Balfour Beatty to construct world's largest art project - PHOTO

Balfour Beatty has been awarded the £2.7m contract to build the giant Temenos sculpture in the Tees Valley.

The sculpture will have a span of more than 100m and will be up to 33m wide. It will comprise an elongated and asymmetrically shaped net of tensile steel cables suspended between two large steel rings.

Work is expected to start on site in spring 2009, with completion scheduled for the summer.

Neil Barnes, managing director, Balfour Beatty Regional Civil Engineering (Northern), said: “The Temenos project will involve working from pontoons over water and include the installation of a 45m-high mast to support the eye-catching structure, the various elements of which will be fabricated together on site and lifted into position as one piece.” 

Temenos has been designed by sculptor Anish Kapoor and structural designer Cecil Balmond, of Arup.

The £2.7m Temenos sculpture will be the first of five giant sculptures in each of the Tees Valley boroughs, costing £15m in total. Known as the Tees Valley Giants, they are claimed to be the world's largest art project. 

Temenos is a Greek word meaning land cut off and assigned as a sanctuary or holy area.