Durham Cathedral comes third in the global Auroralia Awards for sustainable lighting.
Durham Cathedral has been refitted with new energy efficient lights.
Durham County Council received funding in 2010 for the Cathedral as well as Durham Castle.
The Cathedral’s previous lighting consisted of around 19 large floodlights. Each of the floodlights emitted cold, white light overall burned 25 kilowatts. The project replaced these with 141 smaller LED lights placed on the roof and on the ground. The new lights are less obtrusive, save on energy costs and showcases the building’s architecture more effectively. The new lights now burn 13 kilowatts overall, saving 74% on energy consumption. This works out at saving around £6,000.
The light levels are altered automatically by a wireless computer. The lights are altered depending on the season, the time of day and any special events held.
The lights will usually be at ‘normal’ level from dusk until around 11pm when the towers will dim to half power and the main building goes down to 25%. At 2am the lights go down further and remain at the minimum levels required for security.
The £600,000 project was installed by local company Stainton Lighting.
Steve Edwards of Stainton Lighting said:
We were extremely proud…We spent a lot of time trialling it and it does what we expected it to do.
The Scheme was shortlisted for the heritage prize in the Lighting Design Awards, was highlighted in the outdoor category at the Lux Lighting Awards and came third in Auroralia Awards for sustainable lighting.
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