COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

HEADED ITEM NO. 8

HEADED ITEM: L. Planning & Transportation

Upgrade of Public Lighting at Monastery Estate

REPLY:

The Public Lighting installation at Monastery Estate is non-standard in comparison to estates of similar vintage in the county. The columns and fittings were originally very specific to the estate itself. Over the years, this has presented challenges regarding the maintenance of the public lighting at this location. Modifications have been made throughout the estate at various intervals to improve the lighting levels, such as the installation of bracket extensions to the unusually short 4m columns to bring them to a height of 5m, thereby improving the light distribution. In order to make any further upgrades to the lighting, changes will need to take place. There cannot be any meaningful upgrade to the lighting while keeping the existing columns and light fittings in situ.

• A trial column was installed of a modern version of the column/light fitting configuration in early 2017 at the Monastery Walk entrance, pole no. 1A. This includes an LED upgrade. A photo is shown attached. A photo of the existing column/light fitting is also shown attached.

• The existing light fitting cannot be retrofitted with LED.

• The existing cabling in the estate is also non-standard and presents some issues:

1. We must use a column of a very specific type with a lower door height at 300 mm so that the existing cable can be used as it is. 
2. No changes can be made to the cabling. This means that no additional columns can be added to the existing lighting circuits if there are issues with the existing spacing between the columns. 

• Many columns cannot be upgraded as they are. If a new LED fitting is installed, it will require the column to be replaced.

All these items are adding up to the prospect of an extremely expensive retrofit and the old columns/fittings will be have to be removed. In addition, the new columns will be galvanized steel, unlike the existing columns that are powder coated and are very high maintenance.

It is  proposed to carry out a trial to assess the performance and associated cost of upgrading/replacing the lighting here. We will also need to examine and test the cabling to ensure that there are no safety issues involved with the installation fo new columns and fittings.

We will then be able to estimate how much the upgrade of the whole estate will cost and what technical issues we can expect to meet.

It is also important to note that the interaction of LED light fittings and mature tree canopies is generally problematic, due to the high efficiency operation of the LED fittings. Serious tree pruning/tree removal will also need to occur if any upgrades are made to the existing lighting and approval will have to be sought from Public Realm. There may also be local opposition to any removal of existing trees.

It is proposed that this trial be carried out in the coming months between the new pole 1A on Monastery Walk and the junction of Monastery Drive. This will entail the upgrade of four columns: P1, 2, 17 and 18.