Iceland becomes the first country to use Lattix masts for street lightning

Posted on Aug 26, 2009 - 11:06 AM

When the Lattix NE masts were erected, the weather was pretty fair, with a blue sky and “only” a fresh westerly breeze. No sign of any storm, whether it be financial or meteorological. Gunnar Bendigtsen, managing director at Lattix Systems, was present on the Saga Island and witnessed the mounting of the street lights.

Complete

“This was a milestone for us,” he says. “This is our initial delivery of a complete setup for street lighting. It consists of a Lattix NE mast, a connector arm and a profile element with the actual light fixture at the top. All the electric cables etc. come in addition to this.”

Revolutionary design

Bendigtsen thinks the lighting arrangement should attract plenty of attention. A huge amount of work has been poured into creating an innovative modern design that conveys something new and different. “I feel that we’ve succeeded. As the pictures show, we’ve combined the aluminium truss with a slim and elegant design profile at the top. He views the blue-coloured connector arm as an exciting contrast, the visual jewel of the construction. Bendigtsen adds that the new design works brilliantly with new low-energy LED lighting fixtures entering the market.

This was fun

The three workers from the Icelandic public roads authorities had reserved two days to mount the five masts. But four of them were erected on their foundations by the time they took their first lunch break. “This was fun!” laughed one of them.

In a vulnerable spot

“The five street lights were installed at a T-shaped intersection where there is stronger risk for crashes,” explains Bendigtsen. “That’s an important reason for choosing our masts. If a car collides with one of the light posts there is little risk of personal injury and the damaged mast can be quickly replaced. In addition to that, our products are made to cope with the tough Icelandic climate,” he says.

Rejecting slip-base solutions

Icelandic authorities are on the verge of rejecting all slip-base solutions and now want “normal” approved lighting masts (HE) that stop a car in a collision. They want to avoid use of slip-base (shear joints) and dangerous HE lighting masts.

“This is totally in keeping with our Soft Thinking Philosophy, which entails that everything around the roadside should be forgiving and lightweight and thus, crash friendly,” concludes Gunnar Bendigtsen.