How to Light a Multi-Storey Car Park

UK Standards for Car Park Lighting

Multi-storey car park lighting in the UK must comply with:

• BS EN 12464-1 — lighting of indoor workplaces (applies to enclosed and covered MSCPs), specifying maintained illuminance levels for driving lanes, parking areas and pedestrian routes. • BS 5489-1:2020 — applies to open-deck car parks and rooftop levels that function as outdoor spaces. • BS EN 1838 and BS 5266-1 — emergency lighting requirements for escape routes and anti-panic areas. • Secured by Design (SBD) — Park Mark standards for safer parking, requiring minimum illuminance levels and colour rendering for CCTV effectiveness. • ILP PLG05 — the Institution of Lighting Professionals' guide to the lighting of car parks.

Recommended maintained illuminance levels:

• Driving lanes — 75 lux (covered MSCP), 50 lux (open deck) • Parking areas — 75 lux (covered), 20–50 lux (open deck) • Entrance/exit ramps — 300 lux (critical transition zone from daylight) • Pedestrian routes within the car park — 100 lux • Stairwells and lift lobbies — 100–150 lux • Payment machines and ticket barriers — 200 lux

Park Mark accreditation (managed by the British Parking Association) typically requires 100 lux across both driving and parking areas — higher than the BS EN minimum — with a uniformity ratio of at least 0.25.

Transition Zone Lighting

The entrance and exit of an MSCP present the most critical lighting challenge: the adaptation zone. Drivers transitioning from bright daylight into a dark car park — or from an illuminated interior to darkness at night — experience temporary blindness that can last several seconds.

BS EN 12464-1 requires transition zone illuminance of at least 300 lux at the entrance, reducing progressively to the interior level over a distance that allows the eye to adapt. In practice, this means:

• The first 10–15m inside the entrance should be significantly brighter than the interior • Luminance ratios between adjacent zones should not exceed 10:1 • Exit transitions (interior to exterior) are less critical during daytime but important at night

Practical design approaches include higher-output luminaires in the first bay, supplementary daylight via light shelves or translucent cladding, and dynamic dimming profiles that adjust transition zone output based on ambient daylight levels measured by an external photocell.

EOS MSCP luminaires support programmable dimming profiles that automatically manage transition zone output throughout the day, reducing driver adaptation time and improving safety.

Luminaire Selection for MSCPs

Car park environments are harsh — vehicle exhaust fumes, temperature extremes, vibration, water ingress from rain-tracking vehicles and risk of physical impact from vehicles and trolleys.

Minimum luminaire specifications for MSCP applications:

• IP rating — IP65 minimum for covered decks (protection against jet washing and driven rain). IP54 may be acceptable for fully enclosed, heated car parks. • IK rating — IK08 minimum for standard areas; IK10 for areas exposed to vehicle contact, trolley impact or vandalism risk. • Colour temperature — 4000K is the standard for MSCPs, providing good visibility and CCTV compatibility. Some operators prefer 3000K for premium or residential car parks. • CRI — minimum 60 (BS EN), but 70+ recommended for CCTV facial recognition and vehicle colour identification. Park Mark and SBD typically require CRI ≥ 60. • Mounting — surface-mounted or suspended from the deck soffit. Low-profile designs (< 80mm depth) maximise headroom clearance.

EOS IP65/IK10 weatherproof luminaires are designed specifically for MSCP applications, with low-profile aluminium housings, polycarbonate diffusers and stainless steel fixings as standard.

Emergency Lighting in MSCPs

MSCPs are classified as places of assembly and require comprehensive emergency lighting to BS 5266-1 and BS EN 1838:

• Escape routes — 1 lux minimum on the centre line, with 50% uniformity • Open areas (parking decks >60m²) — 0.5 lux anti-panic illuminance • Stairwells — escape route standard (1 lux) on every landing and tread • Lift lobbies — 1 lux minimum • Fire-fighting equipment locations — 5 lux on the vertical face of the equipment • Exit signs — illuminated, visible from maximum viewing distance, compliant with BS ISO 3864

In MSCPs, the ceiling height is typically low (2.4–3.0m), which limits the spacing of emergency luminaires. Combined maintained/emergency luminaires — where the emergency function is integrated into the general lighting fitting — are the most efficient solution, reducing the total number of fittings and simplifying maintenance.

EOS offers self-contained emergency variants across our MSCP-rated range, with 3-hour maintained and non-maintained options and DALI-compatible emergency monitoring.

Controls and Energy Savings

MSCPs operate 24/7 but occupancy varies dramatically — from peak capacity at midday to near-empty at 3am. Intelligent controls can reduce lighting energy consumption by 50–70%:

• Presence detection — luminaires dim to 10–20% when no vehicle or pedestrian movement is detected, restoring full output on detection. Detection zones should overlap to ensure lights ramp up ahead of the approaching vehicle.

• Daylight harvesting — open-deck levels and areas near openings receive significant daylight. Photocell-controlled dimming reduces artificial lighting when natural light is sufficient.

• Zone-based scheduling — different floors and zones can operate on independent schedules based on typical occupancy patterns. Ground floors near entrances may need full output for longer than upper decks.

• Dynamic transition zone management — entrance luminaires dim their output at night when exterior light levels drop, maintaining appropriate adaptation ratios without wasting energy.

• Central monitoring — DALI-based systems enable remote monitoring of lamp status, energy consumption and emergency battery health, reducing maintenance costs and improving response times to failures.

EOS MSCP solutions support DALI-2, 1-10V and integral microwave sensing, providing flexible control options for new-build and retrofit projects. Our lighting design team provides energy calculations demonstrating projected savings against the existing or baseline installation.