Two of England's historic cricket grounds, Lord's Cricket Ground in North London, and the Brit Oval in Vauxhall, London, have semi-permanent telescopic floodlights to enable the venues to host one-day cricket matches late into the evening.

International Cricket Council rules stipulate that a ground hosting a Twenty20 match needs floodlights that meet both England and Wales Cricket Board standards and the requirements of broadcasters.

Previously, the use of temporary floodlights caused problems for residents with lighting overspill and excess glare. These were fitted with 15 floodlights on each structure and the elevated floodlights led to high vertical overspill, which could not be adequately controlled.

Abacus Lighting' £3.7m contract saw the exterior lighting systems 'company manufacture and install four of its telescopic masts at each ground.

Unique to cricket, the masts telescope up to a height of 45m and have the ability to retract down to less than 30m when not in use to reduce their visual impact. At the end of the cricket season the 8m by 6m head frames can then be removed and stored.

The updated telescopic mast head frames have been designed to hold up to 110 2kW Challenger 3 floodlights, which incorporate precision reflector systems to ensure tight beam control, reduce overspill and direct light only where it's needed.

The telescopic mid assembly is supplied complete with the multi-core electric cables so the floodlights can be managed internally using an energy chain system. This system is plug and play, to reduce the on-site wiring time. The masts are operated using a double acting hydraulic ram and can telescope up to full height in 10 minutes.