New LEDs light up leisure centre

New LED lighting at the White Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre in Abingdon has given the centre a new lease of life and is saving energy at the same time.

The centre is run by Vale of White Horse District Council and the lighting refurbishment project has cost a total of £78,858.94, with over £70,000 coming from developer contributions (*S106).

The lighting around the poolside and changing area was last upgraded in 2002 and had become very outdated and as a result costly to replace with similar materials. The council took this opportunity to upgrade the area with new LED lighting, which will reduce the running costs for the centre and cut back the energy usage as well. This area of new lighting will save 48,641kWh annually, which is the equivalent of the energy consumption of 13 homes a year.

The new lighting makes the pool area brighter and more welcoming for customers and the children’s pool now has the addition of colour changing lights to enhance the swimming experience.

The poolside isn’t the only area to have received the upgrade in lighting. The car park at the centre has also been fitted with LED lights which will save 12,699kWh, similar to the energy consumption of three houses a year. The new lighting will make the car park safer for customers to use during the later opening hours and darker months.

Cllr Helen Pighills, Cabinet Member for Community Wellbeing at Vale of White Horse District Council said: “This refurbishment work will make such a difference to people’s experience of the pool, it’s now lighter both around the pool and the changing area, plus the children’s pool now has great colour changing lights too.

“This work will help future proof the centre, reduce the running costs and our energy consumption which will help the environment.”

This refurbishment work is part of a larger plan to focus on making the district’s leisure centres and other properties more energy efficient. It also contributes to the council’s target to reduce carbon emissions by 75 per cent by 2030 and aspire to become a carbon neutral district by 2045.