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Singapore – Perth, Weekend 18-19^th June 2016

I flew into Perth over the weekend straight on from Guangzhou for a week of work in Australia. One of my projects was recently completed and I wanted to go visit it (Palace Hotel) now that it was officially open and occupied with tenants. But the better part of the week was consumed with the last bits and pieces of commissioning His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth’s iconic and historic theatre dating back more then 110 years. After more than 5 years in the making through governmental and local city council hoops and approval processes we are finally seeing the light! The scaffolding is coming down this Saturday and hence all lighting installation works, aiming testing and commissioning in areas only reachable from the scaffolding had to be completed by Friday. Last but not least on Friday was the closing date for the IES lighting design awards in Western Australia for which we wanted to submit 3 projects. As you all may know preparing lighting design awards for submission is also quite some work let alone for three projects, the submission forms, the lighting designer statements, the client consent letters and last but not least the selection of photograph adequately representing your project, including the necessary captions and explanations…with all that now done and dusted I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend with my children…

His Majesty’s Theatre

This historic heritage building has been screaming for lighting and it is hard to believe that all these years it never had a proper façade lighting worth its majestic architecture. We started this project some 5 years ago and over the years you will have had the occasional updated through my blogs. To make a long story short sometimes last year we finally got the go ahead, finalised and agreed on the budgets, which had grown a bit out of control due to the excessive costs of installation mainly caused by the strict health, safety and security rules imposed by the city. But we managed to secure the funds, get the approvals and embarked finally on ordering the light fittings and ultimately this year the installation. The scaffolding went up late last month and finally tomorrow will come down with work practically completed. There will be a few more lights to adjust, but they can be reached from the inside. Everyone is now getting excited and looking forward to the grand opening ceremony which is to take place at 6pm on the 14^th July with the mayor, politicians, city council members and members of Perth VIP elite all invited to attend. Following the opening ceremony will be the inaugural performance of an opera, details to follow. As I had mentioned in one of my previous blogs working with a professional contractor who takes pride in doing a good job has been an immense pleasure. Focussed on getting every detail right, pro-actively thinking ahead and finding solutions when unexpected issues popped up, this contractor has been instrumental in the final success of the project. I can say therefore with confidence that the lighting that has been achieved is without doubt the best possible that we could achieve within the restrictions and limitations of heritage preservation and available budget. It is not often that you complete a project knowing that you could not have done anything better…this is one of them…all good things come to those who wait patiently…I can’t wait till the official unveiling as even during testing we had been instructed to do this under the highest discretion (by only lighting up parts at the time after hours) as to keep under wraps the final visual impact. Photo’s are not to be published and kept under embargo until official opening.

Palace Hotel

As a sharp contrast comes this project that was “sort of” completed last month and saw the main tenant (Woods Bagot Architects) move in with much fanfare and media publicity. This also is an iconic heritage building with a rich and near century long history in Perth. The contractor/ developer however had by far a lesser interest and personal pride to complete the project to the best of possible outcomes. Driven by costs control and possible other motives/directives unknown to me, the working relationship was always cold and distant instead of involved and cooperative. We had to initiate meetings, case for information and have still not officially signed off with our final payment still outstanding. We had a great working relationship with the architect, who ultimately moved into the building and we went to catch up with them this week to reminisce about the work done. The interiors now look great, but we do see the little things that could (should!) have been done better. The custom fixtures fitted with art glass (pendants and wall sconces) look nice but the colour of the light is too greenish. Partly due to the glass colour, but most of all because of the alternative linear LED strips that were used without consulting us, let alone approved / signed off by us. Typical case of the contractor shutting us out of the final production process and then putting us for a fait accompli with no further allowance to change the lighting strips to the correct type and quality. It bugs and frustrates me because it is so obvious, but from the feedback I get I seem to be the only one seeing it. Even the architect only noticed it only when I pointed it out. Part of the exterior façade lighting at the upper edge of the roof is already not working…why? It seems to be sloppiness of the contractor and unwillingness to do a good job, not wanting to go the extra mile. There is nothing wrong with the actual product, one of the high end brands and as we had already encountered during installation most likely due to poor connections and driver issues. Here is a link to the project: https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/31750195/public-set-to-see-inside-historic-cbd-hotel/

Have a great weekend.