and the media. The M&E design was undertaken by Star Consulting Engineers (SCE) Limited, whose Director, Simon Chesney, said the design needed to be modern, flexible and energy efficient to comply with MFC’s stringent requirements and schedule.

Within the mixed zone, the media suite and the players tunnel there was a requirement to provide flicker-free lighting for the broadcaster’s ‘super slo-mo’ images of the players arriving. Thorn trialled various drivers and ultimately provided a Tridonic LED driver in conjunction with the Omega Pro LED that worked well with the TV cameras.

Thorn’s Omega Pro LED fitting has a slim 12mm profile and a UV-stabilised opal acrylic diffuser so it will retain its clean look. The IP44 rated Omega provides an efficient LED edge-lit solution utilising a unique Glare ProTech eprosmatic optic to combine optical and glare control with high performance. The Omega Pro is easily retrofitted, whilst maintenance is significantly reduced by the 50,000 hours’ life of the 4000K LED lamps supplied with the fitting. For other areas Thorn’s Chalice LED, Voyager and Arrowflex fittings were chosen. Thorn’s Chalice LED is a high performance LED downlight that offers exceptional efficiency with a class-leading efficacy of up to 110 Llm/W. The high performance optic and light mixing chamber provide a uniform appearance which, combined with a unified glare ratio <19, CRI 80 and CRI 90, makes Chalice perfect for high quality lighting applications.

Voyager is a compact and flexible LED strip on a 5 metre reel with self-adhesive tape on the reverse for fast installation and seamless, shadow-free lighting. Strips can be cut to length on site and joined via a solderless connection system to blend with the interior design.

All of the Thorn luminaires used for the refurbishment are LED, which has resulted in a significant reduction in energy consumption and much better colour rendering.

www.thornlighting.co.uk