When the temperature drops, Gwydir Shire Council plays the long game with LED light upgrades across three sites.
When 40-degree days are a regular part of the Summer cricket season in Gwydir Shire, the move to be able to play at night when the temperature drops is a sensible move for the region. Gwydir Shire Council, in the New England Region of New South Wales, made the move to LED lights across three different sites which now provides a variety of options when it comes to programming sports, community events and festivals.
Gwydir Shire Council’s Integrated Planning and Reporting and Governance Officer, Casey McClymont, says it made sense to look at the LED lighting upgrades across the region instead of as separate projects.
“Effectively we purchased 12 base hinge poles and 72 LED floodlights for three separate projects, at different sites, but did them all at once to make it efficient for us and for the Smartlux and Precision Lighting teams,” she said.
“At Nicholson Oval in Warialda, they had no lighting at all. The lights at Bingara Showgrounds were outdated and the ones at Gwydir Oval didn’t work and were not up to code.”
Our local Sports Council approached us to help with the upgrade of Nicholson Oval, which is mainly used for junior sport and cricket, the new LED lights open up opportunities for them to do other things,”
“We needed to consider the safety issue for kids with no lighting and being close to a main road.”
The Bingara Showgrounds pavilion lighting upgrade now opens up a bigger area and makes that safer and more family friendly now.
The Gwydir Oval is an all purpose facility in Bingara and is used as a central meeting point for a lot of towns in the region. We host quite a few sporting events throughout the year for Rugby League, Rugby Union, Cricket, and Oztag. We draw players from Tamworth, Narrabri, Moree, Inverell, and Armidale.”
“The lights we had there were on old timber telegraph poles, and were not up to code,” she said. “The cricket club was in decline for their Over 35s competition and after we had the lights it opened up the opportunity to diversify the game and introduce a 20/20 style night competition where we are seeing an increase in teams and participation.”
“The Christmas Carnival used to be in the main street and has now transitioned to the Oval which is more family friendly with a wide expanse of green space where kids can run around safely, it is fully fenced and now the lights mean the entire field and some of the parking area are well lit. It’s not even on the brightest setting!” she said.
Maintenance and access to the lights and poles is also much easier according to Casey.
“Being able to do the maintenance at ground level was a big part of our decision making,” she said.
“As a rural community, we don’t have the sort of equipment required to work at heights readily available, which means it comes at a cost to get it out here and then to make sure we have people that can work at heights.
“With the base hinge poles, that fold down to field level, we can maintain them in a safe way that reduces risk and cost for everyone,” she said.
Getting the project timing right also played an important part in managing costs.
“We worked closely with Smartlux, who we found through the Local Government Procurement platform VendorPanel and lined up all of the projects simultaneously.
“It was one order which helped keep costs reasonable and meant transport for both the materials, coming from overseas, and for organising the logistics of sending crews out to install were kept to a minimum.
“We were guided by them for which LED lights to use, on which poles to achieve the lighting designs for each sight as well as technical information on the different soils out here requiring different footings,” she said.
“We applied through the Local Government procurement process, which saved time and the Smartlux team were very helpful. The work was done on time and in budget and the results are amazing – considering we were all coming out of covid period” he said.
Smartlux Director, Craig Nicholls encourages councils to move quickly once they have funding and work closely with those who have already been approved.
“The Local Government Procurement Panel has already done some of the hard work as it ensures each supplier is suitable and ready to go to support communities getting projects done quickly.
“It is the quickest way to execute grant funding for community projects as each supplier has already been through a due diligence process and are focused on getting projects completed – as it’s a shame to watch another sports season start without the right lights,” he said.
Contact: Craig Nicholls
0450 747 337
smartlux.com.au