The spotlight is on Newcastle Eagles Community Arena

Park Electrical Distributors has helped shine the light on the impressive 2,800-seater Newcastle Eagles Community Arena, which has recently opened.

Home to the Esh Group Newcastle Eagles, the arena is also the base for a community foundation and outreach programme.

Park was engaged to design the internal and external lighting by KM Electrical Services which was appointed by Esh Construction to deliver the full building electrical facilities.

It is anticipated more than 11,000 people will be engaged in sport during the facility’s first year and more than 1,000 disabled users will be encouraged to play sport annually at the arena, which is based at Riverside Dene in Elswick, reflecting a commitment to deliver recreation and education opportunities to the wider community. The new venue will provide a home for the Eagles Community Foundation, enabling it to develop its current player pathway structure under one roof while also providing educational routes and workforce development.

Karl Snowdon, lighting design manager at Park Electrical Distributors, said: “This is a highly prestigious project and we have worked with KM Electrical Services from design stage to plan and implement a lighting structure that is sophisticated, flexible and environmentally friendly.

“Internally, we provided a flexible, high output, LED high bay lighting system for the basketball, netball and badminton courts. This is managed by a fully addressable intelligent lighting control system, offering the freedom to control different lighting scenes to meet several Sport England guidelines for the different sports, on each court. Energy is also saved for the client as the light settings can be altered at the touch of a button when main sporting events are not taking place.

“The standout feature was the lighting within the main hall. Using an adaptable busbar system, the client has the ability to adjust light fittings after the install. The sophisticated system offers significant benefits such as improved electrical performance, reduced time spent on installation, flexibility and aids in reducing energy consumption.  Due to the nature of the system, it can be easily adapted for renewable energy integration.

Using a tablet, lighting themes can also be altered to the client’s requirements.

“To create an ambient feel within the main hall area, decorative fittings were installed, retail spotlights within the café area, hospitality suites and oversized downlights within the main foyer.

“Externally, we utilised highly efficient low wattage LED lanterns within the car park and provided some sleek, modern wall lights on the façade and building perimeter.

“As a team, we have worked to meet the needs of the client and produced a sophisticated design that is future proofed, flexible and economically friendly. We wish the club the best of luck in its new home.”

Kevin Anderson, managing director at KM Electrical Services, said: “We were brought into the project by main contractor, Esh Group, to supply the full electrical facilities. We have a long-standing, relationship with the team at Park who always deliver quality products, on time and within cost.

“We worked alongside Park to provide the full electrics including lighting and power, fire alarm system, intruder alarm, disabled WC alarm, CCTV and data network structure.”