Four individual sculptures by the artist, Harold Gosney, have been successfully removed from Abbey Walk car park this week.
The car park was built in 1969 by Holst & Company of Scunthorpe at a cost of approximately £200,000.
The designs for the columns were inspired by drawings in the handbook of a car that Mr Gosney had at the time – an Austin Cambridge estate car.
From the designs, the sculptures were cast in situ, with concrete poured around metal bars (rebar) that formed part of the whole structure of the car park.
Since early January, GBM has been on site, taking the car park down to reveal a new open space not seen for 60 years. The company has already demolished the majority of the car park, clearing a large section of the site to allow free access to four individual sculptures that were remaining on the Doughty Road side.
To help with the removal of the sculptures, GBM employed specialist contractors, Gnat UK Ltd, who specialise in precision concrete sawing, to remove the sculptures.
Over the course of half a day, the two tonne blocks were carefully cut from their footings whilst being supported by slings from a crane. Once free at floor level, the reliefs were lifted on to pallets for storage.
“We said that we would try to save one of each of the four designs, and that was the aim of the day. It’s brilliant that the contractors have managed to get these out pretty much in one piece,” said Cllr Stewart Swinburn, Cabinet member for transport. “We always hoped that we would be able to do this, but there was always the risk that they would be damaged in the removal process, which is why we took the digital images early.
“There is some minor damage to one of the panels, and some damage to the corners of others where the rebar broke the concreate on cutting, but the overall damage is minimal.
“The next steps will be to look at where we can display these reliefs – we have had several suggestions from local people, we just need to work through these and other suggestions to understand what may be feasible.
“I’d like to thank both GBM and Gnat UK for doing this work, and taking the care that they have over the sculptures.”
The sculptures will now be removed from site and kept in a secure compound until their future is determined.
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