Kilmarnock’s Foregate car park is awash with colour following the installation of its newly re-coated gable artwork.

The car park sculpture scooped first place in Brighten Scotland – the national competition to find a public structure in need of a re-vamp using colour – and has been treated to a three-tone make-over using a special powder-coating technique.

Highland Galvanizers & Colour Coaters carried out the work at the company’s Cumbernauld base, where powder-coating is baked on to galvanized metal – a process which releases virtually no harmful chemicals into the atmosphere, unlike drying paint. This fusion of galvanizing and colour powder-coating gives a bright but durable finish capable of resisting rust and corrosion for up to a century.

The artwork, which was created by Jack F. Sloane, has been displayed on the car park since the mid-1990s, but used to blend in with its grey metal background. The newly-transformed sculpture is now much more prominent, catching the eyes of passing locals and anyone coming through the bus station or shopping centre.

Geoff Crowley, Managing Director of Highland, said: "This is exactly the kind of impression we hoped Brighten Scotland would make – there’s no need for towns to be grey and dreary, especially when we so often have weather to match.

-- Advertisement --

"A bit of colour can make a real difference to our surroundings and when the process means no maintenance is required to keep structures looking bright and corrosion free, it should be a no-brainer, really.

"The artwork was previously galvanized, which has allowed it to survive rust-free for over 20 years. This galvanized coating is good for at least another 50 years but now we’ve added the colour coating to make the sculpture stand out so people can actually appreciate the beauty of it."

Highland masterminded the Brighten Scotland competition as a way of encouraging more use of colour in the built environment around Scotland. Councils and local residents from all over the country were invited to nominate metal structures – anything from park benches to railings to artwork – which were in need of some TLC or simply crying out for a bit of colour.

Nominations flooded in from the length and breadth of Scotland and Kilmarnock’s winning sculpture fended off stiff competition to clinch the top spot. Highland’s technical experts were joined by a panel of judges, featuring leading steelwork artist, Andy Scott; John Glenday, editor of Scotland’s top design and built environment magazine, Urban Realm; and Dave Heflin of AkzoNobel, the world’s largest coatings manufacturer.

Once the Foregate artwork was selected as winner, Highland worked closely with East Ayrshire Council to select the best colours for the town’s new focal point.

Alison O’Kane, Planning Officer with East Ayrshire Council, said: "We were delighted to win this national competition and we are now even more delighted with the results.

"The Foregate car park is a highly visible structure within the town centre and this splash of colour is certainly eye-catching - it really makes the most of the existing artwork.

"This colourful make-over compliments perfectly all the other regeneration and environmental improvement projects which we are working on, helping to make Kilmarnock a great place to shop, live and work."

(GK)