Sailing the Tay as Whale Sculpture arrives in town


At Tipton based metal bending specialists, Angle Ring Company, there is no type of project that is off limits, as illustrated with one of the company’s recent projects, the Dundee Whale Sculpture, as it made its way to its resting place on the River Tay.

The 22-tonne sculpture, straight from the imagination of artist Lee Simmons, took a four day sea voyage on completion, departing from the south coast of England to its permanent home next to the V&A Dundee, to feature as a canopy as part of the new £1bn waterfront development.

The humpback sculpture is made up of 2,457 individual parts from Duplex stainless steel hollow tube, grade S32205 1.4462, many of which Angle Ring had the pleasure of working on.

In all, Angle Ring provided 570 individually different pieces from 60.3 OD x 2.77, 60.3 OD x 11.07 and 114.3 OD x 3 material using their cold rolling machinery to provide a range of components for further fabrication by the fabricator.

Fact File
  • Architect – Lee Simmons
  • Steelwork Contractor – Littlehampton Welding
  • Steel Bending Engineers – Angle Ring Company
  • Client – Dundee City Council
  • Location – Dundee, Scotland
  • Angle Ring scope of work - Induction Bending
“We love an architectural project at Angle Ring, as not only does it demonstrate the complexity of what we can provide, but it’s also very satisfying seeing how individual profiles become a sum of the parts when they are fabricated into the final installation. The whale sculpture is now a centrepiece for the city of Dundee, and something really unique that we can be proud to have played a part in.”

Daniel Barnshaw, Managing Director at Angle Ring