Arnold Bennett Statue

Client: Stoke City Council

Value: £9,500

This project comprised of the construction of an accessible plinth and the installation of a 1.8m high statue of the famous novelist, playwright and essayist, Arnold Bennett, from Stoke on Trent.  The statue is sited north of The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, off Bethesda Street, Hanley in an area of public realm which was recently completed. 

The statue was commissioned by the Arnold Bennett Society, funded by the Denise Coates Foundation and gifted to the city. The Arnold Bennett society worked with local sculptors Michael Talbot and Carl Payne to create the statue and Horticon Ltd were engaged by Stoke City Council to construct the accessible granite paving plinth for the statue, including core drilling the plinth in preparation for the installation. Our works were carefully programmed with the artist to ensure there was sufficient time to install his sculpture before the opening. Mr Talbot, from Leek, said: “We've placed it at ground level so you can sit with it, have your photograph taken with it. It's not elevated on a plinth in a traditionally superior way, it's accessible to the public as he wrote about Stoke-on-Trent and the people of Stoke-on-Trent.” 

The Arnold Bennett Society expressed a desire to keep the statue concealed until the unveiling on Saturday 27 May 2017 and therefore we installed 2m high hoarding around the scheme just prior to installation of statue until it’s public unveiling. Further details about the project can be found here