Case Study 4: What has changed in AS/NZS 1158? External lighting standards

Recently, while I was undertaking an external car park design for Queensland government correctional facility I come across the new AS 1158, requirements. This is not a significant change, but for someone who looks after the external car park either new design or existing car park design or even lighting audits this has a huge impact on how you design and certify the design as AS 1158 compliant.

What is the real change?

The real change is how you address the confirmance in respect to the nearby areas, for example if you are adding a few accessible car parking bays, or adding a pedestrian car parking bays. The old design required you to comply with a specific lux level which was 14 minimum for accessible car parking bays, and there was a set value for pedestrian crossings in the past.

In the new standards, this has changed significantly to be more than the adjacent parking modules which is usually the car park itself or its average. This means you need to know the average of the existing area car park to say its compliant.

So unless the client or someone professional measure and tell you the average of the car park is a specific value you will not get a compliant design for a car park. We provide lux reading and a report against the AS 1158 for external car parks, if you are looking for the service please get in touch with us to get an audit done for your external area including the following area,

• Public areas

• Staircases or connecting elements

• External car parking including pedestrian crossing or disabled car parking bays

• Pedestrian paths such footpaths

• Pedestrian crossings on a council road

Coming back to the topic, the compliance is not anymore check against a set lux value but a combination of a professional judgement against the existing or nearby parking module which is clever modification of the standards I would say.

If you want me to take a look at the lux level audits for an external area or a car park please get in touch for a free review and desktop assessment free of charge. I do service all over Australia for the audits and new lighting design if reuqired to make it compliant to standards.

PS: Do not contact for like for like replacement or if you dont want AS 1158 compliance checked.