Molineux Stadium revamped with innovative lighting solutions

CP’s controls were reportedly chosen to not only save energy, but also help boost corporate hospitality and entertainment through intelligent scene-setting. This included CP’s flagship RAPID fully addressable control system, allowing the main boardroom to have up to eight different scenes.

Leading the electrical contracting work was CKW Contracts. Based in Four Ashes, Wolverhampton, the company has been a longstanding user of CP’s solutions, citing factors like outstanding customer support, design services, level of stock and ease of programming and wiring as reasons for the partnership.

“We have worked with CP Electronics for many years and have always found that they come up trumps with their lighting controls and offering,” said Stuart Walters, Managing Director of CKW Contracts. “On this particular project, we chose CP’s products as we know they are easy to install, and our engineers find the technology very user friendly. We had to ensure everything was completed as quickly as possible so that the facilities could be used for the next season.”

Project work began as soon as the 2017/18 season finished and was completed in less than three months. To aim to ensure the lighting was as efficient as possible in the chairman’s suite and manager’s lounge, CP’s Vitesse Modular system was commissioned to control the lighting.

The system itself is highly versatile. Using a modular design, it allows users to add ‘modules’ to the system with a ‘plug and play’ setup, giving Wolves additional flexibility if changes are required to the lighting in future.

Installed with standalone daylight linking occupancy detectors, the detectors enabled automatic dimming according to the amount of daylight coming in through the windows. The key advantage of CP’s detectors is the ability for users to dim lights manually.

As well as the saving energy, the lighting controls also had to impress guests in Wolves’ main boardroom. Used for conferences, match-day hospitality and functions such as weddings, the multifunctional room required a variety of different lighting scenes to set the appropriate tone.

Providing this functionality was CP’s RAPID system. Using a scene plate, this fully addressable system enables Wolves’ team to operate eight different pre-programmed scenes. Scenes included simply controlling perimeter lights, through to dimming them to an optimal level for presentations, and even a disco lighting setting.

“While football is the main revenue generator, we understood that Wolves also do a lot of business through the corporate side. To that end, their main boardroom needed to excite,” said Walters. “Not only does CP’s RAPID system give the space that wow factor, it’s also easy to control for the end users, and with a fully addressable system, it can be easily re-programmed if required. What impressed us most was that CP even sent one of their own engineers up to programme the system once it was all installed.”

On completion of the project, Lee Austin, Area Sales Manager for CP Electronics, added “This project has really demonstrated what CP Electronics is all about – innovative lighting controls, the fantastic customer support we can offer, and the commitment to help our customers meet tight deadlines. We are delighted to have worked with such a high-profile club with a great history, and it’s been a pleasure to partner with CKW Contracts once again."