God said let there be light -and there was light . But it is doubtful if He meant that there should be something like 20 halogen downlights pumping out heat in each of the Masonic Homes villas at the Tiwi Gardens retirement village. There seem to be more halogen downlights in the village than in all those apartments tarted up in the highly popular reality TV series, The Block.
Halogen Lights over stoves in the units were so hot that steam could be seen rising off hands on which there was moisture. Imagine the heat being pumped out in the ceilings , surely of some concern? Google halogen down lights and there is talk of them being not only damaging to the environment and expensive to runbut allegedly linked to house fires during the disastrous national batts scheme .
Installing large numbers of lights which pump out heat seems inappropriate for the tropics. Indeed, there is a body of opinion in Darwin that halogen lights are likely to explode in electrical storms. A fire in the residential section of Kormilda College involved a halogen downlight .
The Masonic Homes nursing home at Tiwi Gardens experienced a lengthy period when expensive night safety lights were blowing with great frequency. Nothing was said publicly about this and it has never been stated what caused the problem , how much it cost to rectify . From time to time , the fire brigade is called to the nursing home after alarms are triggered , the latest last week .
In the villas , after many months of strange events involving people clambering inside the ceilings, shifting batts about, a report that things had been seen which “ were not right”, somebody else climbed into ceilings and took quick photographs , Masonic Homes ( for Residential Care/Retirement Living/ Community Care ) issued a bulletin to all residents on January 3.
Under the heading LIGHT REPLACEMENT, it said : PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT FAITH CONSTRUCTIONS WILL BE UNDERTAKING A DOWN LIGHT REPLACEMENT PROGRAM COMMENCING TUESDAY 10th JANUARY . THERE WILL BE A POWER OUTAGE OF APPROXIMATELY 2 HOURS WHILST WORK IS UNDERTAKEN IN YOUR UNIT . It went on to say five units a day would be worked on. Questions or queries could be directed to Cathy Orr on 8922 6600.
Word went about the villas that the halogen lights were going to be replaced by LED lights at the direction of “SAFETY” authoritie . Then on January 16, a contradictory notice , headed VILLA DOWN LIGHTS was issued . it said:
“Thank you for your patience and cooperation with this project. We have now had THREE independent contractors look at this issue and advise us on the best solution. Heat hoods , or down light shrouds as they are commonly known, are currently being fitted to all villas. The original electrician (not mentioned by name ) recommended that the existing down lights be changed from dichroic halogen down lights to compact fluorescents . Unfortunately this is only a bandaid fix and will not stop future replacement globes reverting back to the old dichroic lamps .
“Advice received from the down light manufacturer on installing correct heat hoods and removing loose insulation away from the down lights will effectively dissipate any excess heat.
“This is in accordance with the requirements of the AS3000 wiring rules and meets the applicable AS3000 standards.
“DURING THE COURSE OF THE WORKS ANY NON COMPLIANT OR UNSAFE CABLING IS ALSO BEING RECTIFIED .” Further details and clarification could be obtained from Dave Moss and Cathy Orr on 8922 6600.
Tradesmen who turned up to insert the hoods were not from the biblical sounding FAITH CLOUD , took far less than an hour to do the work , no power was cut off .During discussions , it was said that the original contractor had " refused to come back " to Masonic Homes. Another fascinating comment was that there were so many downlights in villas that a "young apprentice" must have been instructed to cut them in to gain experience .
So now , with the hoods on, the lights still pump heat down into the villas, built with Federal and NT government financial contributions . The contradictory notices sent out by Masonic Homes raise many questions . For example, how come there might be any "non compliant or unsafe cabling" in the roof of a fairly new project ? Was there an external audit of the wiring , or was it left up to self certification? How do fluorescent globes magically revert back to dichroics? Were any compliance checks made of any work carried out during construction of the 34 villas? Is this hood insertion an el cheapo way of partially dealing with the situation ? There are other questions that a probing reporter could ask.
The ABC was made aware of the situation on several occasions , and once it discovers how Territorians cope with the loss of a pet goldfish it will almost certainly shine the spotlight on retirement villages. The Henderson Government was also made aware of the lighting situation and other matters of concern at Tiwi Gardens ,and it was suggested the MINISTER FOR THE AGEING ,Rob Knight, should call for a report into the design of and provision of other features in NT retirement villages. So far there has not been any sign of light or action at the end of the ministerial tunnel . However, in his capacity as YOUTH MINISTER , just this week , Knight, recently also rerouted into the Attorney-General possie , posed for a media photo opportunity on squash courts. It is doubtful that there are any squash players in retirement villages , but the occupants sure as hell know how to vote.
