UK LED lighting firm Marl International has finished the £100,000 first phase of project Sparkle: feature lighting at the Alnwick Garden visitor attraction in Northumberland.
"The Alnwick Garden was designed 17 years ago with lighting in mind. When I saw the original drawings I immediately recognised the huge opportunity for a dynamic lighting programme," said Jane Percy, the Duchess of Northumberland, who lives in the adjoining castle. "This is the first phase of a permanent, flexible installation which will bring the garden to life in the evenings and during the winter months."
Marl is based across the Pennines in Cumbria."Following my visit to Marl in July, I could see that they were exceptional. Not every engineering company has a collection of six grand pianos on site," said Percy. "The enthusiasm, energy and creativity of its young team was inspiring. They have more than fulfilled that promise."
The system, funded by a US trustee of the garden, was ready to be switched in under five months from the initial visit, including six weeks of installation.
Marl designs and manufactures LED lighting products at its Ulverston facility."We have the benefit of over 100 committed, clever and resourceful team players to draw on, and it is fair to say that everyone was totally committed to this project from day one," said Marl MD Adrian Rawlinson.
The firm designed the lighting scheme and, except for the electrical ground work, supplied everything including: over 90 light fittings, hardware cabinets, mains cabling, and DMX wiring, communications system, programming, and commissioning.
6m RGB flexible strips were made specifically for the job, blue linear strip lights were customised to suit, and standard components include: RGB floodlights, white up-lighters and step lights.
Colour-Tramp DMX-based software control was provided by London-based Artistic Licence.
