HOW DARK IS MY VALLEY

An ambitious Dark Sky project in Wales has been garnering plaudits and awards for its sensitive and thoughtful approach to lighting.

Plas Y Brenin is an ambitious transformation of an outdoor activity centre Snowdonia.

The area attracts thousands of visitors annually, but has been suffering from light pollution and glare that’s visible for miles.

Lighting design practice Dark Source, led by founder Kerem Asfuroglu, was brought in by the Snowdonia National Park Authority, in collaboration with Prosiect Nos, to enhance the night-time experience while cutting energy and the impact on wildlife.

Existing lighting mostly consisted of fluorescent bulkheads and LED floodlights, which reduced the site’s legibility due to glare and uncontrolled light distribution.

Undoing light pollution is something that has to be done with a holistic vision, one which takes the site experience and

The site now meets the dark sky quality required and delivers an engaging night-time experience.

Additionally, bats have returned to the site to forage around the hedgerows that over-illuminated before.

As a byproduct of the switch to LEDs, energy use was cut by 1.9 tonnes of CO2e (8000kW) annually.

‘This is what outdoor projects should be like’, ‘an absolute labour of love’, ‘a simple aspiration but wow, is it hard to achieve in practice’…

The expert judges in the lighting category of the Build Back Better Awards heaped praise on the Plas Y Brenin project which they awarded both a Build Back Better Gold and Green award. ■