With Yorkshire becoming one of the fastest growing economic areas in the UK, the development agency Yorkshire Forward is currently investing huge amounts of money on regeneration programmes throughout the area - mainly for market towns. Up to 40 small towns across Yorkshire and Humber will benefit over the next ten years. Part of the regeneration package will involve an improvement in the architecture and lighting in some of these towns with Hornsea and York becoming flagship projects. In August 2000 the seaside town of Hornsea in East Yorkshire was announced as one of the six pilot market towns across Yorkshire and Humberside that would benefit from a £6 million regeneration package. Exactly three years later on 12 August 2003, Sir Graham Hall, the Chairman of Yorkshire Forward officially opened Hornsea's new £1.2 m central promenade and £1m boat compound.

The improvements, which included crow's nest lookouts, wave effect gardens and a completely new lighting scheme, were financed by Yorkshire Forward, who acted as partners to the East Riding of Yorkshire Council and the European Union through the Leader + programme. The project, which was designed by landscape architects Atkins of Manchester, is part of the initial Market Towns Initiative, a partnership with the Countryside Agency.

Yorkshire Forward piloted the scheme in Yorkshire and Humberside, providing regional input prior to its national roll-out. The scheme is a result of the Agencies' commitment to the revitalisation of rural and urban communities throughout the region, providing much needed assistance to the many such areas in the region. The starting point for each project is to create a broad partnership structure through which the regeneration initiative will be delivered. These partnerships are responsible for the production of an action plan detailing how they will tackle the town's regeneration in the social, economic, transport, environmental, and community spheres.

For Hornsea, improved lighting was an important part of the strategy to address these issues, as it was recognised what a major impact lighting can play in creating successful urban spaces, enhancing safety whilst bringing both mood and feel to the environment. The replacement of all the tired existing lighting columns and luminaires was necessary. The new project plan required good placement, illuminance and uniformity levels from the lighting, and this specification, combined with quality, innovation and ease of maintenance led to Woodhouse being selected to provide all the lighting for the scheme. The end result was a complete transformation with three completely different fittings being selected.

The town promenade is perhaps the key public space in Hornsea, and a total of thirteen single luminaire 'Duplex' fittings were employed to provide a high level of lighting along the main 100m stretch of promenade. IP65 rated, the 'Duplex' is a lantern specially designed for coastal developments as well as pedestrian zones and city streets using direct and indirect elements to combine effective street lighting with a pleasant ambience whilst ensuring that the aesthetic quality of the fitting is evident at night. The lantern, with a 2.20 metre outreach arm is mounted on an 8 metre mild steel conical column and utilises one 150W CDM-TT lamp for the direct element and one 70 W CDM-T lamp in the up lighter or indirect section. The fitting, made of cast and spun aluminium with stainless steel fixings is painted in a standard white colour to a marine-grade finish.

Stepping away from the main promenade is a cafe and on the wooden walkway which leads up to it, direct and decorative lighting is provided by eleven 'Alexandry' fittings, Woodhouse's attractive and functional bollard. Alexandry is again designed specifically for ports and seaside towns and stands 800mm high with an omni-directional distribution from the optic. The one-piece die-cast aluminium housing features a curved window in opal PMMA protected by a ribbed die-cast aluminium cover, and in Hornsea has been painted a frosted white (again to a marine-grade finish) to match the columns of the Duplex fitting. The light source for each Alexandry is provided by a 70W high pressure sodium lamp with integral control gear accessed by rear hatch locked with keyed quarter-turn latch.

Woodhouse's third contribution to the scheme comes in the shape of 21 'Geo Footlights' - although in addition to their usual placement at ground level some have also been deployed as wall mounted luminaires. The Geo Footlight has a low-profile in-ground orientation reaching only to 35mm above ground level and its 5,000kg load bearing capacity means it can be safely driven over making it ideal for installation in paths, public areas and streets. The Footlight is cast in 316 marine grade stainless steel, which is combined with cast aluminium alloy ground box. The optical lens made from a 20mm ring of toughened safety glass. The Footlight is designed for 20 W and 35 W ceramic discharge lamps and high-output light emitting diodes with either a single or double-sided light distribution, with an optical design permitting much lower profiles than other similar types of luminaire. The footlights direct light in a concentrated way resulting in a glare-free illumination of the horizontal surface from a very low height.

In a separate development, The Urban Lighting Group, a consortium of three experienced UK lighting design consultancies, has won the £85,000 contract to prepare a tourism-related lighting strategy for the historic City of York, against three other contending design teams. A total of seventeen companies were initially invited to tender for the work, which is being funded by the development agency, Yorkshire Forward. The Group comprises Phoenix Large/lightmatters and CSG Lighting Consultancy, both of London, and Lighting Design & Consultancy, based in Wolsingham in Co. Durham. The design team will be headed by the consultancies' three respective principals, Graham Phoenix, Carl Gardner and Michael Phillips, who between them have worked on over 20 urban lighting strategies in the UK and abroad in the last 15 years. Other members of the team include well-known lighting artist/sculptor, Peter Freeman, and independent lighting designer, Karen van Creveld.

Graham Phoenix explained: "The project is a large one and has to be completed on a very tight time-scale. We felt that by bringing together our extensive and wide-ranging lighting design experience into a new consortium, we would be best equipped to tackle this challenging project - and would give the City of York the best value for its investment." The Urban Lighting Group intends to remain together to bid for future urban lighting design projects.

The lighting strategy for York, which is targeted at increasing tourist visitor numbers to the city - will encompass three main elements: (i) more comfortable, atmospheric street and amenity lighting, particularly in the historic centre; (ii) state-of-the-art architectural lighting of key buildings and structures, such as the Minster, the medieval walls and the bridges across the Ouse; (iii) and a series lighting events and experiences, such as seasonal son et lumieres, projected historic images, interactive lighting installations and lighting sculptures. In order to stimulate local economic development, the consultants intend to involve local high-tech companies in the elaboration of their proposals.

Yorkshire Forward has also advanced a further £425,000 to begin the implementation of the plan over the next two years - and part of the consortium's brief is to look at ways of levering in extra sponsorship funding for particular projects.

information: www.yorkshire-forward.com