Chief welcomes £6m Sandwell Gateway bid
SANDWELL’s regeneration supremo said today he was “looking forward” to seeing detailed plans for the West Midlands’ answer to the Angel of the North.
Plans were unveiled on Friday for a £6 million, 280ft structure alongside the M6 motorway at Wednesbury.
The giant design, called the Sandwell Gateway, will be visible up to two miles away from its proposed location at Junction 9 of the motorway.
The structure will consist of an elongated advertising hoarding “box” surmounted by a 131ft high sculpture of steel tubes, and has been likened to the iconic Angel of the North structure in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.
Sandwell Council’s cabinet member for regeneration and transport Coun Bob Badham said today: “We look forward to receiving a planning application for the Sandwell Gateway.
“The project is being put forward by a private company, but as cabinet member for regeneration I look forward to seeing the plans.
“Any application for planning permission will be dealt with on its merits by the planning committee.”
Geoffrey Barrett, a director of architects Crouch Butler Savage, said: “We see this proposal in the context of other major public art structures commissioned in recent years, such as the Angel of the North.
“Our structure is intended to create a very strong presence alongside the M6 motorway.
“It will be unique and remarkable, not just because of its appearance but also because it will be funded privately through its advertising income.”
The Sandwell Gateway structure is the brainchild of sculptor Colin Rose.
He said: “Anything occupying this site now needed to be of significant scale and have an equally strong presence. My aim was to create a vibrant structure with dynamism in the angled elements.
“The abstract structure of large tubes is a balance of forms which have relevance together, to each other, and also to the space around.”
The plans for the Sandwell Gateway are being submitted by developers Opus Land.
Share
