Once an historic tramway interchange, this area was effectively cut off from the main pedestrianised shopping district due to lacklustre local retail facilities and a suffocating amount of on-street parking.
Traffic routes have been diverted and the area is now used only by buses and pedestrians. The centre is now a much safer for pedestrians. Both footfall and commerce has increased.
challenge
The aim of the street lighting design was to enhance the quality of the visual scene for the drivers and also to create a distinction between the traffic route and the pedestrian area. This is achieved by the use of different light sources for each area.
The Council also wanted to reroute cars and motorcycles away from the area to reduce pollution and congestion.
Solutions
The Victorian street scene and road network has been retained by the County Council. There are commemorative plaques and bronze inlays to highlight the old tram network. High pressure sodium light is used on the traffic route; this replaces the dull yellow low pressure sodium, SOX, installed previously.
White light Cosmo white metal halide lamps are used to mark the entrance to the pedestrian area.
Changes to the traffic and pedestrian routes are shown below.
A third theme is introduced by the use of recessed ground mounted LED up-lighters in order to highlight the trees.
The lighting design plays with the inside and outside square formed by the trees and benches. A cold colour appearance is used outside the square and a warm colour appearance is used inside the square to encourage people to appropriately use the space.
Scheme before Intervention
Scheme after intervention
outcome
The street lighting has been enhanced by the use of modern decorative luminaires, brackets and columns. The location of the columns is designed to minimise obtrusive light.
The lighting levels meet the appropriate standards of BS5489 and EN13201 for traffic routes and lighting calculations were done to optimised the spacing and minimise the energy consumption. The lanterns have flat glass lenses to minimise light pollution.
The LED tree up-lighters at the entrance to the pedestrian area create an ambiance with the use of different coloured LED based on the three primary colours.
These LEDs are composed of two different rings of colours with two different angles of tilt inside the fitting in order to create a third colour. This negates the need to use costly and complex DMX or DALI systems to create a dynamic effect.