Case Study

Abacus Lighting

Background on Abacus Lighting

Abacus began trading (as NORMID) from our home in Sutton in Ashfield, Nottingham, in 1958. At that time Britain was a very different, darker place than today and much of the country was still lit by gaslight. By making best use of a government improvement programme to redress this, Abacus began by designing and manufacturing lighting columns and street furniture and by providing our excellent products and customer service at the right price.

In 1965, we began selling oversees in the Middle East. Since then the company has extended further East into Asia and we now have a presence in Shanghai and Russia and sales have extended across Europe and Asia, the Indian sub-continent and Africa.

Our commitment to excellence, product development and diversification has led to many landmark developments over the past 54 years. Of particular relevance to our current business was the establishment of our lighting design department. From this, our business has developed so that we can now proudly and rightly claim to be world leaders in complete exterior lighting solutions from design and manufacture to installation and maintenance.

Testament to our commitment to customer satisfaction is provided by some of the world-beating lighting solutions we have provided at international venues such as Lords Cricket Ground and the Al Shamal Stadium in Qatar. Our mission statement is "Lighting the World Beyond Expectation". We believe that we do that and that we have a track record which proves it.

Today, we are proud of our reputation for developing some of the most advanced and respected products in the lighting industry. Trailblazing products include the Challenger sports floodlight range, our unique telescopic masts, raising and lowering columns and most recently, an energy-efficient LED range. These products were designed and invented using British engineering heritage from our headquarters at Sutton in Ashfield, Nottingham and distributed worldwide thanks to the excellent transport links we enjoy here. At Sutton in Ashfield we have always found people with the imagination, skills and dedication to move the company forward into our Brighter Future. Everyone's Brighter Future.

Lords Cricket Ground



Abacus' award-winning, patented telescopic masts, which took over two years to develop, proved the perfect solution to overcome the strict planning regulations set out by the local authority at Lord's Cricket Ground. The ground is set in a densely residential area so both the design and lighting overspill had to take in to consideration how the local residents could be affected.

The masts telescope down to less than 30m when not in use and at the end of the season the 10m x 6m head frames will be removed to further reduce the visual impact. The bespoke head frames, each hold 100 Challenger 3 floodlights, were designed to mirror the iconic Lords media centre.

ICC rules specify that a ground hosting a Twenty20 match must have floodlights that meet both ECB standards and the requirements of the broadcasters. The telescopic masts and floodlights have also gone on to be installed at the Brit Oval and Abacus's fixed masts and floodlights were installed at Trent Bridge last year. Many floodlight matches have now taken place under the Abacus floodlights lights and will continue into future.

Case Study - Al Shamal Stadium, Qatar



The Al Shamal stadium hosts international and national football matches, but is also used by the local community. It is part of Qatar's vision to "be a leading nation in bringing the world together through sport".

The floodlighting for Al Shamal's stadium in Qatar was designed exclusively by Abacus to meet HDTV standards of 2,000lux for TV transmissions and the masts each carry up to 105 Abacus Challenger 3 2kW floodlights.

Export Director, John Anthony, said: "After more than two years in development, we are thrilled to see these, the original telescopic masts, in situ and to establish ourselves as world leaders in the design and manufacture of these systems."

John added: "The telescopic range used in this project was developed specifically to minimise the impact of the floodlighting on the beautiful Qatar skyline and to retain the visual impact of this iconic stadium. We are continually looking at ways to improve our lighting ranges and a key part of our service is the ability to help our customers overcome challenges in planning or on an environmental level."

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