The Hope Sculpture
A Glasgow Official COP26 Legacy Project.
Steuart Padwick’s Hope Sculpture is the UK’s first cement free concrete superstructure achieving a 75% reduction in CO2.
The Hope Sculpture by Steuart Padwick, at Cuningar Loop is part of a gift from over 50 companies to Glasgow and South Lanarkshire.
Located at Clyde Gateway’s beautiful woodland park the monumental Hope Sculpture’s towering, 20m high elegant columns take their form from the brick chimney stalks that once covered the East End of Glasgow. Unlike its predecessors, this deconstructed chimney stalk is made from an innovative new low carbon 100% cement free concrete incorporating locally sourced aggregates and recycled crushed glass in the child. The age, gender, race neutral ‘Child of Hope’ on top, embraces the surrounding nature and is reaching out to a greener, hopeful future.
The lighting is soft low energy and respectful of the environment and of local wildlife, using fittings designed and manufactured in Scotland for the Circular Economy.
Leading Scottish writers, poets and local children have created Words of Hope that are engraved onto the Caithness flag stones at its base.
The team have collaborated with Mental Health Foundation Scotland to produce supportive mental health sign posting.
Click here to see a list of the Build Partners and Collaborators.
Hope
Dont doubt the flicker of hope.
Great flames are sparked by little pilot lights.
Douglas Stuart
Geraldine Baird MBE, resident of Rutherglen said: “We can’t wait until November when this meaningful artwork will be finished. We feel privileged to have this in our area and feel the Rutherglen people will benefit enormously. The Hope Sculpture will not only be a place for reflection but will become a meeting point and who knows maybe a place where we can hold music and literary events.”
Lee Knifton, Director of Scotland and Northern Ireland, Mental Health Foundation, said: "The Hope Sculpture is a permanent reminder of the work that we must do to build a wellbeing society where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.”
Councillor John Ross, Leader of South Lanarkshire Council, said: “The Hope Sculpture is a magnificent addition to the landscape of South Lanarkshire. It will serve as a very visible reminder of the care we all need to take to protect both our environment and our own mental health, and as such I truly believe it will indeed inspire hope in people in South Lanarkshire and beyond for generations to come.”
Alison Monaghan MBE, from British Geological Survey said: “The Hope Sculpture stands in synchronicity with an innovative underground observatory just a few hundred metres away, repurposing old coal mine workings for renewable heat. Together they symbolise how we can re-imagine on our industrial legacy and look forward to a greener future.”
Martin McKay, Executive Director of Regeneration at Clyde Gateway, said: "With Glasgow hosting COP26, the UN's major climate change conference, I can think of nowhere better for the Hope Sculpture, which symbolises the hope of building a greener, healthier future, to call home than the East End of the city - an area that demonstrates that rapid transformations are possible.
Communities in Clyde Gateway are used to welcoming global visitors and I am confident they will be just as proud of this legacy of COP26, as they were of the Commonwealth Games in 2014."
Hope Sculpture Location
The Hope Sculpture is a public art installation across 3 locations in Glasgow for COP26 and beyond. The 23m high Hope Sculpture is situated in Clyde Gateway’s beautiful woodland park at Cuningar Loop.
A walking and cycling trail connects all 3 sculptures.
