McCann - the company also behind the impressive lights on the tram bridge joining Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre with the University of Nottingham - is a long-term supporter of the 'Green n Whites'. When the team moved last season from its shared Notts County FC ground at Meadow Lane to its new home at Lady Bay, they looked to the leading civil and electrical engineering company for help in building its entire electrical infrastructure - including those all-important floodlights.
Tasked with designing and upgrading the existing limited power supply for the site, including the stand, corporate area and marquee, toilets, car park, emergency lighting, evacuation plan, and of course the floodlights, the team at McCann were keen to take on the project. Contracts and technical director, Steve Adcock, details just some of the challenges involved in lighting the way at The Bay.
"We began the project in October 2014 with a relatively small budget of around £100k, against a tight deadline to complete by Christmas 2015 while keeping the existing site operational at all times," says Steve. "With no specific design brief provided, we worked closely with Nottingham Rugby to ensure we were designing and building a system that would meet fully meet their needs."
Steve continues, "The floodlights in particular needed careful consideration. They of course needed to do their job - ensuring the players can see clearly on the pitch and the spectators are able to follow the match - but they also had a mounting height restriction of 15m and needed to exude minimum glare / spill lighting to remain unobtrusive to The Bay's neighbours."
In its dedication to quality and only providing the very best solutions, McCann produced several designs for the floodlights, overcame installation issues ie: high water table making foundations for the masts difficult, before partnering with fellow Nottinghamshire company, Abacus Lighting, to provide the 2kw metal halide luminaires to give the best available colour rendering.
"The McCann team did an excellent job in upgrading our ground, causing minimal disruption during what was sometimes a challenging project," said Steve Smith, general manager of Nottingham Rugby. "They completed the job on time, on budget, enabling our players to continue their training uninterrupted. We couldn't be more pleased with the improvement at The Bay."
Having designed and installed The Bay's entire electrical infrastructure, McCann will also now provide the maintenance - keeping Nottingham Rugby well and truly out of the shadows in the future.
(Jim Evans)
