Helping residents feel safer in Prospect Park

Tower Hamlets Council recently decided to light the popular circular loop in Prospect Park, opting for British manufacturer Acrospire‘s solar grid-free Defender luminaires instead of traditional lanterns, saving cost, energy and helping its residents feel safer after dark.

Parks are essential to urban communities, providing green spaces for recreation and relaxation. They promote physical activity and mental wellbeing and play a vital role in bringing people together. Lighting is a crucial aspect of park safety, especially during the darker hours, and can make a significant difference in promoting their usage. Tower Hamlets Council recently undertook an improvement project for Prospect Park, where residents shared their ideas to enhance the park’s facilities. One of the key objectives of this project was to install lighting to promote safety and encourage park usage.

As the area was previously unlit, the council faced significant challenges with lighting the park, primarily due to the absence of cabling and the high civil and trenching costs. The cost of traditional lighting infrastructure would have severely strained their already tight budget. The council needed a low-cost, energy efficient, and reliable lighting solution that would provide the right amount of light to ensure users feel safe.

Acrospire’s Defender 55 solar grid-free streetlights were the ideal solution for Tower Hamlets Council’s lighting requirements. Defender is an energy efficient, low-carbon LED light powered by solar panels. The installation of these lights required no civils work, making it a cost-effective solution. Seven Defenders were installed on 6m columns, providing all-night operation, with the lanterns set to operate at 2W all night, boosting to 8W when its PIR detects movement. The scheme complies with Category P4, ensuring Eav of 5lx and Emin of 1lx.

The new solar lighting has enabled the council to promote safety and encourage park usage without expensive cabling and trenching. The lights provide an energy efficient, low carbon and cost-effective solution for the council that can be easily maintained.

The council’s decision to install Defender lights saved the council budget and ensured that the park remains an essential asset to the local community.

LB Tower Hamlets Lighting Engineer, Jason Minette, says, “We are over the moon with the new lighting. The Acrospire Defender solar streetlights have not only enabled us to provide our locals with safer routes at night but also allowed us to do so in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way. The installation was straightforward, and their performance exceeded our expectations. We are thrilled with the result and believe they will make a real difference to the local community’s safety and enjoyment of Prospect Park.”