I worked with South Tyneside Council to develop the artists brief and organised a design competition which was won by artist Irene Brown. Her figurative bronze sculpture Spirit of South Shields is redolent of ships figureheads and the figure holds a collier ship in her arms symbolising the areas ship building and seafaring heritage. The sculpture stands on a plinth where well known buildings from the area are also represented. The sculpture has been used by the local authority as an emblematic image for the town.

We then were able to commission Irene to create a further work in 2004. Fleet took the collier brig image further with a series of kinetic stainless steel sculptures sited in the flooded drydock and fixed on pivot bearings so that the sculptures can move with the direction of the wind.

Art on the Riverside was originally initiated by the Tyne and Wear Development Corporation in the 1980's and conceived as a way to enable artists commissions and residencies during the regeneration of the Tyne and Wear riversides, at a time when they were transitioning from centuries of heavy industrial use to a new era with housing, culture and community activity. I originally worked with Art on the Riverside as an artist undertaking residencies at Tyne Dock Shipyard and Rohm and Hass Chemicals in the early 1990's, then I became involved in commissioning when I joined Northern Arts in 1997, before leading on the scheme in its final years when it was funded by Arts Council Lottery funding.