Salisbury Cathedral has just replaced the lighting inside the cathedral with a more efficient LED system that will provide a better visitor experience and has revealed medieval paint and even a never-before-seen blocked door.
Salisbury Cathedral on the way to Net Zero
Salisbury was the first cathedral to achieve Gold Eco Church status in 2021, awarded by Christian conservation charity A Rocha UK for its ongoing commitment to good environmental stewardship and this latest major project is part of its journey to net zero.
The project was completed with a generous grant from the Friends of Salisbury Cathedral. They worked with Yeovil-based Spectrum Electrical Group and used luminaires from industry-leading architectural lighting manufacturer ERCO to create a more sustainable lighting system that provides a better experience for visitors and those attending services and events.
The lights were used for the first time during Advent and allowed cathedral tour guides to show never-before-seen parts of the building, particularly high up where medieval painting was revealed in the arches and a blocked entrance to the former glazier's workshop above Trinity Chapel near the high altar.
The biggest impact of the new lighting, alongside reducing the risk of fire and improving the visitor experience, is reducing the cathedral's carbon footprint – it will provide energy savings of over 80% compared to the previous system and reduce CO2 emissions by around 25 tonnes per year.
The cathedral had already replaced the building's exterior lighting in 2023 and installed hidden solar panels on the roof of the south cloister in 2020.
Rev Kenneth Padley, Canon Treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral, said:
“Responding to climate change is an essential part of our responsibility to protect God’s creation. With existing halogen lamps reaching the end of their natural life, our aim was to reduce the cathedral's carbon footprint and provide high quality, subtle lighting to highlight the building's heritage. Christians know Jesus as the light in our hearts and in our world. We are pleased with how our new installation symbolizes this good news.”
The Cathedral's work to achieve net zero carbon emissions continues. There are plans to install similar LED lighting in the cloister and chapter house and to explore the possibility of a geothermal heat pump to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of heating the cathedral.
Further information about Salisbury Cathedral's commitment to environmental protection can be found here.
Photo: Martin Cook