Gold Coast council to spend $2m on mammoth welcome sign which could stretch 750m along M1

THE Las Vegas arrow, the Hollywood sign and now the Gold Coast Gateway ... the hunt’s on for an iconic welcome to our city.

THE Las Vegas arrow, the Hollywood sign and now the Gold Coast Gateway.

The Gold Coast City Council has launched an international competition to find the best design to welcome visitors to the city as they drive along, or more likely are stuck in traffic on, the M1 to the north and on the Gold Coast Highway to the south.

But the welcoming symbol might not even use the word “gateway”.

The artist chosen will have to be able to work with a budget of $2 million, including the fabrication and installation of both signs.

It also includes any traffic control needed to install the signs, as well as crash barriers along the length of the artwork.

The famous Hollywood sign.

Four sculptures resembling silver ferns to be installed in Surfers Paradise — a much smaller commission with fewer logistic problems — had a budget of $330,000.

The scale of the welcoming signs is also not to be sneezed at, adding to budget pressures.

A mammoth work of art up to 750m long and 11m tall can be erected between the north and southbound lanes of the M1, just south of the Albert River at Staplyton.

The southern gateway will be much smaller, measuring a maximum of just 55m long and 8m in height, is to be placed in the median strip of the Gold Coast Highway at Bilinga.

The design does not have to fill the whole space but cannot be bigger.

Artists will have to keep in mind that motorists will be travelling at up to 110km/h and travellers must be able to read them.

The tender documents are calling for a “visually bold, expressive and memorable design”.

“It is intended that these iconic gateway artworks engage both the public and the media in a robust conversation about the City of Gold Coast and the role of public art in cities, making them both remarkable and newsworthy,” the documents said.

When the gateway project was briefly mentioned the city’s art plan last July, deputy mayor Donna Gates asked that they be easy to recognise as welcoming markers to the city, unlike the red pillion which marks the Queensland-NSW border on the M1.

Mayor Tom Tate said “realistically” the design competition needed to be put out to the world.

“Of course, I hope a local wins but that will be down to the panel and final presentations,” he said.

An external, six-person panel representing a cross-section of the industry will pick the five finalists, who will then be invited to further develop their designs.

The panel includes a state government representative, a council representative, a university academic, an indigenous representative, a nominee from the Public Art Reference Group and a nominee from the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects.

The same panel will then pick a winner from the detailed designs.

“Everyone will have a view or opinion about this work — that’s the beauty of art,” Cr Tate said.

“It’s completely subjective.

“Residents shouldn’t expect the final artwork to necessarily have the word ‘welcome’ in it.”

While the southern site has been proposed, Cr Tate council is yet to fully commit to the area.

“The southern site is earmarked for a zone near the Gold Coast Highway and airport,” he said.

“We will undertake further feasibility studies to ensure we get the best location.”

Cr Tate said it was the council’s aim that the gateways “engage, provoke and delight”.

“It will be a beacon of our cultural life, creating a sense of arrival and welcome for locals,

visitors and athletes,” he said.

As a part of the tender, the council is also offering an artist’s mentorship for a Gold Coast artist to work with the winning artist during the design, fabrication and installation phases.

The tender will close on December 23.