38
OCTOBER 2020
LIGHTING JOURNAL
Heritage lighting: opinion
PASTS UNDER PRESSURE H We all know budgets for lighting are under severe pressure post pandemic. When it comes to heritage lighting, this will make the balancing act councils face between preserving the essence of our historic market towns while investing in new and ever-better technology that much harder By Liz Hudson
eritage lanterns, self-evidently, are very effective at rekindling the atmosphere from times gone by. In Kensington Palace Gardens, the avenue that runs alongside Kensington Palace in London, that historic atmosphere is so highly valued it is still lit by 1,500 gas lamps, which require individual maintenance every two weeks and are hand lit each night. However, this is obviously not a realistic approach on a grander scale. Where conventional luminaires would look out of place, authorities caring for places of significant cultural value and history work hard to achieve modern efficiency alongside an appropriate heritage aesthetic. The reality is that buying a heritage lantern instead of a more conventional streetlight model is more expensive. Sometimes a lot more. However, the people in charge of historical gems such as Chester tread a fine balance between supporting the essence of what makes Britain’s ancient cities and historical market towns so very special, while investing the budget and keeping up to speed with technology that lives up to modern standards and expectations. This article intends to outline some of our experience at Carbon Reduction Technology (CRT) in navigating this difficult balancing act in Chester, and the challenges but also opportunities that come with it.
‘TIME TRAVELLING’ IN CHESTER
The value of a streetlight, in any setting, extends far beyond its purchase price. Reproduction heritage lanterns have the ability to add drama and romance to a scene in a way that conventional streetlight models can’t replicate, especially when combined with a lower colour temperature range.
Top: the historic centre of Chester Left and below: the Rows, which has also been sensitively upgraded to LED
www.theilp.org.uk