Lake Shore Development Commission, Bristol

Urban Splash is transforming the derelict former Imperial Tobacco UK Headquarters in Heartcliff, Bristol, into a new mainly residential development called Lake Shore. Architects Acanthus Ferguson Mann are leading the design team. Atelier 10 are the M&E consultants. Ginkgo Projects are the Art Consultancy for the development. Juliet Haysom’s commission is one of three site-specific public art projects commissioned by Urban Splash to accompany the development. It will be located within the site’s extensive 10-acre landscaped grounds, which include wildlife meadows, numerous mature tree and a large man-made lake that extends beneath the main building. Juliet is working closely with the project’s engineers and architects to make a series of bronze rails that will run through the landscape and beside the lake, with a total length of approximately 70 metres. The rails will be plumbed into the building’s ingenious ground source heating system, which provides environmentally sustainable heating, hot water and cooling for the development’s offices and 364 apartments. A vital part of the heat exchange system is the return of heat to the ground, and the rail will perform this function during the summer. Working in parallel with the building’s air conditioning system, fluid pumped through the rails will be warmed by the sun before carrying the heat to be stored under ground. Juliet is investigating the possibility of extruding the rails’ form in wax and on site at Lake Shore before having them cast into bronze. This method will allow for a finished object that is tactile, fits the landscape perfectly, and will ensure that the rails maintain an immediacy often lost in large-scale work.
The design phase, started in summer 2007, was concluded in January 2008. The sculpture is due for completion in Autumn 2008.