Published on Tuesday, 12 July 2022 at 9:40:00 AM
Local sporting teams, dog walkers and families can now play and enjoy Britannia Reserve under brighter LED lights at night.
The eight new floodlighting LED poles are brighter, more energy efficient and spill minimal light compared to the old poles.
Each light pole is also programmable and dimmable so different lighting configurations can be used for both sporting club and community use.
The lighting is also directed downward to the playing surface and illuminates a more confined area in a direct beam.
This upgrade, worth about $1.1 million, was jointly funded by the Australian Government and the City of Vincent.
The Australian Government committed $844,435 through from its Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program.
The LRCI Program supports local Councils to deliver priority local road and community infrastructure projects across Australia, supporting jobs and the resilience of local economies to help communities bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mayor Emma Cole said the new lights would brighten three cricket pitches during the summer sport season and/or six soccer fields during the winter sport season.
“Our local sporting clubs and community can now safely enjoy Britannia Reserve under brighter and more environmentally-friendly LED lights without light spill to neighbours, given the new technology,” she said.
"The new lighting extends the use of the reserve into the evenings for sport, exercise, dog walking and play.
“This is a significant investment in our local reserve and great for our growing sports clubs, with more local adults and kids having the opportunity to train. With more girls and women joining our local clubs, like Floreat Athena, the upgrades will help support this growth in participation.
“I would like to thank the Australian Government for their funding contribution to this important project."
Perth MHR and Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister Patrick Gorman said everyone that made use of Britannia Reserve would benefit from these upgrades.
“The new environmentally friendly lighting will help bring our community together to exercise and socialise,” he said.
Floreat Athena Football Club, Leederville Cricket Club and Vincent City Ducks gridiron club are among the main users of the reserve along with many dog walkers, local families and residents.
Floreat Athena Football Club president Con Poulios said the installation of world class lighting at the reserve would allow the club to increase its number of junior and women’s teams with enough space for everyone to train and play matches.
“Floreat Athena celebrated 70 years in 2021, while the previous lights weren’t quite that old, the new world class LED lighting that has been installed should last nearly another 70 years,” he said.
“Icons of the sport such as Vas Kalgogeracos, Stan Lazardis and Bobby Despotovski have all worn the Floreat Athena strip with pride.
“With access to lighting and facilities like this, Floreat Athena are well positioned to produce another generation of national and international soccer stars.
“With the Men’s World Cup taking place in Qatar from November to December this year and the FIFA Women’s World Cup being fought out in Australia and New Zealand from July to August next year, it has never been more important for the sport that we have the right facilities to cater for the increase in children and young people wanting to play the world game.
“The City of Vincent has helped make that happen.
“Floreat Athena look forward to continuing their excellent working partnership with the City of Vincent in 2022 with our attention now turning to the refurbishment of the Litis Stadium clubrooms and construction of new changerooms.”
Leederville Cricket Club president Ryan Ruthven said the lighting upgrade would further benefit the club’s juniors and seniors as they would be able to host competitive night games and train later in summer evenings.
“Following extensive collaboration between City of Vincent, Floreat Athena and Leederville Cricket Club we see dreams becoming a reality,” he said.
“The upgrading of current lighting infrastructure to accommodate small balls sports will see Leederville Cricket Club membership increase which includes rapid progression of our women’s programme.
“We see this as the perfect 75th birthday present which stands to benefit future cricket generations.
“On behalf of the club and myself we thank the City of Vincent and Floreat Athena for their hand in making this a reality.”
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