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Rose Street is one of the most famous streets in Edinburgh. For the past two Christmas seasons, Black Light has brought the street to life and added to the festive mood of Edinburgh’s shoppers with a beautiful lighting display. This has been designed to perfectly compliment the area’s historic backdrop. The project illustrates how Black Light can solve complex architectural problems. It shows how we can work unobtrusively to meet a challenging brief and keep all stakeholders happy.

This rather unusual installation opportunity came our way towards the end of 2007. The City of Edinburgh Council asked Black Light to help design and implement brand new seasonal lighting for Rose Street. The brief was to provide a solution that was festive, non-traditional and which would withstand the worst weather that Scotland could bring. We were also told that the installation should be energy-efficient and that it should have the minimum amount of impact on the street’s many residents. To solve these challenges we adopted a teamwork approach that drew on our talents in both events management and installations.

Working with Chris Chapman of the Council, we devised a system using Blachere LED ‘fairy light’ strings that would span the street along its entire length. These were to be supported on stainless steel wire rope catenaries (to reduce corrosion) at intervals across the street.

Tackling the safety challenge

All the equipment had to be fixed at a height that would allow traffic, including articulated trucks, to continue using the street, and that would discourage vandalism. As an added complication, the Council was very concerned about the type and locations of any fixings used – the last thing they (or we) wanted was fixings, or worse, stone blocks failing and falling to street level.

To meet this stringent brief, Black Light carefully selected fixing locations and used resin-bonded threaded anchors. Each of these was pull-tested before the installation of the catenary wires. We worked closely with the Council to keep residents informed. For example, we put a leaflet describing what we were doing through every single door on the street.

Black Light’s qualified electricians and IPAF-qualified access equipment users worked quickly, efficiently and quietly. They completed the installation on time, hitting the tight deadline set by the Council.

The Council said “…Black Light came up with a very neat job, which was safely executed…I’m pleased with the result, and congratulations to Paul and his team.” The project Health and Safety advisors commented, “…I would say Black light have been very good.”

The Council’s satisfaction in our work was underlined in 2009 when we were asked to extend the Rose Street lighting display. We responded by creating an even larger display. We hope to continue to light up Edinburgh’s Christmas for many years to come.

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