PLASA and the PLASA Show played a key role in the evening, sponsoring the new Entertainment Lighting Award, designed to give lighting designers recognition for their creative work. Following a rigorous judging process, the Award went to the Old Man of Storr in Trotternish on the Isle of Skye, which became the centrepiece for an extraordinary night-time event as an average of 200 people nightly took the midnight walk to the spectacular rock pinnacle. The Storr forest, cliffs and corrie provided the backdrop for a subtle and imaginative light and sound installation by Dave Bryant.
Peterborough Cathedral, which dates to 1118, won the Heritage Lighting Award for a scheme, designed by Lightmatters, that mixes metal halide and tungsten halogen lamps to retain a consistent colour appearance on the stone work, while achieving optimum energy efficiency. Roof uplighting - using metal halide sources - reveals the clerestory arches and narrow, linear beams of light highlight the columns throughout the interior. This combination enabled dimmable lighting to be used for service lighting and low energy lighting at other times.
The Flavin-esque Bough 1, at the Oxo Tower Wharf won the Special Projects Award. A seasonal decoration created to attract shoppers to the Tower's craft and design retail stores in the run-up to the new year, the installation by Simon Corder is inspired by the idea of a bough, "like a broken branch from a fir tree, flaming".
Dagenham Civic Centre - an Art Deco-style listed building in East London - won the Public Buildings category for a concept by Gary Campbell of Campbell Design Lighting Consultants. New specifications for old fittings, linear cold cathode, reintroduced pendant luminaires and decorative table and floor standing lamps all contribute to this scheme. The expanded Awards presentation also saw Gary Campbell recognised as the first Lighting Designer of the Year.
The Workplace category winner was BP's new Canada Square facility - a 240,000sq.ft office over six floors with a high specification that sets new standards for trading facilities and has become the current benchmark for BP. The facility, installed by MEIT Associates, has used new luminaire technology, especially developed for the project, pushing the boundaries of the present lighting guidelines.
The Mini showroom on Park Lane was the Retail winner. The lighting design, by dpa Lighting Consultants, emphasises the fun and quirky interior of the BMW Group's Mini flagship showroom, echoing the Italian Job film. Discreet, adjustable discharge downlights are arranged in a neat configuration to give flexibility for the ever-changing car displays and colour filters have been used to further enhance the Mini identity.
A private residence in London SW3, transformed by John Cullen Lighting into a stunning contemporary home and a dramatic showcase for entertaining, won the Residential award. Layering low voltage, mains voltage and fibre optic light sources allowed the lighting to provide the background atmosphere while respecting the traditional architectural layout in a project which the judges described as "classic residential lighting which complements the architecture".
Lighting at the new south promenade in Blackpool created not just a new icon for the Blackpool Illuminations, but the Exterior Lighting winner. The Mirror Ball, installed by Blackpool Illuminations, was seen as the perfect canvas for a lighting show that includes lighting directly on to the ball, wandering onto the arena surrounding it with colour changes, effects and gobos phased in and out.
Private members' club Fifty scooped the Lighting for Leisure Award, with very different lighting approaches by Lighting Design In
