Irwell River Park - Salford Meadow Sculpture Commissions
Brief to artists (November 2014)
Background
Irwell River Park aims to create an international waterfront destination that will catalyse the
economic resurgence of the Manchester City Region over the next decade. The programme involves
a sub-regional partnership of Salford, Manchester and Trafford Councils. It connects over £3 billion
of investment by utilising the natural connectivity of the River Irwell and Manchester Ship Canal.
Over £660 million of investment to date is transforming the riverside environment and creating new
opportunities for residential and commercial investment, which will build confidence in future
growth.
Salford Meadow covers an area of around 7 hectares and forms the northern anchor of the Irwell
River Park project. Salford City Council, in partnership with Urban Vision, has prepared a vision for
The Meadow and the principles of what they are seeking to achieve are illustrated on the attached
plan at Annex A.
It is an ecologically driven approach that will help to improve the educational value of the Meadow
for use by local schools and the University, provide new connections into and across the site linking
The Meadow with Peel Park, animate The Meadow itself with a range of artworks and other
community driven projects and ensure that users feel safe through selective woodland management
to significantly improve natural surveillance.
The Meadow
The vision will be delivered through a number of phases – with the first phase involving woodland
management works at The Meadow / Peel Park / Salford Museum and Art Gallery, the
refurbishment of Irwell Bridge and creation of a new walkway into The Meadow from the bridge, a
new footpath link across The Meadow, improvements to the riverside walkway along the eastern
edge of Peel Park and public realm, access and wayfinding improvements at the front of Salford
Museum and Art Gallery.
In the longer-term, the Council is also seeking to deliver a new bridge connection to The Meadow.
An international design competition for the scheme was concluded in December 2013 and Tonkin
Liu with Arup were selected as competition winners. The winning design can be viewed here:
http://www.ribacompetitions.com/salfordmeadowsbridge/winner.html
Project overview
As stated above, the initial phase of works associated with delivery of the vision for the Meadow and
Peel Park involves significant woodland management across both spaces. At present, both sites are
very heavily treed (a large number of these trees were not planted and have grown as a result of self
seeding) which causes issues in terms of personal safety. The presence of so many trees on the
southern boundary of The Meadow is also restricting views into the space from The Crescent
corridor, meaning that many people passing by are unaware that this unique area of greenspace
even exists. This is in stark contrast to the situation in the 1960’s where virtually no trees were
present on the site, providing excellent visibility from The Crescent – as illustrated on the
photographs below.
Views to Salford Meadow during the 1960’s -70’s
The woodland management works will be undertaken through two contracts – one focused on The
Meadow and the second focused on Peel Park. Both contracts will be complete by December 2014.
The attached plan at Annex A illustrates the scope of this work.
The City Council is keen to ensure that some of the timber arising from this woodland management
activity is used locally to help animate the Meadow. The City Council has therefore appointed Start
Creative to work with local artists to develop and deliver a range of sculptures across the site. A
range of other features including benches and interpretation panels will also be produced by Start
Creative in partnership with local residents to compliment the sculptural elements of the scheme.
The City Council’s Ranger team will also be working with local residents to develop and install other
features at the site including bat boxes and bug hotels.
Start Creative is offering five commissions to artists from the North West to create five sculptural
pieces to be installed at The Meadow in early 2015. The sculptures are to be made from five
trees/limbs from around the site and the locations for each sculpture is illustrated on the plan at
Annex A.
Irwell Sculpture Trail
The Irwell Sculpture Trail winds its way from Bacup to Salford Quays and features over 70 artworks
by a range of locally, nationally and internationally renowned artists. Peel Park already forms part of
the trail and contains two sculptures. The City Council is currently investigating the scope to add the
sculptures to be delivered at The Meadow to the ‘Chapel Street’ cluster of the trail once they have
been installed in early 2015 – some photographs illustrating the works which currently form part of
this cluster are provided below. Further details about the sculpture trail can be found here:
http://www.irwellsculpturetrail.co.uk/
The whole world is a garden –
Islington Park
Monument to the Third
Millennium – Peel Park
Fabric of Nature – Peel Park
Seed – St Phillips Square Rise - Former TGWU Headquarters, Oldfield
Road
Artist Brief
To use a section of a tree from the felled timber from across The Meadow and Peel Park to create a
sculpture that fits within the natural feel of The Meadow. The largest (and most visually interesting)
sections of available timber are from four large dying White Beams, but there is also a large London
Plane being removed along with smaller Sycamore and Ash, and a very young Oak. We envisage that
the larger, if not all of the sculptures, will be made from the White Beam. The photographs attached
at Annex B show the pieces of timber which are available for the project.
It is suggested that the designs for the sculptures all connect together in some way, to make a
coherent ‘set’, and that they all link to the trees that they are from. The theme for the commissions
seeks to build on the story presented by the winners of the international design competition for the
proposed new bridge connection from The Crescent to the Meadow which is as follows:
Meadow Story
In the meadow a boy found a curious seed
he put the seed in his pocket and started to run home
He bounded through the long grass in search of a way across the river
in his excitement the seed had jumped from his pocket
The next day he returned from the city to the meadow
from the seed a delicate tendril had grown to connect the meadow to the city
Artists are requested to focus on growth and the life of a tree and proposals for the sculptures
should therefore be based on elements such as seeds, berries, leaves, branches and other tree
forms. However, the pieces do not necessarily need to directly replicate such features and creative
interpretations of such features are welcome.
The Council is keen to ensure that the sculptures to be sited around the southern edge of the site
are visible from The Crescent, while the sculptures at the northern end of the site can be of a smaller
scale. The table below sets out the requirements for each sculpture and the reference numbers in
the table correspond to those on the plan attached at Annex A.
Ref No. Location Minimum height Value
Sculpture 1 North-west corner of the site – adjacent to new walkway into The Meadow to be delivered early 2015.
1m £500
Sculpture 2 Heart of the site 1.5m £500
Sculpture 3 South west corner of the site 2m £1000
Sculpture 4 Centre of southern end of the site 3m £1500
Sculpture 5 South east corner of the site 2m £1000
How to apply
Artists are asked to send a short glossary of their work with examples of previous sculptures of this
nature alongside a design proposal and image of their idea/ideas.
Artists can apply for one or all of the commissions, please state which location / value you are
applying for on each drawing submitted.
Please send proposals via email to [email protected]
Closing date for submissions
The closing date for submission is 16th January 2015. Start Creative, in partnership with officers from
the City Council and Urban Vision will then evaluate the proposals and the winning artists will be
informed of the result on 21st January 2015.
The work must be completed by February 27th 2015.
Annex A: Salford Meadow Vision and sculpture locations
Annex B: Pieces of timber available for sculptures
Piece A – Is the stem of the smallest White Beam, the butt measuring just under 3 meters (there is some decay/rot in the base), with the split limbs at
the top measuring just under 2 meters across, the butt is 450mm diameter
Piece B – The smallest of the three tree tops 2.5 meters butt to tip, 2m across the branches, with multiple branches, 300
Piece C - Is a small section of Cherry, 1.5 meters long about 200-300mm diameter with the top section splitting into the stumps of multiple limbs. A
photo can be provided on request.
Piece D – The largest of the tree tops, measuring around 3 meters in all directions, the main stem is 500mm in diameter, with multiple branches
Piece E – The second largest tree top, measuring 3 meters from top to bottom, and 3 meters across the branches, a split leading limb, with two tears of
multiple branches, the butt end, 450
Piece B – The smallest of the three tree tops 2.5 meters butt to tip, 2m across the branches, with multiple branches, 300
There is a vast selection of other material available from the meadows, though we see these being the most appropriate. We have not specified which
Piece is for which sculpture, although the largest sections will be needed to meet the minimum height. We have left the sections as large as possible, but
we understand that the sections will need to be reduced somewhat.
Further Information on the wood, the application procedure, and if you require any further details of the commissions can be obtained by contacting Ben
Thomas on [email protected]
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