The world’s largest Liver Bird was unveiled on Friday the October 20th at Liverpool Shopping Park. The team at 3-Space UK are proud to be associated with this piece as we arranged and coordinated the creation with Spin Master themselves.

Standing proud at 11 metres tall, the Liver Bird sculpture is made of fabricated Meccano® pieces in a nod to the area’s history as home of Liverpool-born toy-maker Frank Hornby and the first Meccano factory.

A joint commission by The Derwent Group, Liverpool City Council and Spin Master – the global children’s entertainment company and makers of Meccano, the sculpture was designed by internationally-renowned artist Emma Rodgers, who also designed the new Cilla Black statue on Matthew Street.

The new Liver Bird took more than a year to design and manufacture, used seven tonnes of steel and involved more than 1000 hours of metalworking. The new Liver Bird is expected to be a popular landmark for the local community and has been a popular subject of selfies since the unveiling.

The Bird’s unveiling came as Liverpool Shopping Park’s first retailers opened their door and marked the start of a six-month period of ongoing store openings at the £100m development. The park is expected to be the UK’s largest shopping park once complete at 727,000 sq ft and will create 3000 jobs.

David Lyons, chief executive of The Derwent Group which transformed the former Edge Lane Retail Park into Liverpool Shopping Park, said: “We’re delighted that we can celebrate our progress at Liverpool Shopping Park with such a wonderful, apt and creative piece of public art for the benefit of the local community. There’s hundreds of Liver Birds across the city but it’s a real privilege to say that we have one of our own, and the world’s largest, here at Liverpool Shopping Park. It’s also very fitting as the statue is made of Meccano and it stands on the site of the first Meccano factory. We’re expecting a lot of interest and think it makes the perfect backdrop for a Liverpool selfie.”

Jo Thompson, project manager from Spin Master said: “We are absolutely thrilled to play such a monumental and fitting role in this fantastic new retail venture. Meccano and its founder Frank Hornby have an enormous history of contribution to the city and community particularly around Edge Lane and having this history preserved until time immemorial with the Liver Bird sculpture marks the next exciting chapter. Spin Master would like to offer thanks to all who have made this ambitious project happen, including Andy and the team at Art Fabrications who have done an outstanding job in creating such a magnificent piece of structural art whilst enjoying re-living their childhood Meccano days in large scale!”

Andy Langley of Art Fabrications, which worked alongside designer Emma to create and build the bird added: “It’s been an intense project but this commission has been as absolute delight to be involved with. All our staff and subcontractors have come together and worked really hard as a unit to make this incredible sculpture and we all hope that people will enjoy it for years to come.”

Fun facts about the Liverpool Shopping Park Meccano Liver Bird:

• Emma’s original design used more than 300 pieces of standard Meccano to make the prototype bird, also known as a manquette
• The sculpture has been fabricated in four sections to replicate the look of Emma’s original Meccano bird
• The sculpture was made at the Art Fabrications factory in Leicestershire
• The new bird stands at 11 metres tall which includes a 5 metre plinth – making it half a metre taller than The Liver Building’s birds. The Bird’s wingspan is 4.5 metres wide
• The bird has been painted in orange, red, black, silver and blue to reflect the colours of both the Liverpool Shopping Park and Meccano logos

#designandbuild #liverbird #SpinMaster #3SpaceUK