The ‘Needles Gateway’ – a recent addition to our streetscape – was unveiled in 2003. Funded by Thornfields Properties Plc (former owners of the Kingfisher Shopping Centre), it is situated in Alcester Street, beside the Post Office and the Public Library. This public artwork recognises and celebrates the town’s industrial heritage, as Redditch was historically the undisputed needle-making capital of the world.

The ‘Gateway’ consists of eight stainless steel needles. Each of them are ten metres high and set at an angle, with trailing ‘threads’ that link into the adjacent pavement feature. This work was funded separately by Redditch Borough Council and is made up of a line of five giant needles set into the pavement surface and linked with a metallised continuous ‘thread’ of paviours which are embossed with needlemaking terms and processes. These paviours were produced via street side workshops drawing upon the creative ideas of local people and also pupils from Woodfield Middle School in Redditch.
 

The whole installation, which is set against a multi-coloured curved architectural backdrop, to represent the texture and movement of fabric, was designed and executed by Eric Klein Velderman and Tim Tolkien of Collective Art Noise in Birmingham.