Looping Boat, Sheffield

The Looping Boat is a landmark public artwork by British artist Alex Chinneck, celebrating the history of Tinsley, Sheffield’s waterways and industrial heritage. The sculpture depicts a traditional canal boat looping through itself before appearing to float seamlessly on the water.

The 13-metre-long installation, featuring a 6-metre-high loop, combined innovative artistic design with complex structural engineering. Due to its canal-side location, the artwork was designed to be transported in sections by water, navigating multiple locks and low-clearance bridges before being assembled on site. The project also required canal bed dredging, crane installation and UXO surveys.

Costplan Safety Services worked closely with the project team from the outset to embed health and safety into the design process. We coordinated the management of key design and construction risks, including working on and over water, complex logistics, heavy lifting operations, transportation, and future inspection and maintenance requirements, helping to ensure the successful delivery of this unique public installation.