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Erected in 1997, Andy Scott’s Glasgow Heavy Horse sculpture has become one of the best known artworks in the area. It is sited on Glasgow Business Park beside the M8 motorway, and stands four metres tall at the head.
The horse sculpture was made of welded steel bard which vary from 6 to 20 mm in diameter and was galvanized. In keeping with mangy of Andy Scott’s commissions, it offers numerous levels of interpretation: heavy goods transport, agriculture, the steel industry once prevalent in the area, and even the Clydesdale breed itself which was originally bred in Lanarkshire.
Construction date:
1997
Glasgow, Scotland
70 years
Glasgow Horse Sculpture Endurance Over Time: Project Inspection 18 Years Later
During a site visit on 14th October 2015, coating thickness measurements were taken. Generally there was a good adherent coating on all sections of the sculpture that were inspected.
Grass cuttings and stones located around the feet of the Glasgow horse sculpture had resulted in green/algae staining on the base plates. There was no sign of corrosion on any of the steel sections of the Heavy Horse, however there were only minor signs of corrosion located on the holding down bolts and wing-nut connections around the neck joint.
Out of all of the coating thickness readings that were taken around the horse sculpture at various points, readings varied from a maximum of 320 μm and a minimum of 106 μm. The coating on the steel horse sculpture has already provided eighteen years of performance life, so can expect another fifty years possible maintenance-free life, a total of up to seventy years.
Images © Paul Tait