White Light Supplies Lighting Fixtures for Covent Garden Christmas Decorations

03/12/2020

As we move into December, many buildings and landmarks across the country are now being transformed as part of the festive season. One of these includes Covent Garden and, in particular, the iconic Covent Garden Christmas Tree. Having become a staple of London’s festive celebrations, the Tree has returned once again in 2020, situated in the Covent Garden Market’s Piazza. Having supplied the lights for the Tree since 2012, White Light (WL) was asked once again to supply all of the lighting fixtures, control and power distribution.

The Covent Garden Christmas Tree is one of the most famous in the world, as well as annually being one of the most visited attractions in London. That said, this past year has been unlike any other and, following the outbreak of Covid-19, several similar festive-themed attractions were forced to cancel. WL’s Key Account Manager Dominic Yates comments: “As a company that works largely in live events and productions, we’ve learned not to take anything for granted this year! So we were absolutely delighted to hear that the Covent Garden Christmas Tree was still going ahead. As the technical supplier, we know we can deliver the project in the safest manner possible, without compromising on the visual wow factor it requires. We also know that seeing such a familiar emblem will hopefully put visitors in the festive spirit after what has been a challenging year for so many”.

This year’s tree was a Norwegian Spruce, standing at 60ft tall and weighing two tonnes. Working closely with Sculptivate and Lighting Designer James Hamilton, WL provided the technical support to bring their vision to life. Dominic explains: “When you are working with a tree of this size, you are naturally going to need a lot of fixtures! In total, we drew on over 30,000 of them. Led by WL’s Senior Project Manager Martin Strods, we had a team of five working overnight on-site; each complying to strict health and safety guidelines and ensuring social distancing was maintained at all times. In total, the project took just over 300 hours to complete”.

Alongside supplying the Tree, WL also provided lighting fixtures, control and power distribution across the Market Halls, Piazza, and Church Yard.

The lights were switched on last month and, unlike the normal switch on which is attended by thousands, this year there was no public attendance due to the current lockdown.

Dominic concludes: “We always knew working on this year’s Christmas Lights scheme would be different to previous ones. As a company, we were just delighted to once again play a part in bringing this now iconic festive experience to life. The Tree, along with the Market as a whole, looks incredible and I really cannot wait for visitors to come and enjoy it for themselves in December, when it is safe to do so”.