Providing structural engineering advice for ambitious and sometimes unusual arts and cultural projects is right up our street, so working alongside The Tetley and Todmorden-based artist Matthew Houlding on their new sculpture was a project we were keen to get involved in.

Last week saw the official launch of the new sculpture outside The Tetley called ‘The Sun Shines every day forever.’ This sculpture marks a creative approach to public sculpture and spaces that will be the hallmark of the new cultural South Bank in Leeds and will stay in place outside The Tetley until building work begins on the new City Centre Park.

The artist Matthew Houlding was selected from an exhibition of proposals held at The Tetley in 2015. Over 4,000 visitors and school children saw the exhibition and voted Matthew’s proposal as the most appealing design. Now with the support of ASDA Foundation, Leeds Inspired and Leeds City Council, his plans have become a reality.

Our structural engineers worked alongside Matthew and the team at the Tetley providing structural advice to help bring the sculpture from design to reality and it was a fantastic, creative project to work on.

The Sun Shines Every Day Forever takes its inspiration from the desert architecture of California where the interior and the exterior, the manmade and the natural environment merge. Houlding’s sculpture is a constructed section of architecture that is landscaped with boulders, platforms, a palm tree and coloured Perspex panels. A half-built ruin, the sculpture connects the past and future and invites visitors to imagine what might have ben and might yet be. All generations, whether young or old are invited to explore and interact with the sculpture – whether the picnic in it, play hide and seek or simply play.