Speirs + Major were part of an initiative to re-design the public realm around Scarborough’s historic harbour, transforming it into one of the best seafronts in Europe.

Scarborough Borough Council commissioned public realm designers LDA Design to develop proposals that would enrich the waterfront area with innovative landscaping and lighting. Speirs + Major was appointed to work closely with the designers to create a nightscape that would attract people after dark, create a sense of place and lift the local night-time economy.

In order to reduce the dominance of the road, we decided to avoid using conventional highway light columns – although any solution we did propose had to be of an adoptable standard and luminaires had to be easily replaceable.

It struck the design team that Scarborough Harbour was very much a landscape of horizontal elements: the horizon, the sea, the jetty, the hill and the castle above the harbour. The only vertical elements within the composition were the masts of the boats in the harbour. These became the inspiration for a new streetlight that could light both the pedestrian spaces and the road simultaneously.

The new design consists of a tapering timber column rising from a black steel base sleeve. At the top is a 1.8m finial of light, lit by low-energy LED. At night these form a row of beacons which reflect in the water of the harbour. Two steel arms emerge from the column, supporting separate luminaires – one provides the road with warm white light while the other lights the pedestrian areas in a contrasting cool blue.

Scarborough harbour is now truly transformed. The team met the brief – raising the profile of the harbour, attracting business, yet remaining totally loyal to the spirit of Scarborough.