Lucy Zodion provides festive lighting solution to Leicester City Council

Background

Leicester City Council wished to modernise some of the street lighting distribution equipment around the city and update its systems for the provision of Christmas lighting. It had been working closely with Balfour Beatty to achieve this and Lucy Zodion was approached to carry out a survey of the site to provide the benefit of its specialist street lighting expertise.

Solution

Previously there were various wall boxes in the city centre, some of which could not be accessed easily. Therefore carrying out repairs to street lighting or supplying power for festive decorations could be difficult. A program was therefore put in place to replace the wall boxes with ground level boxes where possible. Leicester City Council chose seven sites for review based on their condition – some had corroded enclosures or doors missing, for example.

The brief was explained to Lucy Zodion, which arranged a site visit to advise on the new enclosure and electrical equipment that would best enable Leicester City Council to achieve its objectives.

After carrying out a thorough survey of the site and the existing street lighting distribution equipment, Lucy Zodion quickly ascertained that not all of Leicester City Council’s requirements could be met using the standard feeder pillars currently in place.

Lucy Zodion therefore recommended using IP66 rated stainless steel wall enclosures to house a six-way distribution board along with the DNO supply. The system also incorporated a time clock controlled distribution option for festive lighting control.

Leicester City Council ordered four pre-wired galvanised ground pillars and three stainless steel wall boxes. The ground pillars have been installed by bolting them directly to the granite paving instead of using roots, for increased stability and longevity.

This solution replaced the existing system that had consisted of three different enclosures in which the DNO supply, distribution and time clock controls were all housed separately. The new units fitted by Lucy Zodion also came with angled rain canopies so that water would not pool on the roof of the enclosure.

Gary Watson, Senior Technician at Leicester City Council, said:

The installation has gone very smoothly with all equipment dropping straight into their destined positions perfectly. I would like to thank Tracey and Ian for their work and help on this project