Shropshire firm helps bring on the heavy horses

Telford-based Alcoa Fastenings provided 12,000 of its powerful Huck brand C50L clamps to hold the steel metal sheets which make up the outside of the structure to the steel skeleton inside.

The giant sculptures are named after Scotland's mythical loch-inhabiting water horses.

At the first of two night-time events last night, artist Andy Scott's 300-tonne, 30m high Kelpie horse heads were brought to life by a light, sound and pyrotechnic display. It was staged by Groupe F, a pyrotechnic outfit which lit up the Eiffel Tower at the Millennium.

The Kelpies, near Falkirk, officially open to the public on Monday. They pay homage to the working horses of Scotland.

Scott said: "I have always been fascinated with horses and the heavy horse was at one time the driving force in industry until after the industrial revolution." The massive sculptures are part of the Helix, a £43m redevelopment of about 350 hectares of land between Falkirk and Grangemouth.

They are being launched at a two-night arts event, which also celebrates the opening of the John Muir Way, a new national pathway stretching right across the central belt.

Thought to be the world's biggest equine sculpture, The Kelpies and the new park in which they stand are being officially opened to the public on Monday.

Construction began in June last year, forming part of The Helix, a new £43 million project aimed at regenerating land in the region.

Each of The Kelpies weighs more than 300 tonnes, and is constructed of structural steel with a stainless steel outer skin, held in place with fasteners made in Telford.

Skeleton

System development manager John Rickers said: "The internal frame was designed, fabricated and installed around a tubular steel skeleton. A tubular steel secondary frame carried the many brackets to which the stainless steel "skin" was attached using C50L fasteners.

"The C50L's powerful clamp strength combined with Huck's hydraulic tooling enabled the sheet to be immediately shaped into place during installation, thus eliminating the additional time it would have taken using a conventional nut and bolt system."

Tim Burton, sales and marketing manager at SH Structures which designed and fabricated the steel skeleton, added: "The most time-consuming part of the work was the fact that the plates were flat and had to be cold formed ,or bent, to match the complex profile created by the brackets. If we had employed a conventional bolted solution, I have no doubt that the operation would have taken longer. Although The Kelpies was a special and unusual project, if the circumstances are suitable and based on our new knowledge and practical experience, we would certainly consider the use of Huck products in future construction applications."

American firm Alcoa makes a variety of fasteners, installation tools and lockbolts from its Telford base in Stafford Park. The firm employs 6,800 people at 32 manufacturing and distribution centres worldwide, including 401 in Shropshire.