Re: Re: Dublin Street Lighting
Spot on. Indeed such is the level of aesthetic/decorative/atmospheric lighting being installed in every public and private project going now, it’s getting to a stage where policy needs to be drafted to ensure that the integrity of these schemes is maintained after installation. Publically, there ought to be a commitment to doing this on the part of the Lighting Division, while for the private sector, a condition of planning applications should ensure that such schemes are to be maintained if permission is to be granted for them. In ACAs and SPACs it’s simpler still and should be enforced as a basic standard. Inevitably areas such as these also feature high profile buildings.
In spite of constant developments in lighting technology and confident claims of extra long lives, lighting schemes remain as maintenance intensive as ever for issues that go beyond the lamp itself. Already the GPO scheme is showing the first signs of decay, with some units moving out of alignment, while countless LED uplighters on the median of O’Connell Street are either blown, smashed or an entire section taken out as a result of a dodgy fuse. The bridges are nothing short of a joke at this stage in terms of maintenance, while even high profile cases such as Government Buildings cannot even sustain basic upkeep. I cannot remember the last time its dome was illuminated as intended – indeed at all for that matter. As for the Fourt Courts and other key buildings – heck, even City Hall barely manages to keep itself together, with its haphazard pediment illumination a particular embarrassment. What standard do flagship cases such as these set for the private sector?! The government’s upcoming policy on architecture should incorporate objectives on lighting given its crtitcal role in essentially sustaining, and indeed adding a new dminsion to, good architecture after nightfall.
Just as this thread is raised, it ought to be noted that the pair of 1930s concrete lampposts outside the former Irish Times terrace on D’Olier Street have just been taken out. What’s the likelihood of them being restored and reinstated? There are now four left in the entire city.
