More lights on The Mint

New LED strip lighting has been installed under the centre plinth and against the base of the old Coining Factory building to provide lighting onto the pathways and sandstone walls. A spotlight has also been mounted to the Coining Factory’s saw-tooth roof to project a carefully cropped beam of light onto the suspended balcony on the back of the Rum Hospital building.

The upgrade improves both the visual presentation of the courtyard and accessibility by providing better lighting across the access way.

The lighting is expected to be a popular feature for venue hire. Previously when lighting has been required in the courtyard the venues staff have had to manually install and remove lights and snake extension cords through doors and windows to power them.

With works in the courtyard now completed our attention has turned to the lighting on the Rum Hospital front façade.

The verandahed front of the building faces onto Macquarie Street and, along with the Hyde Park Barracks and Sydney Hospital buildings, is part of one of the most significant streetscapes in Australia.

Both floors of the Rum Hospital have existing flood lights positioned behind the capitals of each of the columns to light the building’s façade. However, the existing 500 watt halogen lamps throw a fairly poor quality light and consume an enormous amount of electricity.

This week staff from our Heritage Team did an initial test of some alternative LED flood lights and wall washers. By replacing the existing lamps with LED lights we will be able to reduce the power consumption by a factor of up to 40 times while significantly improving the presentation of the building.