Car Park Lighting
Car park lighting should provide basic levels of visibility. Illumination levels must promote confidence and feelings of safety and security. Ideally lighting should be positioned over and between parked cars to eliminate potential hiding places.
Wide column spacing in outdoor car parks may be counter-productive in terms of light distribution. A higher quantity of lower output luminaires, more closely spaced, is often preferred.
Vertical illuminance must also be considered to ensure good facial recognition which instills a sense of personal security in spaces that may often be quite deserted. This form of illuminance also helps the effectiveness of CCTV recordings.
Robust, long life lighting.
Vandal resistance and high ingress protection are vital for luminaires specified in car park applications.
High ingress protection and low light pollution
Cost
Controls
Construction
Carbon
Specific areas such as ticket machines, barriers, pedestrian walkways, and signage benefit from highlighting to allow easy location and wayfinding. Car parks are often close to local residences, so light spill and general light pollution should be carefully considered and minimised.
Reference should be made to BS EN 12464-1:2011 for indoor applications. BS EN 12464-2:2014 has guidance for outdoor car parking applications.
To light these areas a range of column, wall mounted luminaires and bollards may be appropriate with close attention paid to light spill.
Calculated uniformity should be 0.4 for covered / 0.25 open but care should be taken to avoid, as much as possible, areas of deep shadow between vehicles by careful selection and positioning of luminaires
Car Parks Typical Internal and External Application
Ik
16IP
65
Ik
14IP
65
Ik
14IP
54
Ik
12IP
54Ik
09IP
65Ik
14IP
45Ik
10IP
66