Car park lighting guide Emergency Lighting For obvious reasons emergency lighting has become increasingly important in all public buildings. It is essential that escape routes are clearly visible in emergency situations with adequate lighting levels in all. Sep 22, 2003 - The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) prescribe average and minimum lighting levels. As a guide the following table gives examples of lighting levels. Car park in an urban area.
CIBSE Recommended Lux Levels CIBSE, the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, acts as a professional body for lighting in the UK and produces a series of guides giving optimum lighting requirements for a wide range of environments. Our following table, compiled from information found in CIBSE’s Society of Light and Lighting publications, aims to give recommended light levels for commonly found environments. These are recommendations only; careful consideration must go into every unique environment. All units given are in Lux, equalling one lumen per square metre. CIBSE Recommended Lux Levels.
For over 40 years Designplan has regularly & successful ly supplied high quality lighting equipment to illuminate all areas of car park installations. Both private & public owners & operators of car parks have chosen our fittings because many have been especially designed to meet the demands posed by often hostile environments encountered & many years of successful, trouble free service has resulted. Our lifetime guarantee is available on the majority of fittings suggested for use, (p29). The purpose of this guide is to offer assistance to the designer or engineer in the choice of lighting equipment to ensure that the completed project is able to offer well lit parking areas, safer stairways, corridors & walkways. The use of purpose designed fittings which are both easily installed, easily maintained & which will give long lasting, value for money solutions, will result in an installation that car park owners, operators & most importantly users will be pleased with. Safety & Security through design.
Providing well-lit areas in car parks not only assists in the safety of vehicles using them but perhaps more importantly offers a much more inviting & less frightening environment for the public when leaving or returning to parked cars. With violent crime seemingly forever on the increase lighting areas to a high standard is one important weapon which can be used to help reduce criminal activity & certainly create a less foreboding atmosphere. The increase of CCTV also demands better lighting to aid this approach to fighting crime. There are various guidelines which have been drawn up by professional organisations to assist designers in choosing the correct level of illumination & we offer as follows information & guidance based upon these to help in achieving a successful project.
Cibse Guide A 2006 Pdf
BS5489-1.2003 provides the lighting engineer with required maintained values of illumination & states that these should be increased where the character or usage pattern of the car park warrants it. The levels given are as follows: Where ‘EH average ‘is the maintained average horizontal illuminance in lux. EH minimum is the maintained minimum horizontal illuminance at any point in lux. Outdoor car park- night-time EH average 30 lux EH minimum 10 lux Enclosed or semi-enclosed Multi-storey day & night-time Independent studies have shown that there is almost certainly a correlation between lighting levels & people’s fear of crime as indeed there is between lighting levels & actual criminal activity. Good lighting therefore plays a dual role in such areas in that it reduces people’s fear of crime & reduces actual crime. In order for this fear of crime to be negated people need to be able to clearly see their surroundings &, just as importantly, to see other people, in particular their faces which provide much of the information we need to assess whether the person is likely to be friendly, aggressive or indifferent.
The average & minimum levels given in the British Standard will in most circumstances provide adequate vertical illumination on the face. There is however another important aspect to this process of fear reduction namely colour rendition, which plays an important part in our perception of a situation. Good colour rendering also helps vehicle identification, assists with general security & safety measures as well as providing an overall sense of well being.
Cibse Code For Interior Lighting
To this end the use of monochromatic lamps such as low pressure sodium should be avoided despite their long life & efficiency. The use however of deluxe high-pressure sodium or fluorescent lamps which render colour across a wider spectrum is to be commended.The brief then is to provide the required average & minimum levels of illumination with good uniformity & colour rendering over all areas whilst paying particular attention to areas used as entrances, exists, ramps & awkward changes in direction.