Milan, a sports centre is reborn with LED lighting

With the inauguration of the new swimming pool, the renovation of the Iseo Sports Centre is finally complete. Situated in Affori, an historical area on the outskirts of Milan, the facility also includes the Palaiseo indoor arena, two gyms and a sports centre with a football and rugby field.

The recovery of the Palaiseo arena holds a special meaning for the neighbourhood and for the city of Milan, after the venue was completely destroyed by arson in 2011.

«The re-opening of the arena is a particularly significant contribution to restoring justice to a sports facility that has been impacted by crime», said Pierfrancesco Barletta, president of Milanosport, the company appointed by the Municipality to manage the sports centre. Last year’s inauguration of the new Palaiseo coincided with ‘Sportabilia’, the ‘Disability Olympics’ that included the participation of nearly 200 athletes with disabilities. A true festival of sports.

The arena’s restyling project included the fixing of a 350-seat stand, with the elimination of architectonic barriers. Furthermore, both the smaller gym and the main gym were completely redone. Now, the Palaiseo can host volleyball and basketball matches and several gym classes (fitness, martial arts, etc…) for everyone to enjoy.

The restructuring of the arena was also the occasion for installing a new LED lighting system, fitting Astro LED (Disano illuminazione) and Echo LED (Disano) spotlights and LED Panel (Fosnova) lights in the gym and the interiors.

According to Architect Maila Addabbo, operating director at Milanosport: «The renovation of the Palaiseo, which started in 2013, at first did not include the installation of LED lights. But as works progressed, we decided to install Disano’s LED spotlights also for their cost-effectiveness. In fact, the investment necessary for installing a new LED lighting system was not as high as we expected compared to a metal halide system, but with the advantage of having remarkable energy savings».

Addabbo adds: «The result has been very convincing especially in terms of lighting amount. Without the need to increase the number of spotlights, we almost doubled the amount of light. It is the first entirely LED system in a structure managed by Milanosport. Given the results, we plan to continue this road and do the same for our other projects as well».

Luca Ghezzi, head of external relations for Milanosport, explains: «As Milanosport, we are proud to have helped return an important sports venue to its community. It is a point of reference for the numerous sports clubs formerly located within city zone 9, which had to move to other city areas. The Palaiseo sports complex has a very complicated history of poor management that led to the structure’s decay and which culminated with arson in 2011, when the Municipality decided to return the management back to Milanosport. The resolution by the city council issued the authorization to start the redevelopment works that however met many obstacles. The structure, in fact, had become an illegal dormitory and it was only through police intervention that the building could be recovered. Last year, sports centre was inaugurated before the authorities and now, with the opening of the pool, the structure’s renovation is finally complete».