22 November 2006

Garden Festival Sculpture to take Pride of Place at Otterspool Prom

A distinctive 2.8metre high sculpture, formerly part of the 1984 Garden Festival, is being revamped as part of Mersey Waterfront's Pride in Our Promenades scheme at Otterspool in South Liverpool.
 
Dhruva Mistry's Sitting Bull was originally installed at Liverpool's Garden Festival site more than twenty years ago.  It has now been brought out of storage and been hoisted into it's new home on a grassy area close to the promenade, where it will be repainted and restored to its former glory.  A new footpath will link the sculpture with the prom and Riversdale Road.
 
£1.4m renovation work on the prom began in September, with a package of improvements including new railings and better seating, bins and signposting.  The work is being funded through the Mersey Waterfront Programme - which is supported through the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).    Liverpool City Council is delivering the project as part of the Mersey Waterfront programme.
 
Louise Hopkins, Director of Mersey Waterfront, said; "Sitting Bull was voted the most popular piece of artwork at the '84 Garden Festival and Otterspool is the perfect location to reintroduce it to our waterfront.  It's a distinctive sculpture, which will help improve the overall appearance of this popular stretch of prom and complement the wider range of improvements currently taking place there."
 
Liverpool city council's executive member for environment and heritage, Councillor Berni Turner, commented: "Statues are always a popular feature of Liverpool's parks and gardens, so the introduction of Sitting Bull to Otterspool Park and Promenade is great news.    There is a huge amount of investment taking place in the Otterspool area that will result in the waterfront becoming an area that Liverpool people can be proud of."
 
Paul Lakin, NWDA Head of Development, added: "High quality, well designed and innovative public artwork plays a key role in regeneration, creating distinctive public spaces that boost tourism and encourage further investment. This much loved piece of artwork will help to promote a positive image of the area as well as enhancing the local environment for residents."
 
The design for the Otterspool project has been shaped by consultants TEP, while contractors Aggregate Industries UK Ltd are carrying out the work.  The scheme is due to be completed in Spring 2007

ENDS
 
Notes to Editors:
 
Images are available on request.

Mersey Waterfront is a far reaching programme set up to regenerate the City Region"s 135km (84 mile) coastline. It connects the waterfront"s communities and assets across the districts of Sefton, Wirral, Liverpool and Halton, and aims to create an internationally acclaimed waterfront to compete with cities like Sydney and Toronto.  Mersey Waterfront is funded through the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and is hosted by The Mersey Partnership - a unique alliance representing more than 420 organisations across the Liverpool City Region. For further information visit: www.merseywaterfront.com
 
The Northwest Regional Development Agency leads the economic development and regeneration of England"s Northwest and is responsible for:
• Supporting business growth and encouraging investment
• Matching skills provision to employer needs
• Creating the conditions for economic growth
• Connecting the region through effective transport and communication infrastructure
• Promoting the region's outstanding quality of life
For further information visit: www.nwda.co.uk
 
The European Union designated Merseyside as an Objective One area for a second time in 2000 as the area's economic performance - as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per head - was below 75 per cent of the EU average. Being classified as an Objective One area means that between 2000 and 2008 Merseyside will benefit from a £2billion investment programme - £910 million from the European Union, matched by £910 million from the UK Government and a further £400 million from the private sector. Draft figures published in January 2005 by the EU's statistical agency, Eurostat, revealed that Merseyside has bridged the performance gap - by 2002 local GDP stood at 76.13 per cent of the European average. When the 10 recent entrants to the EU were included in calculations, Merseyside GDP reaches 83.44 per cent. www.euandmerseyside.org

For further information please contact:
Heather Sewell, The Mersey Partnership
Tel: 0151 237 3910 / heather.sewell@merseyside.org.uk