Croydon Skyline was conceived as one of the earliest urban lighting strategies in the UK. In 1996 a Millennium Commission grant of £2m was awarded to fund the project, the purpose was to transform Croydon’s uniform appearance through site specific architectural lighting designs.

When the grant period expired in 2001, the project of seventeen separate schemes was adopted by the Skyline Millennium Trust, a body represented by local business leaders, the arts and educational community groups. The Trust worked to implement and run the project and since inception, nine further schemes have been added to the project with four due soon.

Being an important business centre, Croydon Skyline is a key element in the town’s regeneration initiative, creating a cohesive identity for the town at night, boosting civic pride and encouraging night time activity. Strong links with Croydon Art College have also been nurtured – students have seen their work projected onto buildings as part of night time lighting events.

The Trust is now working with lighting designers and building managers, looking at how new lighting technologies can be utilised as a way of addressing rising energy prices and providing substantial reductions in CO2 emissions across the borough.

This situation offers the opportunity to re-examine the Skyline Project in relation to existing schemes with new and more efficient lighting equipment and controls, encouraging the further installation of energy saving lighting and technology throughout Croydon and starting to re-think concepts behind urban lighting.

As the project approaches its tenth anniversary, part of the work of the Trust this year is to develop a framework strategy to take the scheme beyond 2010 and to understand how the project can be improved in terms of reduction in carbon footprint, maintenance and running costs.
The Whitgift shopping centre has demonstrated that replacing more traditional lamp sources with more efficient LED lighting provides considerable energy, cost and CO2 savings.

Whilst the capital costs for the replacement of entrance lighting were approximately £12,000, the new installation presents a 5 fold reduction in energy from 5,544 kWh per annum to 990 kWh per annum. This in turn translates into CO2 reductions of 1,958 kg CO2 per annum. This new scheme has provided a reduction in running costs from £182 per annum to £39 per annum and maintenance costs have been reduced to nil, due to the low maintenance nature of LED lighting.

Clearly the above example shows substantial improvements in overall efficiency. If these savings were to be translated across the Skyline Project, then even larger cost and energy savings could be achieved.
Towards the end of this year, Croydon Skyline will be celebrating 10 years of success with a special projection event. The rejuvenation of the Croydon Skyline project with its focus on improvement in equipment efficiency and reduction in energy will demonstrate new best practice for similar urban lighting schemes both in the UK and abroad. It will also help to lead the way towards a more sustainable future for urban lighting strategies.

For more information contact Peter Fletcher at Croydon Council –
Peter.Fletcher@croydon.gov.uk