Workington Town Centre Public Realm

Allerdale Borough Council and Workington Regeneration commissioned a series of new urban spaces and public art as part of the redevelopment of Workington town centre. This was made possible by £2.74m of investment from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA). The art projects complement Workington’s new retail development designed by CDA architects for S. Harrison Developments of Malton. The Arts Council awarded an additional £30,000 to support a temporary programme of public art events and projects.

As an associate of Working pArts, Cathy developed and implemented the temporary programme and led on The Lookout Clock and The Water Cycle as well as supporting the permanent programme, to ensure design quality and engage local people with the changing landscape of the town. The development has recently won construction and retail centre regional awards.

Cathy curated and project managed.

Project Information

Client: Allerdale Borough Council

Location: West Cumbria

Date: 2007

The Water Cycle (Toilets Central Way)

Workington’s new public toilets, on the ground floor of the multi-storey car park, opened on Monday 13 November 2006. Fish from the Solway swim in a specially-designed tank in the communal entrance area, provided by the Lake District Coast Aquarium in Maryport. Ceramic artist Paul Scott and writer Robert Drake were commissioned to collaborate on the design of visuals and text for the tiles and doors of the toilets, and have also influenced the colour scheme. Their innovative designs incorporate text and images relating to Workington’s history and into the ceramic tiling scheme of the toilets. The colour scheme (coal black, steel grey and iron pink/red) was inspired by West Cumbrian railway tickets.

The Water Cycle describes the journey of water to the site of the toilets and runs horizontally along the walls of the ladies and gents toilets. The History Line is a floor to ceiling text in the communal area near the toilets entrance. Each tile is based on a famous person, place or event linked to Workington and the design is based on the shape of old railway tickets. You Are Here….., which features on the back of toilet doors, above hand driers and in the baby changing and disabled toilets, consists of facts relating to different Workingtons around the world.

About the artists

Paul Scott has exhibited in Europe, North America and Australia and had a solo exhibition at Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery, Carlisle in 2003. In 2001 he curated the touring exhibition ‘Are You Sitting Comfortably?’ which involved artworks on, in and made out of toilets. He has worked on a number of commission projects in the North East and Cumbria and was one of three artists who created a series of tile designs for Tongue Pier as part of Harbour Lights, a public art project in Maryport. Visit his website at www.cumbrianblues.com

Robert Drake is a writer, willow grower and dry stone waller who lives near Wigton. He has lived in Cumbria for most of his life, has been writing and walling for twenty-five years, and started growing willow in 2000. His stonework designs can be seen in several places along West Cumbria’s cycleway network. The public toilet project was an exciting first-time collaboration with Paul Scott. To find out more about Robert’s willow-growing business, visit his website at www.blencogowillow.com

Look Out Clock

Lookout is an interactive, mechanical clock designed by artist Andy Plant. The clock is situated on Ivison Lane, just off Pow Street, next to the NatWest bank. The clock’s minute hand has a camera at the end and rises into the air on the hour to give people a panoramic view of the town via viewing windows on the spherical body of the clock.

The design of the clock is based on a ‘camera obscura’ – a darkened enclosure in which images of outside objects are projected through a small aperture or lens onto a facing surface. The new space also included specially-designed seating made by Alan Dawson Associates as well as the three-dimensional clock, a hollow steel sphere 4.57 metres tall.

Chimes have been composed by Matt Wand to play on the hour and on the half hour from the speakers built into the surrounding seating. The recordings use voices from interviews with local people set to music specially performed by Matt himself, Stainburn Steel Band and Dearham Brass Band.

The clock was officially switched on by the Mayor of Allerdale on Saturday 1 July 2006.

About the Artists

Andy Plant combines a background of sculpture, engineering, and large transforming theatre sets with humour, myth and the machine. Based in Todmorden West Yorkshire. www.andyplant.co.uk

Matt Wand Besides live performances, radio work, and installations he has written film scripts for short films and animations (one winning the Goldcrest award for best short in 1988) and has shown many small gauge movies in the UK and abroad. He also runs the independent artistic recording label hot air and designs the visuals and packaging for the many vinyl and CD items released so far.

Cathy provided project management support and community consultation for:

Coastline a new town square, Washington Street

The first completed public realm project, a new town square designed by Simon Hitchens called Coast Line, was opened in April 2006. The space is in one of the most prominent locations in the town and forms a focal point for visitors coming into Workington, whilst providing shoppers with an area to rest, meet and chat.

Coast Line consists of twelve large sculptural seats carved and sawn from boulders of red granite locally quarried at Shap, with some seats featuring cast clear resin bases underneath. A four metre high polished granite and resin sculpture forms the centrepiece. Coast Line also incorporates a bike rack and a ‘leaning stone’.

The area is paved in three colours of granite which delineate a map of the West Cumbrian coast. Blue pinpoint LED lights pick out the ‘Coast Line’, and red LED lights illuminate the underside of the granite and resin seats.

About the Artists

Simon Hitchens is a sculptor based in Somerset who was shortlisted for the Jerwood Sculpture Prize in 2005 and has had several important commissions including ‘Shining Silence’ which occupies a site opposite Harrods in London. Coast Line is Simon’s most ambitious project to date.

‘Beat It Up!‘, the drummers who performed at the official opening of Coast Line, are a Workington-based group formed by Soundwave, Cumbria’s Youth Music Action Zone. The group was trained by Hands on Rhythm.

Canopies

Over eight hundred glass panels by Alexander Beleschenko form canopies outside town centre shops in Workington, making it one of the country’s largest decorative glass projects. Inspired by the landscape and industry of the area, the canopies cover an area of over 1,200 square metres.

About the Artist

Alexander Beleschenko makes large scale architectural glass works for commission and exhibition. His work can be seen in places including Southwark Underground Station in London, the Herz Jesu Kirche in Munich and St. John’s College, Oxford.

Car Park grilles design scheme

The Jane Street façade of Workington’s new multi-storey car park is animated by twelve detailed ventilation grilles designed by Tom Lomax. The artist has worked closely with local company Alan Dawson Associates, who specialise in architectural metalwork, to produce the grilles using laser cutting techniques. Each grille, made of galvanised steel, measure 5 metres high by 2 metres wide.

The designs are inspired by anagrams of the word ‘Workington’, which were the result of a special one-day artist’s workshop held for year 5 pupils at St. Patrick’s Primary School, Workington in March 2006. The students had previously researched car parking in Workington for a Geography project. The grilles are illuminated by coloured lights to make the car park a creative feature of the town.

About the artist

Tom Lomax is a public artist based in London who has created works for the city centres of Birmingham and Leeds. He teaches at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London.

The Hub 

The Hub opened in 2008 and is the world’s first permanent outdoor 3D soundfield (a sound performance space incorporating lighting and state of the art 3D sound technology). The canopy, designed by BASE Structures in Bristol, is suspended from the surrounding buildings. The design was selected to meet the demands of the public consultation, to provide shelter as well as a new public performance and meeting space. The Hub incorporates 3D soundscapes composed by Illustrious Company (Martyn Ware & Vince Clarke ), which provide an immersive sound experience in the space. The soundscapes include elements of recordings made in and around Workington during a visit to the area in 2006. The sound system can be configured to broadcast any live or recorded sound.

Curwen’s Column

It is made from steel rails made at the steelworks in Workington before production ended in 2007. Dedicated to John Christian Curwen, who was MP for Cumberland and Carlisle between 1786 and 1812 and from 1820 to his death in 1829.

About the artist

Edward Allington, head of post-graduate sculpture at the Slade School of Art, University College London. Usually identified with the British object sculptors of the 1980s. He has exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the world, is represented in major collections nationally and internationally and has completed major commissions in the UK, Germany and France.