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 ben.thomas@startinsalford.org.uk

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 ben.thomas@startinsalford.org.uk