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Case study – LTP lights up Welsh monuments

Eight historic monuments in South Wales have been given a facelift with a little help from LTP.The new schemes save electricity, dramatically reduce long term maintenance and radically enhance the quality of light.

Llanelli-based Lighting Technology Projects (LTP) was asked by Philips Lighting to provide specialist design, specification and installation services for a new carbon-conscious lighting scheme to replace old sodium lighting for eight historic buildings in South Wales run by.Cadw, a division of the Welsh Assembly Government.

The eight sites are Tintern Abbey, Chepstow Castle, Caerphilly Castle, Castell Coch, Coity Castle, Llansteffan Castle, Kidwelly Castle and Swansea Castle. In addition to making significant savings to the amount of electricity needed to run the schemes, the new scheme dramatically reduces the long term maintenance needed and radically enhances the quality of light with a cleaner and more flattering source.

The products utilised are primarily the Philips eW Reach Powercore – the white light version of Philips’ flagship exterior architectural floodlight. These are currently the only LED fixtures incorporating Powercore technology, that are powerful enough to illuminate large architectural façades with white light washes in colour temperatures ranging from a warm 2700 K to a 4000 K ‘neutral white’.

Caerphilly Castle
Caerphilly Castle, above, is one of the great medieval castles of western Europe. Its the largest in Britain after Windsor, it features complex water defences and is the first truly concentric castle in Britain. At the time of building in the late 13th century, it was a revolutionary masterpiece of military planning.

The interior Castle keep walls of the castle are now illuminated with 15 warm eW (essential white) Reaches. In contrast the exterior walls are lit with 12 neutral white eW Reaches, which add depth and dimension to the visual picture at night by differentiating between the two areas.

For infill lighting, six warm white eW Blast Powercores are dotted around, ensuring that the many intricacies of the Castle’s superstructure are visible, adding a touch of magic to an already majestic scene.

Tintern Abbey
The fascinating and atmospheric ruins of Tintern Abbey, above and top, are situated on the Welsh bank of the River Wye in Monmouthshire. It is one of the most spectacular ruins in the country and has been the source of inspiration to numerous artists, poets, writers and musicians over the centuries.

Here LTP fitted eight warm eW Reaches around the outside facades, which pick out the red stone in a striking soft ambient glow.

The interior is a complex juxtaposition of structural elements, with all those in the main space including the internal walls illuminated by eight carefully positioned neutral eW Blasts, sunken into the ground. The subtle differentiation in colour temperature between the inner and outer shells of the building enhances the magical aura that descends over Tintern Abbey at night.


Castell Coch
Castell Coch (‘red castle’ in English) is a 19th-century gothic revival castle built on the remains of a genuine 13th-century fortification (above).

The lighting requirements here were very simple, but precise, and achieved with the installation of five eW Reaches with wide angle lenses set to warm white, mounted on pivoting lamp-posts – which move up and down for access. The lenses were needed because of the close proximity of the fixtures to the steep walls.
It was important in the new scheme to accentuate the red brick of the walls with a complimentary colour temperature, and the building can be seen clearly from the M4 and other locations across the valley.

Chepstow Castle
Chepstow (above) is a Norman castle perched high above the banks of the river Wye in the town of Chepstow, southeast Wales. One of its most prominent features is the hillside running down along one side, and this view of the building is highlighted tastefully by the new lighting which consists of eight eW Reaches mounted in cages around the front of the wall, plus another two washing the side wall elevation and allowing the Castle to be seen from the river.

www.paigroup.com/LTP/index.html
www.philips.co.uk