The lighting upgrade at the Coal Yard has been recognised at the IESANZ annual lighting awards on Friday, 11 October 2024.

It won Best Lighting Design: Highly Commended from the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand for Protecting the Night Sky Environment.

The Lyttelton Port Company Coal Yard Exterior Lighting Upgrade installation project designed by WSP New Zealand Ltd,  replacing the old sodium lights with LED lights.

The Coal Yard lighting upgrade represented a significant improvement for workplace safety and environmental responsibility, located in the sensitive natural environment at Lyttelton Harbour,

The project improved lighting levels and reduced the glare for drivers while working in the direction of the lights at night.

Coal yards are notoriously problematic to light, given the mostly black surfaces and large areas.

3000K LEDs were selected to minimise the impact on the night sky, the natural hillside and adjacent marine environments.

In addition, a control system is used to switch ‘off’ the work area lights when coal operations finish at night and dim the perimeter service road lights to a minimal low level.

This further reduces the effects on the night environment and provides significant power savings.

Last year the Lyttelton Dry Dock won the same award for the new LED lights installed at the historic work site.