One of the country’s top public artists has been commissioned to create a piece of public art to celebrate Belvedere and provide a stunning gateway into lower Belvedere. LINDA PIPER looks at the project.

GLASWEGIAN sculptor Andy Scott already has more than 70 public commissions to his name.

Now people in Bexley are being invited to select their favourite from two ideas he has formulated for a giant sculpture in Belvedere.

Working almost exclusively in steel or bronze, Mr Scott’s pieces range from Argestes Aqua to The Kelpies.

Argestes Aqua is a 4.5m high figure of a man staring out to sea from the most easterly point of mainland Australia, holding an ancient navigational aid in one hand and a ship’s bell in the other.

The Kelpies are a pair of giant heads from the mythical horses which inhabit Scotland’s lakes and rivers.

They are destined to stand taller than the Angel of the North near the mouth of the River Clyde at the Firth of Forth in Scotland.

Horses are recurring theme in his work and one Mr Scott, 45, hopes to repeat in Belvedere.

His first was the statue of a Clydesdale horse which stands beside the M8 motorway on the outskirts of Glasgow.

Now, in his first “dip in the water of the big city” he is hoping his first London commission will also feature a horse.

Mr Scott said: “I love horses and their anatomy, and working around them is fantastic.”

ENTITLED The Cob, one of Mr Scott’s two ideas for the Belvedere is based on the gipsy cob, a breed of horse commonly owned by travellers which still grazes on Belvedere Marshes.

He said: “We came down to Belvedere to have a look.

“I didn’t know much about the area and we found a very unusual and intriguing environment.

“It was a boiling hot day and in among all these big industrial buildings and warehouses, were these horses grazing on the marshes.

“It was fantastic and beautiful and a lovely experience.”

His second proposal is called Strive.

Based on the cable industry which was a big part of the area’s industrial past, Strive is a figure emerging from a coil of cable and clutching the two ends of the cable in his hands.

Mr Scott is very much hoping local people will go for the horse which, he says will be sculpted in a dynamic pose, in stark contrast to traditional horse statues - “most glaringly different to a very static and placid thoroughbred horse proposed elsewhere in Kent”.

This is a reference to the giant white horse being planned for Ebbsfleet, designed by sculptor Mark Wallinger.

Mr Scott creates his sculptures himself in his studio in Glasgow, rather than employing people to do it for him.

He said: “I enjoy the process of making it, welding the steel plates on to a metal frame “until it looks right”.

The Cob would be about five metres high and Strive, a little taller.

After being sculpted at his studio, the piece will be freighted down to Belvedere and assembled on-site.

He estimates it will take about nine months to create.

Mr Scott said: “I am looking forward to it and getting my sleeves rolled up.”

THE Belvedere public art commission is part of a £10.6 million Belvedere Green Links regeneration programme.

It is being externally funded by the the Homes and Communities Agency, European Regional Development Fund and the London Development Agency.

Bexley long-listed a range of potential artists offering different approaches.

After getting the opinions of residents and businesses in the area, the project team selected Mr Scott.

The scuplture will be placed on the roundabout between Picardy Manorway and Bronze Age Way.

To find out more and to link into the surveymonkey site to vote for your favourite, go to bexley.gov.uk/votepublicart