The Works – Incubating Innovation Design Brief

Tyseley Energy Park are looking for a talented artist located in the city of Birmingham to design an art mural for a new incubation space on site. The building will be used for magnet recycling, a hydrogen kitchen as well as business incubation. The building is over 100 years old and was formerly used for the manufacture of wire ropes that have been used in mining and for cranes.

The design opportunity comprises of three parts.

1. Mural (Section A on the diagram)- The wall space available for the mural measures at 27m² and we would like the design to encompass innovation, business incubation, collaboration, sustainability, energy solutions, heat, power, transport, recycling and community
2. Background of building frontage (Section C and D on the diagram) – The 27m² is part of a wider 146m² space and the artist can choose to have their art spill on to this larger space or simply have this painted in a background colour that compliments their mural.
3. Apex (Section B on the above diagram) – in the top left apex of the building frontage we would like to have the building name “The Works” with the words “Incubating Innovation” beneath it.

Background area to complement the mural

The frontage and mural to be decorated connects two vital parts of the site, on one side we have the 300-year-old Webster and Horsfall manufacturing operations and on the other we are developing the technologies that will shape the energy solutions of the future. The hope is that the mural can visually capture this historic legacy alongside our ambitions to create a greener, healthier Birmingham in the future.

The artist will have the choice to apply materials directly to the brick wall or on to a board that will then be mounted on to the wall. We also welcome mural designs from digital artists.

The winning design will be awarded £4000 to cover the cost for their time and any materials used. Access to a cherry lift and operator will be available.

Application process

Applicants are asked to submit one paragraph describing their vision for the mural, wider building frontage and apex alongside three examples of previous projects they have completed on a similar scale. Artists are welcome to submit outline sketches for their design as part of their application, but this is not essential.

Please send you completed paragraph and examples of your work to [email protected].

The deadline for project completion is November 2023 and we are happy to work around the artist’s schedule.

Please do not hesitate to contact [email protected] if you have any queries at all.