Artists and Projects

Far Flung Shortlist for Art for Places Sefton Waterworks Project

Five artists, architect practices and urban designers have been shortlisted in a competition to build a spectacular moveable structure based around the Leeds to Liverpool Canal in South Sefton.

Out of nearly a hundred entries, the architects from across Britain and Europe were chosen by a panel of judges as part of the Waterworks Project which is part of the Housing Market Renewal Art for Places scheme.

They are:

•    The Antillia Collective – Edinburgh
•    Nex Architecture – London
•    Bianchini e Lusiardi Architetti Associati – Cremona, Italy
•    Studio KAH – Bath
•    Duggan Morris Architects - London

The five competitors will produce more detail about their proposals as well as a model, with all five proposals being exhibited in late Summer. A winner will then be chosen in September.

The Art for Places project aims to integrate public art into development areas within the NewHeartlands HMR programme reflecting the identity of a particular place or community. Eventually three public art commissions will be created across Merseyside’s HMR areas, one in each of the local authority areas of Liverpool, Sefton and Wirral. The project is a partnership between NewHeartlands, the Liverpool Biennial and the Arts Council along with local authorities and Housing Associations.

The Sefton commission, provisionally entitled Waterworks, is the first project to be developed.

Paul Kelly, the HMR Public Realm Project Manager said:

“We are at a very exciting stage for this project and we had some fabulous design proposals from all over the world. The judges were incredibly impressed with both the number of proposals we had received and the standard of what was on offer. Making the shortlist has been a difficult decision as the canal has so much potential for both leisure and social use. We are looking forward to now seeing more from the architects as we enter the next stage.”
 
Roger Driver one of the judges and a NewHeartlands Board member said:

“We were amazed by the breadth and standard of the entries and how far they had come from. It was a very difficult decision to make as there were so many ideas for the canal site. We feel we’ve chosen the five best schemes and are now looking forward to examining them in more detail to see what more they have to offer the Waterworks project. It’s a busy few months coming up ahead of the exhibition in Summer.”

Click here to see the images on Flickr.