Landmark Lafarge sculpture in tourism award honour

A LANDMARK sculpture made using unique, luminescent white concrete from Lafarge has been named as the face of a new tourism campaign.

The Dream, a 66ft high statue of a girl's head with her eyes closed has been chosen to front the national Place of Interest Quality Assurance Scheme (PIQAS) by VisitEngland.

The assessment scheme is aimed at promoting quality and spreading best practice within the tourism sector and will provide places of interest around the country with a recognised stamp of approval.

Chosen by a group of ex-miners and designed by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, Dream stands on the former Sutton Manor Colliery in St Helens.

The miners applied for the arts grant for the project as they wanted to ‘breathe new life' into the site and remember its past life.

Near junction seven of the M62 motorway the towering head can be seen from miles away and is passed by millions of motorists each year.

Manufactured in pre-cast concrete, by Evans Concrete Products, it is made up of 90 unique panels. To ensure a perfect product the plant supplying the mix, Pinxton in Nottinghamshire, was closed to other jobs and dedicated solely to the Dream project for four months.

Around 190m3 of white concrete was supplied to the project which was created using a mix of white Lafarge cement and Spanish Dolomite and titanium dioxide pigment.

The artwork was also featured from inception to installation in a Channel 4 series, The Big Art Project in 2009.

Tom Griffiths, Lafarge Aggregates & Concrete UK Sector Manager said:

"It was a fantastic challenge producing the concrete for the Dream project, I am thrilled the sculpture has been chosen to become the face of the new tourism scheme"

Representatives of VisitEngland, the Northwest Regional Development Agency, The Mersey Partnership, St Helens Council, the Forestry Commission and the St Helens Tourism and Leisure Business Network gathered at the Dream site to unveil the PIQAS scheme.

James Beresford, chief executive VisitEngland, said:
"We are delighted to launch PIQAS at Dream in view of its regional, national and international significance.
"We hope this launch encourages places of interest across the country to sign up to the scheme and showcase their attractions to visitors worldwide."

St Helens councillor, Barrie Grunewald said:

"This reinforces Dream's significance as a forward-looking symbol of the positive transformation of St Helens and the wider region.

www.lafarge.com.uk