Belfast City Hall has become the very first building in Europe to have an innovative new 'intelligent' outdoor lighting solution installed, illuminating the building in an array of up to 16 million different colour combinations.
As one of seven buildings on the continent chosen to be part of the EU's ILLUMINATE pilot project, the headquarters is part an exciting initiative - partly funded by the EU - to install solid-state lighting at several landmarks across the region. However, the building is the only one to be fitted with this 'intelligent' solution.
Projects making up the scheme are valued at a total of €3.86 million (£3.29 million), of which €1.93 million will be funded by the EU. According to the organisation's official website, the rollout intends to build up a "network of exposition buildings and cities in Europe in order to apply and assess [the] benefit of solid-state lighting technology in a wide range of scenarios and promote replication".
From a technical perspective, the Belfast City Hall showcase comprises up-to-date LED technology spread out across 433 separate units, each of which can be individually controlled - exactly like the solution that has recently seen the San Francisco Bay Bridge become the largest LED lighting sculpture in the world.
Financially, the project will save the council a huge amount of money, slashing its electricity bill by around £14,000 each year and bringing down its carbon emissions by 90 tonnes.
Lord Mayor of the city Alderman Gavin Robinson described the project as a "clear demonstration of our ongoing investment in making Belfast a better, brighter, cleaner and more efficient city - today, tomorrow and for future generations”.
On certain days of the year, the council has announced that it will be bathing the beautiful building in appropriate colours for the occasion. These include St. Patrick's Day, July 12th (Orangefest), Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year, Polish Independence Day and also in recognition of Gay Pride.
