Lighting designer Phil Supple (of Light Refreshment) has again turned to SGM’s P-5
IP65-rated wash light to create a mesmerising lighting “trail’ at the Rouken Glen
Park in Glasgow for East Renfrewshire Council’s Electric Glen Festival.

As the event’s creative director, for three years his inspired design concept created
the same wow factor as it had two years previously with a similarly memorable
night time trail illumination of the Palm House at Kew Gardens — again using P-5s
at the famous London World Heritage site.

Meanwhile, the self-guided illuminated trail at Rouken Glen followed the woodland
paths to the holy grail — the waterfall, which was brought to life over the two
weeks by 24 of the low-profile, carefully concealed P-5s. With this cavalcade of
colour as a backdrop, many visitors took the opportunity of a selfie.

The fixtures were supplied to main technical production company, NL Productions by
SGM’s Glasgow-based partner Teknique Systems, who hold a large inventory.

The designer set high demands during the focus stage, insisting that all the lighting
units be hidden and the sources masked to highlight the beautiful landscape.

He also achieved some magical angles from a variety of beam apertures — the 43º
option overlapping for consistent wash and the smooth spread of colour transitions,
and the 21º for the long throw and “special’ focuses — such as lighting tree tops and
punching light under the bridge arch.

The P-5s were run off NL Productions’ networked grandMA2 lighting console,
programmed by Alex Passmore, “The process was totally painless and Alex got
great results, saving me a lot of valuable creative time and allowing the process to
stay on schedule throughout,’ continued the designer. “The P-5s and the waterfall
rig were integrated into a sequenced timeline that looped throughout the evening
with the public continuously moving through the piece.’

He also praised the assistance given by the NL Productions support team, led by
Craig Bellshaw, who was site manager. His company had won the event on a public
tender, providing sound and power distro as well as lighting.

He had already fallen in love with the LED wash lights after trialling them at a
demonstration in Edinburgh late last year. “We were hugely impressed then, and
once again they worked great. There were major storms during the build up and
spray constantly coming off the waterfall, which shipped large volumes of water,
but the P-5s took it all in their stride and worked flawlessly.’

In conclusion Supple said, “Once again, the P-5s provided the perfect solution,
delivering great intensity, colour response, smooth transitions and great reliability.
Credit also goes to Craig and his team, who were always willing to deliver even the
most challenging of design decisions.