Landscape Lighting Design: Bradwell War Memorial, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

The project:

Commissioned by Milton Keynes Council through our client CJ Bricknell we were asked to light this local war memorial in a sensitive way for its surroundings, whilst also safeguarding the bat population that reside within it. It had previously been lit with large floods that had not worked in a long time and were in disrepair. We worked with our client to relocate the new flood locations to ensure we achieved the best results for the two clock faces, and the cross, without lighting the fourth face where the bats entered the structure.

The brief:

We were asked to achieve no more than 5 lux average on any area of the memorial and to ensure the light was as focused as possible to the three key elements ensuring we provided something befitting of such a memorial. Locations for the new luminaires were limited however, three appropriate locations were found that were also mindful of the residential dwellings surrounding the memorial and the road that passed by it.

The result:

Using three tiny Palco InOut IGuzzini LED floods, with a warm white colour temperature of 2700K, we were able to further reduce any impact on the bats. This was because 2700K has a smaller spectral blue content of the white light due to its warmer colour temperature. This lessens the effect not only on the bats, but also on their food sources, and reduces the likelihood of any changes in behaviour to either.

The new luminaires are physically very small, measuring less that 75mm in any direction. The light output however was more than adequate for the task and the results show an even, contained, distribution from each luminaire with its peak beam hitting the centre of each feature we wanted to highlight. The beam angle is 14 degrees.

The total cost for the luminaires was under £500 (not including installation) which delivered it under budget for the project.

After installation cages were installed over the luminaires to protect them from vandalism which unfortunately means that the lines of the cages can be seen on the structure. This element is still being investigated to see if we can find a way to reduce this, and improve the effect, so that the memorial can be truly appreciated.