Hope, thankfully, was not lost however. An £8.5 million scheme to create 10 hectares of permanent waterscape by enclosing the harbour with a lock was announced to form a marina, additional water-based activities and improved fishing industry facilities. Funding for the scheme came from the Environment Agency who met the cost of the flood defence element of the project, from the European Regional Development Fund (via the Government Office for the North West), from English Partnerships and from Whitehaven Development Company (now known as W3M Charitable Foundation Ltd).

In November 1997 the Millennium Commission announced an award of £6.9 million towards the second phase of the Renaissance of Whitehaven project, recognising that it will be a fitting way for the people of the town to celebrate the last millennium whilst securing a future for the harbour into the next. A life-giving lighting and architectural scheme was to be at the forefront of the project which began in 1999. Both were designed by BDP and installed by Kier Northern (who also undertook the complete refurbishment of the marina).

Kate Lownes, Senior Lighting Designer at BDP and Whitehaven Project Manager, outlined the plan: "Our aims were to create a unique lit environment that was visually exciting, contemporary and had intrinsic longevity, given the aggressive natural environment. Creating a scheme that responded to and interacted with the surroundings and the people using the space were also priorities."

Pedestrian use took precedence in all spaces. Artworks and functional sculptures are integrated throughout the hard landscaping. Encouraging people to explore the harbour during the evening and night-time was essential to the regeneration of the area. Promoting maritime leisure recreation and tourism were key to the client brief, while retaining a functional, maintainable scheme when visitor numbers dropped during the winter months. To initiate the design process BDP identified the key elements of the scheme:

• Lighting for vehicles and pedestrians.
• Pedestrians walking through the space seeing artworks and distant views.
• Illumination of features - existing historical architecture, new large scale structures, artworks and sculptures.
• Showlighting.

Within these sectors each specific space had different users, functions, historical contexts and physical characteristics and restrictions, so each space was treated individually in terms of lit effect. This also made for a diversity of solutions that provided a more exciting global environment, with variety and texture. As Lownes says, "During the design development we were concerned that the overall lit effect may have appeared disjointed. However, we had chosen to light the harbour basin consistently, to meet the traffic needs and as it encircles the primary pedestrian areas this regularity also serves to visually link the spaces and create an overall cohesive scheme."

Although each space was uniquely illuminated, and therefore the lighting equipment installed was diverse, BDP rationalised lamp types and used families of luminaires to streamline maintenance. The natural and social environments are hostile so fittings that could be easily accessed for repair and lamp replacement were selected. A dedicated control system operated each sector individually so that lighting could be switched off, leaving just the luminaires needed to fulfil health and safety requirements when the spaces were not being used, so conserving energy and reducing lamp operation time.

Harbour Basin: Street Lighting and Car Park
Lighting to the streets circling the harbour basin is provided by column mounted indirect/direct luminaires. The specified fittings were selected as they have an illuminated reflector and, positioned adjacent to the sea, the bright surface can be seen animated, mirrored in the moving water. When the scheme was conceived many indirect/direct luminaires had poor efficiency, insufficient to meet the illuminance levels prescribed by British Standards for vehicular route lighting without requiring an unacceptably large number of luminiares. The Woodhouse Duplex fittings, with two metal halide lamps (dedicated uplighting and downlighting), proved to be an ideal solution. Its use permitted luminaire spacing that fulfilled the statutory requirements, was not visually intrusive during the daytime and provided the desire for an illuminated surface. It also has a nautical feel.

Lime Tongue, Sugar Tongue & Crows Nest: Pedestrian Areas
The two spits (Tongues) projecting into the harbour basin are lit to contrast both each other and the traffic routes. This was an aesthetic desire, to vary and texturalise the scheme, but also as a result of their different historical functions - exporting lime and importing sugar respectively. BDP also wanted to denote the spits' functions on a more human scale, distinct from the vehicular harbour basin, as both Tongues are pedestrian spaces. As a consequence meeting light levels did not drive the illumination methods.

Lime Tongue:
The aspiration to provide a contemporary lighting solution drove the investigation of a variety of scheme options, including lighting from the balustrade and 'skimming' light across the floor at low level. However, vertical light elements (Thorn Candles - metal halide) provided a clean, uncluttered visual appearance throughout the day and night while also representing ships' masts and flag poles also being installed on Lime Tongue. This method also proved to be the most cost-effective solution, when cabling and ducting were included. It was not however the driving factor.

Sugar Tongue:
The waveform graphic had been sketched as part of the hard landscaping and at one time as the roof of a building. It evolved with the architects and landscape architects into a structure and again BDP looked at a number of alternatives. Two continuous runs of Oldham Lighting cold cathode (one on each side) provided configuration and colour options to reinforce the strong graphic image and lamp/ballast longevity that was the most successful in terms of appearance and long term maintenance.

Crows Nest:
The Crows Nest is a thirty metre structure at the end of Sugar Tongue and creates a visual focal point for the harbour. An architectural sculpture central to the project, the lighting was designed to emphasise the changing nature of the elements, air and water, to create a striking dynamic feature. Whitecroft Midi fittings mounted into the platform floor illuminate the undulating sea below, reflecting animated light back up onto its belly. Controlled by an anemometer, the rate of colour change to uplight the mast and downlighting intensity to the dome is controlled with variation in wind speed. Clearly, as the structure is situated over the sea maintenence access was a big issue. The concrete deck was perforated and the floodlights mounted within the holes so that they could be rotated and re-lamped from above via floor hatches and a gantry position at the top of the dome dictated the location of the indirect and direct lighting. The use of iGuzzini Lingotto tungsten halogens was limited to downlighting of the dome, and the DMX control system facilitated under running of the lamps to extend life. Louis Poulsen Nimbus compact fluorescent ground recessed luminaires (with dichroic glass) were used in preference to LED versions, as lamps are less expensive and easier to change than PCBs. Bega Downlights (Compact Fluorescent) were used to downlight the undercover seating.

The Hub: Demountable Performance Space
The translucent Hub was indirectly lit using iGuzzini Lingotto asymmetric metal halide floodlights to create a glowing silhouette against the townscape and provide low levels of ambient horizontal ground level light. Additional power outlets were provided so that visiting performers could install theatrical lighting.

Old Quay: Pedestrian Walkway
In excess of 2m deep the Old Quay Wall to the South West of the site completes the pedestrian circuit around the harbour. The mounting positions were limited as containment could not be routed easily though the floor. Therefore wall mounted warm colour temperature GFC Buen compact fluorescent indirect/direct fittings were installed, to illuminate the walkway and graze the stonework emphasising its texture and colour.

Other Areas:

Harbour Masters House:
Louis Poulsen Pharo (metal halide CDM) ground recessed uplights.

Fish Bicycle Stands
Louis Poulsen Pharo (metal halide CDM) ground recessed uplights with coloured dichroic glass.

Seating to Sugar Tongue
Louis Poulsen Nimbus.

A Sealock has now been built enabling transits in and out of the harbour for an average of 18 hours per day - and on certain neap tides an almost twenty four-hour tidal window to shallow draught boats. This historical and substantially built marina with its beautiful Georgian town centre on the harbour frontage, is set to become Northwest England's premier cruising Harbour of the Twenty First century. As Terry Ponting, Chief Executive of W3M, says: "The people of the town had turned their back on the harbour. Now they have a fantastic marina to be really proud of."

technical information

Architect: BDP
Lighting Design: BDP
Installation: Kier Northern
Lighting Solutions: Woodhouse Duplex (metal halide)
Thorn Candle (metal halide)
Oldham Lighting cold cathode, Irideon 5000 (metal halide colour change)
iGuzzini Lingotto (tungsten halogen & metal halide)
Bega Downlights (compact fluorescent)
Whitecroft Midi (metal halide)
Louis Poulsen Nimbus with dichroic glass (compact fluorescent)
Louis Poulsen Pharo (metal halide CDM)
GFC Buen (compact fluorescent)