Festoon lamps create instant ambience at The Marina, Mindarie

An outdoor space that needed to feel warmer once the sun went down

The Marina, Mindarie sits right on the water north of Perth. Boats, bars and restaurants share the same waterfront. So the outdoor areas carry a lot of the venue’s character, from morning to night.

The team wanted their outdoor entertaining area to feel warmer after dark. They had a clear picture of how it should look. Strings of festoon luminaires overhead, running through the shade cloth and around the seating. Nothing harsh and nothing that would compete with the view.

They also knew what the site would throw at it. Perth summers run long and bright. Then the storms come in off the Indian Ocean through winter. Any outdoor lighting there deals with salt air, hard sun and heavy rain. Because of that, budget festoon strings tend to fail well before they should.

The Marina Mindarie has bought from us since 2018 and still does. So they came in with a short brief. Festoon cable and lamps, ready for their electrical contractors to install, built for a coastal site.

A long-lasting solution custom-manufactured to suit the harbourside location

Our festoon system has two parts:

• The cable loom uses double insulated VDE rubber cable with E27 lampholders, rated to 20A
• The G40 lamp is a 40mm lamp running at 12VDC, drawing a maximum of 1.5W

Our production team manufactured the cable and lamps following the requirements of our customer. The lamps were requested in clear, not the standard opal. And they were set to a CCT of 2200K providing a warm, golden light which mimics candlelight or vintage incandescent bulbs.

Then from our Sydney warehouse, we shipped the products to Perth. The 150 meter cable was suspended from wires supported by pillars holding the shade cloths. The festoon branches through the shades and wraps around the exterior seating areas.

A warm glow that lifts the Pool Bar every night of the week

The Pool Bar now has the ambience the team pictured. When dusk falls the festoon comes on with a soft warm brightness.

The opal cover on each G40 spreads the light evenly across the seating, so nobody gets a bulb in the eye. Each lamp carries an IP44 rating when installed as part of the festoon system. They are moulded from toughened polycarbonate and rated for ambient temperatures from -10°C to +45°C. As a result they keep working through a Perth summer and through the wet months that follow. The effect carries beyond a normal evening too. Regular guests get a better night out. Then when the venue books a function, the festoon already does the work and there is no hire gear to bring in.

There is also room to grow. Since the system is modular, The Marina can extend the run or swap lamp colours later. RGB versions are available, along with dimming through phase dim, DALI, 1-10V and DMX512. That mix of durability and flexibility is why the marina keeps coming back to us.

Further reading:

• Visit The Marina, Mindarie website