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Permanent colour-changing floodlights could be installed to illuminate Victoria Tower on Castle Hill.
Kirklees Council has teamed up with Burnley-based architectural lighting experts LITE Ltd to install exterior LED floodlights which can create “dynamic” lighting effects.
Victoria Tower has been lit up several times before to mark certain occasions but now permanent lights are proposed.
The last time the grade II-listed building was illuminated was in March when the tower was bathed in yellow light to mark the National Day of Reflection, 12 months on from the first Covid-19 lockdown.
It turned blue back in April 2020 to thank NHS workers at the start of the pandemic.
READ MORE: What Victoria Tower looked like when it turned yellow back in March
Kirklees Council has now applied for listed building consent for a “new, permanent external lighting scheme” which involves installing light fittings with retractable brackets to the main and turret roofs.
Other changes include alterations to safety railings, the unblocking of an existing spiral staircase to the upper turret and the creation of a new hatch to the upper turret roof.
Castle Hill is a scheduled ancient monument which dates back at least 4,000 years. The iconic Victoria Tower opened in 1899 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s reign. It reaches a height of almost 997ft above sea level.
A series of artist’s impressions have been created by LITE Ltd, an experienced architectural lighting company behind the floodlighting of Edinburgh Castle, Clifford’s Tower in York and Bradford City Hall.
Colours suggested include warm white, cool white, red, green, blue and pink. Images also show two-colour combinations such as red and white and blue and red.
It is not known how much the Castle Hill lighting scheme will cost but documents submitted with the planning application by LITE Ltd offer some examples.
READ MORE: How controversial Castle Hill decision could could put other ancient monuments at risk
Clifford’s Tower cost £90,000, a cenotaph in Rochdale cost £50,000 and Bradford City Hall cost £40,000.
Documents published on the council’s planning website says Kirklees Council has a “conservation-led” approach to protecting the character and fabric of Victoria Tower and the new installations will be “reversible” wherever possible.
The document adds: “All the proposed interventions are required to maximise the future public use of the tower’s significant building fabric.
“Consequently, interventions will be reversible, if technically feasible and practicable, or at least should not prejudice future interventions, if these become necessary.”
Public consultation runs until November 17.
READ MORE: Amazing history of pub and hotel on top of Castle Hill
Please don’t light it up all the time. For a start it isn’t very green, and it’ll also become banale. Let’s continue to light it up to commemorate special events.