City scheme is a walk in the park for WRTL
Night time security issues in Leicester’s Victoria Park prompted the city’s council to invest in new lighting from WRTL Exterior Lighting to improve public safety.
The park - with its famous Lutyens war memorial - has been a source of the city’s enjoyment for over 100 years. Now, with the Council’s Spring 2008 lighting scheme incorporating WRTL’s award-winning 2-Tone lantern, the tree-bordered walkways crossing the area are much more pedestrian friendly.
“The park is bordered by Leicester University and the railway station, which is opposite the students’ accommodation area,” comments Leicester City Council’s public lighting group manager, Manjeet Virdee. “There are paved paths across the park, sheltered by trees, as well as a perimeter path.
“We recently upgraded the lighting of the perimeter path but, at night, students and other pedestrians still chose to walk across the park’s unlit paths late at night, as a direct route back to their homes. There were frequent security issues, which were the subject of a local campaign by residents and the students in 2007, to which we responded this year.”
One particular challenge in the designing of the scheme was posed by the spacing of the columns with respect to the trees which - without careful consideration - could have created shadowing on the paths.
The council overcame this problem by working closely with WRTL’s design engineer and specialist installers David Webster Limited. WRTL’s 2Tone lantern was proven to provide the best performance to meet the challenges of the location and was specified, complete with 45W CosmoPolis lamp and gear, on a 6 metre steel column, giving excellent uniformity despite the tree-lined route.
“The 2-Tone lantern is a very unobtrusive, providing excellent glare control and giving no upward light by using the flat glass,” says Manjeet. “The installation is particularly impressive at night.”
The first street lantern designed specifically to conform to the strict S1 G6 Glare classification, 2-Tone is proving a popular offering for local authority and PFI contracts. Just a year since its launch, 2-Tone has already scooped two industry awards, as well as a highly commended recommendation.
“We are happy to have been involved in this project and are confident the new lighting will improve safety in the park for the benefit of all its residents,” says DW Webster’s Branch Manager, Jamie Sharpe.
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