Heatherwick's Boiler Suit is unzipped by vandals
- Published: 17 December 2007 11:52
- Author: Richard Waite
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- Last Updated: 18 December 2007 13:34
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Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in South London has blamed vandals for problems with Thomas Heatherwick's award-winning stainless-steel facade.
The base of the undulating 'Boiler Suit' sculpture has been cordoned off after a number of woven steel braids were found to have been unpicked.
Heatherwick Studio has not been far from the headlines in recent weeks. Back in October it emerged the firm was being sued for £2 million by Manchester City Council after steel spikes fell from the B of the Bang sculpture.
A spokesman for the hospital said there was no suggestion of design problems with the Boiler Suit installation, which encases the building's boiler house and is made of 108 interlocked metal tiles.
She said: 'We have erected temporary protective measures are we found some of the mesh coming away, which we are putting down to vandalism.
'We are going to be installing new material in the next few weeks.'
Boiler Suit won the Judges Special Award in the Patient Environment category of the Building Better Healthcare Awards 2007.
