Lighting up the Olympics

GE Lighting has worked alongside the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) to deliver a unique take on its powerful Euroflood 2000 floodlight for the new Olympic Riverbank Arena.

Over 70 of the floodlights have been installed with an innovative filter shutter system from Syncrolite, to create a dynamic and exciting lighting scheme to illuminate the arena at night. 

The Riverbank Arena is located within the Olympic Park and will host Hockey, Paralympic 5-a-side Football, and Paralympic 7-a-side Football. The new venue comprises two pitches: the main pitch has a capacity of 15,000 and the second a capacity of 5,000. Once the Olympic Games are over, the hockey pitches will relocate to the north of the Olympic Park, joining a collection of facilities in a place known as Eton Manor.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) required a range of architectural lighting to illuminate the Riverbank Arena and create a key feature at night during the Olympic Games. In addition, there was a requirement for colour changing lighting but the organisers wanted to avoid using plastic coloured wrapping across the floodlight itself, which would limit them to only one colour and could not be re-used after the Olympic Games.

As a London 2012 Sustainabiliuty Partner and Global Olympic 2012 sponsor, GE Lighting was able to offer a vast portfolio of lighting products to find a solution. As such, GE Lighting supplied its extremely powerful architectural floodlight, the Euroflood 2000, which is ideal for the illumination of extensive outdoor areas such as sports facilities, car parks, recreational areas, facades and airports.

Working in conjunction with Syncrolite, over 70 of GE Lighting's Euroflood 2000 floodlights were installed with an innovative filter shutter system, to ensure when the lighting is switched on - it offers the appearance of being colour wrapped but allows for greater flexibility when it comes to colour changing.

The Euroflood 2000 been designed with an integrated ballast compartment for HPS and Metal Halide (MH) lamps up to 600W and are installed by way of heavy-gauge steel brackets with an aiming degree indicator.

"We are delighted with the final results of the lighting," commented the spokesperson of LOCOG. "We had very clear requirements on what was needed: lighting that would illuminate the arena at night, and create an exciting landmark within the Olympic Park.

“GE Lighting was able to meet the requirements of the brief and now we have an attractive lighting scheme that can be utilised by the arena after the Olympic Games are over."