Sint-Niklaas city centre
Sustainable lighting creates a unique atmosphere in Belgium’s largest market square
At the heart of its historic city centre, the City of Sint-Niklaas has renovated its iconic Grote Markt and surrounding streets, incorporating a complete redesign of the public lighting. This ambitious project combines rigorous technical requirements with a vision for an enhanced urban atmosphere and a sustainable future.
A long-standing collaboration with a clear vision
Schréder has partnered with Fluvius and Sint-Niklaas' municipal services for several decades to deliver coherent, efficient and sustainable public lighting. The city believes that lighting is an integral element of public spaces, enhancing their use and character. This principle guided the Houtbriel project, when the city adhered to our proposal to reduce visual clutter by replacing a high density of lighting posts with our PIANO connected luminaires, which integrate harmoniously into the urban landscape.
This philosophy was later extended to the Stationsstraat and Wandellus shopping streets. In collaboration with Fluvius and the Spectrum design office, the city chose the YOA luminaire for its elegant design and versatile configurations.
This cohesive approach earned Sint-Niklaas the Public Space Award in 2023. It now serves as the official guideline and was applied when upgrading the lighting in the city centre, specifically the Grote Markt and the streets around the City Hall and the Cathedral of Our Lady.
Customised urban lighting: technology at the service of architecture
Our ability to customise our lighting solutions was key to the success of this project. We tailored the brackets, supports and optics to ensure the YOA luminaires integrated aesthetically and technically with the existing masts.
The luminaires are equipped with high-performance LED technology and have a service lifetime of 100,000 hours (L90B10 certified). This reduces maintenance costs and enhances the project's overall sustainability.
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Approximately 10% of our projects require bespoke adaptations, depending on the location, budget, and architectural requirements.
Lighting to enhance the atmosphere and urban experience
Spanning 3.19 hectares, the Grote Markt in Sint-Niklaas is the largest market square in Belgium. The space features a vast central pedestrian area surrounded by a vibrant mix of shops, bars and restaurants, separated by a road with numerous pedestrian crossings. Our design office developed a tailored solution for this unique layout to ensure optimal lighting for every user.
The specific arrangement of the luminaires and the use of three distinct colour temperatures (2700K, 3000K and 4000K) serve as visual guidance, helping to define and distinguish different areas.
Each of the 12-metre-high masts on the square features five YOA luminaires. The four upper luminaires are fitted with warm white LEDs to provide uniform lighting across the square and create a welcoming atmosphere.
The fifth luminaire is fitted with cool white LEDs and is directed towards the road to improve visibility for vulnerable road users.
Two YOA luminaires installed on 5-metre and 6-metre masts provide neutral white lighting for the traffic lanes and pavements, highlighting areas where different users cross paths to enhance safety.
The different shades of white light also subtly influence user behaviour by:
- drawing people to specific areas of the square;
- highlighting key points of interest;
- alerting people to critical areas, such as pedestrian crossings to ensure maximum safety.
This intelligent use of colour temperatures enhances the atmosphere and improves wayfinding, visual clarity and safety after dark.
For the Town Hall, a heritage gem, we used IRIDIA LED linear projectors. This discreet lighting highlights the building’s historic features at night without obstructing its beauty during the day.
Smart management of connected luminaires
Visitors may not see it, but the entire lighting installation is controlled by the Schréder EXEDRA lighting platform, which enables Fluvius to adjust usage, ambiance and energy consumption with great precision.
The lighting can be dimmed in certain areas while still complying with standards and without compromising safety.
A lighting system designed for the future
Sustainability was central to this project. All of the luminaires installed have been validated by the Circle Light Label, guaranteeing that our materials are highly reusable. Fluvius also opted for standardised ballasts to facilitate maintenance and replacement.
This approach is fully in line with the vision of the city of Sint-Niklaas, where climate resilience and circularity are not just words, but play a central role in public policy and tenders.
We provide bespoke solutions tailored to the location and the people who will use them.
With this upgrade, Sint-Niklaas demonstrates that street lighting is about more than just providing light. It enhances quality of life, creates atmosphere, and optimises energy use, becoming an integral part of the urban landscape. This transformation was driven by the collective expertise of the city, Fluvius, Spectrum, and Schréder.
