The £25 million Our Future Foyle Project in Derry~Londonderry which will create Northern Ireland’s largest public sculpture was launched (October 22nd)
Plans were unveiled today for a proposed £25million regeneration project which will transform the Banks of the River Foyle and Foyle Bridge in Derry~Londonderry and bring significant economic and health benefits for the city and wider North West region.
The “Our Future Foyle" project includes proposals for the largest art installation in Northern Ireland. An 800m long illuminated sculptural intervention, designed to become a positive landmark and help prevent suicide, is to be installed on the Foyle Bridge. A first-of-its-kind globally, this project has the potential to lead the way in community digital interaction within Europe and the rest of the world.
The concept has been developed over the past two years through extensive community and stakeholder engagement in a bid to transform the banks of the River Foyle and Foyle Bridge by attracting investment, culture and tourism, whilst delivering support for mental health through a series of interventions designed to address and raise awareness of suicide prevention.
The project will see an area along a 6 mile loop of riverfront including the banks and 3 bridges adorned with a series of transformative, cultural and health interventions which include three main elements. Foyle Reeds, the art installation and digital health intervention set to transform the Foyle Bridge into an illuminated sculpture of more than 12,000 individual reeds.
Foyle Bubbles, a series of 40 riverside pods; these mobile spaces will be designed to stimulate enterprise and job creation, and Foyle Experience which will add to the continuing regeneration along the rivers banks with a proposed sculpture park with digital and place based content and events to enliven the river.
All three strands of the project have been included in Derry City’s city deal bid. The project is spearheaded by the Royal College of Art’s Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design and the Public Health Agency Northern Ireland. More than 5,000 individuals have been involved in giving their feedback concerning how the river could be used to its full potential, and many of those ideas have been included in the plans.
Ralf Alwani, Design Project Lead and RCA Research Associate said “Today’s launch is hugely significant as it means we are one step closer to improving people’s physical, mental and social health in Derry/Londonderry.
“We have combined art and digital innovation and utilised partnerships with high profile partners across central and local government, the community and corporate sector which will help bring such positive changes to the City. The installations will be digitally interactive and become a symbol of celebration in the life of the city and its people, along the Foyle Bridge and Banks of the Foyle.
“The Foyle Reeds, in particular, will conceptually link the Atlantic Way and Causeway coast with the sculpture acting as a bridge between Ireland and Northern Ireland whilst itself attracting huge tourism potential through its interactive landmark status.
“The overarching ambition of the project is to help change the communities’ cognitive attitude to bring much-needed investment and regeneration to the area as well as positioning the river in a positive way that it evokes positive thoughts of opportunity, engagement, and activity.
“The project is now ready to move from design and feasibility to delivery. It has reached the stage where financing opportunities are to be pursued and the project to move towards implementation.
Ralf concluded: “We will now enter a period of public consultation that will inform a planning application and economic business case to ensure funding across the project and we urge as many people as possible to get behind the project and support it.”
In 2016 a review of health and well-being undertaken by the Public Health (PHA) in consultation with local partners identified that additional capacity and expertise were needed to stimulate new ideas and working arrangements to bring about sustainable change.
Brendan Bonner from the PHA explains: “Northern Ireland has the highest rate of suicide in the UK. The recent spike in incidents on the river has contributed to our strong desire to do something positive to help tackle this head-on.
“Research into mental health shows that art installations which evoke nature can make people feel less anxious; another shows that that investing in places that have meaning to communities can result in a sense of pride in a neighbourhood. The entire project has elements of both of these theories and we believe animating the river through cultural led regeneration will link and continue the regeneration of the city, the Foyle and the links between its three sister bridges.
“We have worked very hard with the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at the Royal College of Art and indeed our other partners, The Samaritans, Foyle Search and Rescue as well as regional and local government to ensure that “Our Future Foyle” delivers interventions that will prevent suicide incidences, promote a more positive perception of the River Foyle and Foyle Bridge, and drive up awareness of mental health across the city.
Brendan concluded: “Uniquely, this ground-breaking project has the ability to achieve city scale transformation and make a positive direct impact on thousands of lives, potentially influencing a city population.”
A public pre-application community consultation on the proposals will begin on the 5th November.
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