Derry City and Strabane District Council’s planning committee has approved a piece of artwork to commemorate workers at Derry’s shirt factories.
The committee gave the green light to public realm works which will transform the area taking in Harbour Square, Custom House Street, Guildhall Street, Whittaker Street, and Foyle Embankment.
Created by Chris Wilson, the sculpture will consist of three bell shaped forms with night time illumination.
The artwork is based on the shapes of spools of thread as used in the shirt factory.
No date has been fixed for when the artwork will be placed.
Planning committee chairman John Boyle said he was delighted to see the plans officially approved.
Said the SDLP’s former Mayor of Derry and Strabane John Boyle said: “Derry has a proud industrial heritage and one that deserves to be celebrated – not least the role of the factory girls who were the backbone of the local economy here for many years and supported households during the most difficult times.
“Their story deserves to be told, and this artwork will be the centrepiece of the public realm works that will transform this busy city centre area.”
A long-planned factory girls sculpture was shelved in 2018.
Artist Louise Walsh’s model of the factory girls sculpture was presented to councillors in 2015
The unfinished project had its share of delays dating back more than a decade and in the end cost £85,000 of public money.
Derry and Strabane councillors were told in 2018 that it would cost more than £330,000 to complete.
The Department for Communities (DfC) – which originally funded the project – said it no longer represented value for money.
But in 2020, plans for the new artwork were announced.
DfC allocated £156,150 to allow design work to get under way and an artist to be appointed.
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