Zeta lights up focal point in North Walsham town centre

North Walsham is steeped in history. At the heart of the town is the market place which houses a Grade 1 listed 16th century cross with clock, and 100-year-old water fountain. The water fountain has a heritage lantern on the top, which when illuminated, used to be a focal part of the town. However as a result of the monument being moved a few feet many years ago to a site with no mains connection, the lantern has remained unlit.

North Walsham Town Council was keen to restore the water fountain to its former glory by reinstating the lighting, however, up until now had been unable to source a solar-powered solution for heritage lanterns.

Zeta recommended its newly launched SmartScape Solar Heritage Lantern. Part of the company’s range of solar and LED street and area lighting solutions, the SmartScape Solar Heritage Lantern incorporates four integrated PV panels, silicone lens technology, Cree COB (chip-on-board) LED technology and Zeta’s intelligent Energy Management System (the Zeta PS800 Controller) to provide optimum, efficient LED illumination.

This unique, innovative system is specifically designed to capture and store solar power via its integrated PV panels, meaning it incurs zero ongoing running costs. Zeta’s PS800 Controller, an integral part of its LED solar-powered solutions, cleverly regulates the amount of power consumed by the LEDs at night and maximises the power going to the long-life batteries during the day, ensuring year round reliability.

With LEDs boasting an average rated life around 100,000 hours, SmartScape Solar Heritage is both built to last and low maintenance. Highly efficient silicone lens technology offers high optical efficiency and temperature resistance, flexibility at low temperatures, UV-resistance, considerable reduction in yellowing effect over time, and micro-crack resistance in harsh environmental conditions. This solar-powered heritage system is available in multiple lens options and delivers superior luminaire efficacy – up to 200lm/W, even light distribution, improved colour rendering (CRI) of >80, as well as reduced light pollution.

Fi Collett, Assistant to the Clerks said: “Preserving the legacy heritage-style lantern was really important to us and the SmartScape Solar Heritage Lantern is a perfect fit. When we posted the installation on our community Facebook page, we received lots of likes and positive comments, it has really improved the aesthetic appeal of our town.”