Colin Davidson art works to appear on city’s waterfront, but one local councillor says “I don’t feel this is good value for money”
DUP councillors have come out against a controversial £1.3 million sculpture project for Bangor.
At a local council committee meeting this week, some party members voted against three major art sculptures for the Bangor waterfront area, which are in the process of being finished by renowned local artist Colin Davidson.
Davidson, who lives in the Bangor area, is perhaps Northern Ireland’s most famous artist currently working, and is known for portraits of public figures, including Queen Elizabeth II, as well as a recent sculpture of George Mitchell, which stands in front of the Queen’s University Lanyon Building.
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Earlier this summer, Bangor residents claimed they had been blanked by the authorities, including Stormont and Ards and North Down Borough Council, when they asked questions about the costs for the three sculptures involved in the project, and how they were commissioned.
There was no public tendering or competitive process for the project, as is the norm for public procurement. Residents from the Ards and North Down Resident’s Voice group said that while they had no issue with the chosen artist, they felt accountability had been jettisoned by the public bodies who had failed to provide a competitive process for the award. A representative from the group said: “we’re ratepayers, it’s our money.”
Ards and North Down Borough Council said: “In discussion with the principal funder, the Department for Communities, the council decided to commission Colin Davidson via direct award.”
The Department for Communities said: “The procurement route taken by the council was in compliance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.” It said: “Regulation 32 (2) (b) (i) of The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 allows for the direct procurement of a unique piece of art.”
According to DfC, the total cost of the Bangor installations is estimated to be in the region of £1.287 million, of which DfC will contribute £1.05 million. The remainder of the funding, over £200,000, will be provided by the council.
The ‘Rise’ installation in Belfast, otherwise known as ‘The Balls on the Falls’ went to competitive public tender in 2008. It cost less than half the Davidson project, at £486,000.
The council’s Place and Prosperity Committee this week was asked to note and approve a progress report and the continuation of the project. While all the other parties in the chamber at Church Street in Newtownards noted and approved the project, members from the DUP gave a dissenting voice.
DUP Alderman Robert Adair told the chamber: “I have consistently been in opposition to this project, and that opposition has not changed. I will be voting against the recommendation here tonight.
“I cast my mind back to a number of years ago at this very committee, when we were discussing a sculpture here for the most easterly point of the whole island of Ireland at Burr Point, Ballyhalbert. The sculpture there had been damaged due to coastal elements, and it was going to cost £5,000 to put in a new one. The to-ing and fro-ing in this committee, with members saying £5,000 was too much – yet here we have sculptures at over a million.
“I don’t feel this is good value for money, and many of our ratepayers feel the same.”
UUP Councillor Criag Blaney said: “I am very happy with the progress these sculptures have made. A lot of this money is not from the council, and had we refused to move on with this process, and not get these sculptures, we would have lost that money. £800,000 is a significant amount, and this would have been lost to another borough.”
In a vote, nine elected representatives supported approving the update and furthering the project to its conclusion, while two DUP councillors voted against it, and one abstained.
A council officer report on the project provided to the committee states: “These bespoke pieces of artwork will be a significant art regeneration project but moreover, these will be a fitting complement to the wider Queens Parade and Bangor Waterfront redevelopment projects.
“Each of the three bronze hand sculptures will have standalone lighting columns nearby to produce directional lighting towards the sculpture, therefore creating different shadow shapes on to an adjacent wall or on the ground. The type of lighting, and their directional positioning, will maximise the amount of light cast on to the ground or adjacent wall, and additionally avoid interference with biodiversity (i.e. bats).”
Each sculpture will feature a pair of hands in varying configurations. The first, called ‘The Dove’ will have hands positioned to produce a dove shaped shadow onto the ground at Marine Gardens. The second, called ‘The Swan’ will be to the west of the existing Queens Parade car park, and will feature a hands sculpture positioned to produce a swan shaped shadow onto an adjacent wall. The third, called ‘The Crab’ will be on the Eisenhower Pier, it again will be a sculpture of hands, this time producing a crab shaped shadow.
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