A Tyne Tees Television North East Tonight news special on the design, construction and installation of Antony Gormley’s ‘Angel of the North’ at Low Eighton in Gateshead. Title: North East Tonight Extra In the Tyne Tees Television studio presenter Mike Neville introduces this the first of three special programmes that will gives the viewer a chance to marvel at the skills North East welders and engineers given the task of erecting the biggest sculpture in the country. A montage of welders...

A Tyne Tees Television North East Tonight news special on the design, construction and installation of Antony Gormley’s ‘Angel of the North’ at Low Eighton in Gateshead. Title: North East Tonight Extra In the Tyne Tees Television studio presenter Mike Neville introduces this the first of three special programmes that will gives the viewer a chance to marvel at the skills North East welders and engineers given the task of erecting the biggest sculpture in the country. A montage of welders and platers at work inside the factory of Hartlepool Steel Fabrications Ltd working on the super-structure of a giant sculpture. One of the platers, Steve Turner, is singled out as being part of a team building something that is the hight of four double-decker buses and the weight of thirty-two African elephants. Over a montage of computer-generated images of said sculpture it is described as being the biggest and most controversial sculpture ever built in Britain, the Angel of the North. Title: The Miricle of the Angel As artist Antony Gormley is given a tour of the factory overseeing the ongoing work on his sculpture he talks about the enormity of the task he has set the engineers, computer programmers and welders who were to work on his angel believing it is like building the Tyne Bridge. Joining Anthony on the tour is Chris Jeffrey, Director of Engineering at Gateshead Council who commissioned the sculpture. Over a montage featuring both a model of the sculpture plus plans and designs he explains how from a structural point of view it is all wrong and difficult to make it work. Over a montage of archive clips featuring steelmaking narrator Andrew Friend talks about how Antony Gormley was drawing from the long tradition of Northeast engineering. Over archive of the building of the Tyne Bridge, it is explained that Gormley saw the bridge as a strong symbol and hopes his angel will reflect that. Speaking from his own workshop Gormley talks about using a wide range of different structural and engineering skills and believes the project is a collaborative venture that celebrates some of the things the North East is most famous for. Over more archive that features a ship launch and a maquette of the angel it is quoted that Gormley told his engineers that if the North East can build ships then they can build his sculpture. Over an aerial of the Gateshead site where the angel will be places traffic moving along the nearby A1 motorway, details are provided on both the enormous engineering challenges. Over a computer animation of the sculpture on the site Gormley speaks in voiceover about why he chose the site and how the landscape is activated by the motorway with 30 million motorists passing along it each year. A montage of some of the first thumbnail picture Gormley drew of the sculpture with the narrator explaining how even at this early stage he was grappling with some major engineering problem such as how to make the tiny base more stable. At his workshop several plaster casts of Gormley’s body which he typically uses for his sculptures resting against a wall. As he works with another man on a piece nearby a maquette of the angel on a plinth with the narrator explaining that Gormley had spoken with the Ove Group regarding the sculpture’s stability issues. In an office John Gregory from Ove Group talks about these issues and provides details on the solutions that they came up which was to place the structure of the sculpture on the outside to give it the rigidity and stiffness that it needed. In the office of Design Engineer Chris Lawrence at Newcastle University detailed plans of the sculpture sitting on the desk and Chris working at his computer next to them. On the screen a computer-generated image of the angel with Chirs talking about the work he did inputting the data taken from a maquette of the sculpture into the computer. On the screen the body of the angel being manipulated changes to Ron Jamieson another Design Engineer from Newcastle University who explains why using computers is cheaper, faster and gives you and the artist the ability to play a lot of ‘what ifs’ and make instant decision. As details are provided of who won the contract to build the angel the factory of Hartlepool Steel Fabrications who won. Returning to Chris Jeffrey from Gateshead Council details are provided about how the company was able to find a way of making the body even stronger. Inside the fabrication workshop of a workman at the controls of a computer control steel cutting machine which has been programmed with measurements provided by the engineers at Newcastle University. At a differnt cutting machines another piece being cut with the narrator explaining that it will be one of a 300 pieces jigsaw that will eventually become the angel and provides details on it is all now beginning to take shape. As welders and platers work inside the 12-and-a-half-ton head sparks flying. In another part of the factory workmen working on the main body where metal sparks are also flying. Mike Wood and Bill Stalley both of Hartlepool Steel Fabrications talks about the strange experience for their employees of working on something they actually get to see coming together and finished. Following the head being welded to the body Antony Gormley on a tour of the factory interested in all aspects of the work in progress. As he walks across one of the wings, he jumps on it to test its vibration. At Teesside University in Middlesbrough virtual reality re-creation of the finished Angel on site with Janice Webster from the universities Virtual Reality Centre at talks about providing these facilities to Gormley who visited as was given the opportunity to see what the angel would look like within the landscape. Back at Hartlepool Steel Fabrications the body has been loaded on a trailer that is being pulled out of the factory into the yards where a final check to see if the massive wings fit correctly is done. Over an aerial of the site and the angel below details are provided on the special weathered steel used in the angel’s construction called Cor-Ten and how it protects the angel from further corrosion. Standing in the yard is Mike Wood and Bill Stalley state they are happy with how the manoeuvre has gone. As a workman places a large sticker on the base of the angel final preparations are made in its first and last journey. Title: The Miricle of the Angel. End of Part One Part Two Travelling at night the convoy of three trailers containing the angels body and two wings’ head north from Teesside for Gateshead passing onlookers watching from the sidelines. At the site of where the angel will be placed signs of construction work changes to John Gregory from Ove Group who uses a model to show how the angel will be secured into the ground with 20 metre piles. Over a computer animation of it more details are provide on how the site was prepared and made ready for the structure ending on an aerial of the site. Now at Gateshead the body of the angel is lifted slowly into an erect position by a 500 ton and 300 ton crane. Watching from a safe distance onlookers many with camera to record the event and a woman a child watching from the window of a nearby house. As the lift continues Andrew Makepeace from Crane Company talks about this being the first angel they have ever worked on. Now erect the body is pivoted over the pedestal on which it will stand, and workmen assist the final manoeuvre of it over bolts. With the operation completed in less than thirty-minutes the first wing in reversed onto the site and is filmed by Gormley on a camcorder. Details are provided on changes that have been made, but the two-section come together perfectly. Following Chris Jeffrey, Gateshead Engineering Director talking about how things have gone smoothly so far, the second wing begins its lift with workmen using ropes to keep it stable in the growing wind. An aerial of the site and the wing being fitted perfectly into the body. With the installation nearing completion Chris Jeffrey, Mike Wood and Bill Stalley each talk positively about the angel being wonderful to see it at its full sized and a truly magnificent sight. Anthony Gormley as well as being impressed by the work is humbled to be a small part of this extraordinary collaborative adventure. An aerial over the site with the angel in position changes to a montage of clips taken from the programme ending on the now installed Angel of the North with the sun setting in the background . Credit: Narrator Andrew Friend Cameras Robbie Carruthers, Dave Dixon, Simon Elphinstone, Martin Graham, John McKeown, Phil Spencer Sound Claire Chandler, Stuart Middelton, Peter Rossiter Dubbing Mixer John Cook Research Clare Jeffery, Liz Sobell Editor Bernard Helm Graphics Keith Dover Executive Producer Jane Bolesworth Producer Derek Proud Retuning to the Tyne Tees Television studio Mike Neville brings the programme to an end by providing details on next weeks programme that will showcase the people of the North East rising to the occasion. End title: A Tyne Tees Television production. © Tyne Tees Television MCMXCVIII