A Natural Paradise – Rottnest Island
The picturesque and historically significant island off the coast of Perth in Western Australia is known for its stunning beaches, crystal-clear waters and adorable quokkas that inhabit the island.
With a rich history dating back to indigenous Noongar communities and later explorers, Rottnest remains a car-free island, within which visitors can explore on foot, bicycle or scooter.
Being an island, it is exposed to tough coastal conditions and salt laden air, but in return, it provides idyllic scenery and beautiful diverse marine life. The island is also home to several historical sites including the Oliver Hill Battery and Wadjemup Lighthouse.
Rottnest Island is not only a natural paradise but also a place of cultural significance and environmental conservation efforts. With many tourists visiting to explore and camp or stay in a cute cottage, a lighting solution to provide comfort and convenience and be aligned with the location was important.
Considerations
Some of the key project considerations for this project included;
– Warranty and longevity: After a short-lived failed installation (less than six months) of a cheap product from another brand, ensuring a solution that would last the test of time and be backed by a comprehensive warranty was of critical importance
– Reliability: Superior performance with minimal maintenance and downtime to improve long term cost efficiency and reduce unnecessary outages and labour
– Robustness for coastal environments: Demanding strong corrosive-resistant coating and marine grade aluminium to ensure longevity
– Aesthetic appeal: A solution befitting of the natural paradise, particularly in the piazza areas of the island required a look and feel that blended nicely with the surroundings
– Precision optics: Precisely placing light where needed to provide comfort and safety for people with minimal disruption to local biodiversity
– Service support: Luminaires with an industry best / renowned service support wherein any issues will be dealt with and resolved efficiently
Challenges
With such an idyllic natural paradise and being a car-free island, preserving nature and ensuring the obstructions of poles for luminaires, and in fact anything artificial being introduced onto the island, can be kept to a minimum as well as selecting luminaires that can blend in as seamlessly as possible to the spaces.
When Kim Bianchini of H.I. Lighting first started to work on this project, she learnt that in an effort to save, a low-quality installation had been completed, which failed within less than six months.
As an island surrounded by salt water, a corrosion-resistant durable luminaire needed to be found to replace the failed installation. The challenge, Kim explained was then to “put forward a premium quality, sustainable, robust lighting solution, backed by a comprehensive warranty – that while may seem expensive initially, would pay back over time via consistent reliable performance”.
Solution
With salt laden air surrounding the island, marine grade aluminium was a key selection criterion as was a strong corrosive-resistant coating, to ensure maximum longevity.
With the previous installation of an alternative product lacking corrosion protection having failed after less than six months, Kim Bianchini was quick to recommend WE-EF luminaires for the application, due to her knowledge and confidence in the WE-EF brand and its reputation for quality and reliability and also being backed by a comprehensive 10-year warranty.
With the well regarded 5CE+ Primer anti-corrosion coating process that is now standard for all WE-EF products in Australia and New Zealand, quality is assured. In fact, there are many coastal applications of WE-EF luminaires that have withstood the tests of tough coastal conditions for 20+ years.
To ensure adequate budgets for the higher quality installation, it was recommended and agreed to be implemented in stages, the primary luminaires chosen were the unique CFT530 Street and Area luminaires in 3000 K – a unique circular post top product offering a range of optics (both the circular and rectangular optics were utilised on this project). The luminaire was selected with large influence from the involved Landscape Architects, for its fine sleek aesthetic that you can ‘see through’ to blend into the natural landscape.
Additionally, BUC230 ceiling luminaires (downlights) were chosen, again, in 3000 K for consistency in colour temperature, to feature across various canopies in the public spaces.
Results
The piazza area is now fitted with CFT530s in 3000 K. According to Kim Bianchini, “It is a beautiful installation befitting of the location – the luminaires look discrete during the day and effectively illuminate the spaces for people at night. With the unique style of the CFT530 luminaire, a warm ambient glow is visible as you approach the areas where they are positioned”.
The aesthetic style paired with the 3000 K delivers a lovely overall ambience while minimising disruption to the ecosystem. It is widely known that many species of wildlife are adversely affected by artificial blue light; with some impacts including disorientation, disruption of circadian rhythm, disruption to reproduction and much more. While 3000 K still contains some blue light, it is significantly less than that of 4000 or 5000 K and is sparsely used in the food precincts of the island.
Since the installation, all luminaires including the CFT530 and BUC230 luminaires are consistently performing with no intervention or service required, instilling peace of mind and confidence in the stakeholders who made the selections, that they have invested wisely in quality.
Completed: 2021
Sales Partner: H.I. Lighting
Client: Rottnest Island Authority
Lighting Designer: Kim Bianchini – H.I. Lighting
Electrical Engineer: Brand CDEP & Sage Engineering
Photography and Videography: IP Media for WE-EF