First post on the forum, looking for some friendly advice and thought you guys might be able to help.

Here we go:

We have to install temp street lighting to meet ME2 street lighting requirements.

This temp installation will be in place for approx. 5 months. The span of the carriage way is 4 lanes approx 12m wide. The length of the area that needs ME2 requirements is approx 200m.

At the moment the existing columns have been removed and genset lighting is in place which we want to off hire and genset meets ME3 requirements plus the cost of hire, fuel and maintain will cost more than a temp/perm system we reckon.

We would want to avoid temp lighting columns as the elements of weather will be against us and the footpath is still accessible and pavements coming up and forth which will hinder, cause potential damage to cable if we did install a temp cable with the removal and reinstatement of temp lighting columns.

What we would like is some sort of lighting that we could get approved for use on Harris fencing that can be disconnected if possible. Another option would be to maybe install lighting that can be fixed via a bracket to the temp crash barrier but not effect the pedestrians or traffic.

I have spoken to a lighting designer where I put forward 110V bulkheads (hoarding lights) across Harris Fencing at x amount of distance apart to achieve lux levels. This came back saying glare into the drivers view as height and way the bulkhead faces the road plus unable to achieve centre of carriage way. Would a LED type fitting remove this issue?

Any advice guys would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your initial post. Hopefully someone on here will be able to answer your query as many of our members are knowledgeable about the pros and cons of different types of lighting, in relation to glare, mounting heights etc.

Thanking you Alex

I remember when a bridge was being repaired in North Tyneside and scaffolding had been erected meaning the original lighting was disconnected. Here 110v metal halide floodlights were attached to the scaffolding and used at a low mounting height which seemed to do the job.

I'd aim to use either Libras, Residums or Celests as these are fluorescent tubed lanterns which can be post topped.

Although to achieve a nice and wide illuminated area, the lanterns could be mounted on section of stripped down fencing pole and carefully bent at 45 degrees at one end which would act as a 'bracket', the lantern can then be bolted to the 'bracket'. Depending on how many lanterns your requiring, you will need to do this for each lantern.

At the bottom of the 'bracket' ensure that you have an outdoor junction box fitted as this can house the cable connections from the lantern to an outdoor round three pin socket which would be mounted to either side of the junction box, this way you can reuse but also vary the amount of lighting required on your next job.


A mate of mine does use old beer barrels for temporary lighting, all he does is cut a hole in the top, fills it with cement, places a short piece of scaffolding pole into it and attaches whatever lantern is required to the top (usually a second hand 500W floodlight which is then plugged up to a generator.)

_________________
From streetlighting to radio, dance through the night whilst the streetlights are glowing outside.

I cannot see a way you are going to be able to achieve an ME2 lighting class without either columns or floodlights. A low height solution is never going to be acceptable for ME2, as there will be too much glare and a relatively poor spread of light. In essence ME lighting schemes involve relatively tall columns that throw light down on the road and put objects into silhouette (a luminance class of lighting). Low level lighting is typically an illuminance class of lighting, CE, S or A.

If you want to avoid generator powered floodlights I would propose temporary columns. Obviously you would want as few columns as possible, so I would opt for 12 metre tall columns. To further improve light distribution the luminaire chosen should have a 'bowl', by which I mean a clear bowl-shaped cover beneath the lamp through which light shines and is partially refracted and spread. If I were specifying a lamp I would opt for a 250W SON-T lamp. Whilst I am not a street lighting designer, I reckon it would probably be acceptable for columns to be spaced up to 48 metres apart. The column height to road width ratio is 1:1, which is acceptable, and the column height to column spacing ratio is 1:4, which is acceptable. Depends how, ahem, particular you want to be about things.

There is then the matter of the power supply. I have seen some temporary columns fitted with an overhead power supply, whereby the power supply has been strung between the columns. The dodgy way of doing it is to just string the cable up, a better way is to fix eyelets to the columns, string a steel cable between the eyelets and securely tie the power cable to the steel cable. Doing things this way means the only excavation required would be for the column bases. Of course, there will be an element of working at height and traffic management.

If I were designing a permanent solution it wouldn't be like this, but with temporary solutions you really want to minimise numbers of columns through tall column heights, higher wattage lamps and reflector/refractor systems that spread light the best. You do not want short columns or full cut off luminaires.

The solution I have proposed would require about four columns. When a contractor installs street lighting it costs about £1500 per column nowadays, but most of this cost is in the connection to the power supply element, rather than the cost of the column. Certainly, in my opinion you would be getting ripped off if the necessary materials cost you any more than £4000, but you would have to look into costs as I am not the most familiar with them.

I hope this helps.