Sporting facilities and venues are gearing up for a busy winter season ahead with high demand for their fields and courts. The lack of suitable high-quality and budget-friendly lighting management solutions is one problem many sports clubs and councils often struggle with during this period since they need to keep their fields and courts well-lit for players to enjoy long after sunset.

For many sporting facilities, lighting management is an issue of accountability. Conventional solutions often fail at the ground level – keys can get lost, passwords and procedures can be shared with the wrong people, scheduling conflicts can happen, and usage can be difficult to track making billing and reporting problematic.

Gerard Lighting has introduced a new cloud-based sports field lighting control solution that can empower sports clubs, stadiums and councils to manage their lighting effectively while providing utility, convenience and accountability all around. The RAPIX Cloud app allows users to manage lighting either remotely or locally from a mobile device or a web browser interface. RAPIX Cloud simplifies lighting management at venues by ensuring total control over usage and costs across multiple fields and locations. The app allows multi-user access levels to also be created so there is always easy access to lighting controls.

Simon Richardson, national sales manager, controls at Pierlite explains: “Stadium and sports field lighting control has changed from being purely functional to being a multipurpose tool for entertainment and form, giving operators the ability to offer experiences not previously possible with onsite sports lighting and controls.

“Most councils and sports clubs often need better lighting to not just save energy, but also save on maintenance costs and offer a more efficient way to operate and manage their sports field lighting systems.

“In addition to these concerns is the headache of scheduling – with so many groups wanting access to the same area at all hours of the day and night, ensuring fields and courts remain lit while in use is important,” he added.

RAPIX Cloud helps sporting venues achieve streamlined access, provides savings on energy and maintenance costs, ensures transparency on billing for the facility and designated users, and addresses safety and security concerns with password-protected access and one-time token authorisation and de-authorisation for single user access.

Token can be issued to users who can then control the lighting on their mobile device via a simple app. Scheduling uses a standard calendar booking system, so the lighting will align with regular practice and game times.

RAPIX Cloud enables sporting facilities to become more efficient – operationally and financially, allowing them to serve the community better.