On Monday morning, the municipal sports hall hosts two secondary school classes. In the evening, the handball club runs its training sessions there. On Saturday, the same hall hosts a league match in front of stands open to the public. Three audiences, three illuminance requirements, a single installation to finance.
Three uses, three illuminance levels in the same hall
School sport and recreational practice fall under the EN 12464-1 standard, which treats sports halls as activity rooms and sets a maintained illuminance of 300 lux, with a colour rendering index Ra of at least 80. Competitive practice falls under the EN 12193 standard, specific to sports facilities, which works by class and by discipline. The two texts impose neither the same values nor the same measuring grids.
In a municipal sports hall, the sizing level is almost always the highest level of competition hosted during the season. A hall that hosts three regional league matches must be designed for those three matches, then operated below that level for the rest of the year. The item that weighs on the bill is daily operation at maximum level, for lack of dimming.
Use | Reference text | Order of magnitude of horizontal illuminance |
|---|---|---|
School sport and recreational practice | EN 12464-1, sports halls and gymnasiums | 300 lux maintained |
Club training | EN 12193, class III | around 200 lux depending on the discipline |
Regional competition with spectators | EN 12193, class II | around 300 to 500 lux depending on the discipline |
National level competition | EN 12193, class I | around 500 to 750 lux depending on the discipline |
These ranges are orders of magnitude. The exact value is read in the table for the discipline concerned, in the current version of the standard, and it may be raised by the federation’s regulations.
What the FFBB, the FFVB and indoor handball require
Each federation publishes its own regulations for classifying halls. These documents are layered on top of the standard: they specify the measuring grid, the reading positions, the frequency of checks and the report to be produced to obtain or keep a classification. A hall compliant with the standard can therefore be refused classification if the measuring procedure has not been followed.
Two points come up systematically. The first is uniformity, which tightens as the level of play rises, from the most lenient ratio in class III to the strictest ratio in class I. The second is vertical illuminance, irrelevant for recreational practice and central as soon as video capture is planned.
The rule of method fits in one sentence: obtain the current version of the regulations of the federation concerned before fixing the target level, not after the tender. We detail these requirements in our article on the illuminance levels required by sports federations.
Glare and the comfort of players looking upwards
A sports hall is one of the few rooms where users spend part of their time looking towards the ceiling. A volleyball serve, a basketball throw-in, a badminton smash put the light source directly in the field of vision. A luminaire correctly sized for illuminance can remain unbearable in this position.
The treatment involves the luminance of the source, the optic and the layout. Luminaires placed outside ball trajectories, around the edge of the playing area or in side rows, reduce the number of situations where the eye meets the source. Low-luminance diffusers and controlled-beam optics complete the arrangement.
Ball resistance: IK rating and protective grilles
Mechanical strength is read on two separate benchmarks. The IK rating, defined by the EN 62262 standard, quantifies impact resistance: IK10 is the highest level on the scale, an impact energy of 20 joules. Resistance to ball impact is the subject of a specific test, referenced DIN 18032-3, commonly required in the specifications of multi-sports halls.
A high IK rating does not remove the need to examine the fixing and the glazing. A floodlight that withstands impact but whose cover works loose remains a risk for players. Protective grilles keep their value on exposed luminaires and in shooting areas, provided their effect on the useful flux is measured: a grille intercepts part of the light and this effect must enter the calculation.
Mounting height and choice of optic
Sports regulations impose a clear height above the playing area, of the order of seven metres for indoor team sports. This constraint sets the minimum mounting height and determines the choice of optic. The higher the luminaire, the narrower the beam must be to maintain floor illuminance without multiplying the light points.
Three configurations are found: ceiling mounting on the roof frame, side mounting on the load-bearing walls, and mounting on a technical walkway. The choice depends as much on access for maintenance as on photometry. A hall where the aerial platform cannot move between the stands requires luminaires that can be reached from the edges.
Scene-based control: school, training, match
Dimming makes the triple use economically sustainable. DALI control makes it possible to store three scenes recalled from a wall keypad or a badge reader: a school level, a training level, a competition level. Consumption then follows the real use of the hall and not the annual peak.
Two precautions are worth taking from the design stage. The control must remain usable by a caretaker or a teacher, with one button per scene and no programming screen. The maximum level must be locked, otherwise a hall operated permanently at match level cancels out the benefit of the controls.
What a simulation makes it possible to check before the works
A photometric study carried out in DIALux evo gives, for each scene, the average illuminance, the uniformity and the false colour rendering over the playing area. It also brings out what a table of wattages will never say: dark areas at the back of the hall, the effect of retractable stands, the shadow cast by a roof frame or a basketball backboard.
It is also the study that settles the number of light points. Reducing the number of floodlights by narrowing the beam degrades uniformity; increasing it improves comfort but makes maintenance heavier. This compromise is decided on calculated values, not in a site meeting.
The range of LED luminaires for sports halls provides the photometric files needed for this calculation, and all our lighting solutions by sector of activity cover the most common configurations.
To set the three scenes for your sports hall, request a site visit and a costed study from the contact page.
