Head Above Water: Raising awareness of mental health

Creating a dramatic change to the skyline during London’s Design Festival 2018, Head Above Water is an impressive sculpture from award-winning British designer, Steuart Padwick, in support of the Time to Change mental health campaign.

Intended as a symbol of hope and compassion for all those who have experienced or are dealing with mental health issues and the people who support them, it is deliberately neutral in gender, ethnicity and age.

As a signatory of the Time to Change Employer Pledge, Ramboll was delighted to provide pro bono expertise to help realise the vision for this installation within a tight deadline. Using digital design that was undertaken concurrently to site investigations, the team was able to fast track the process and create the sculpture in just 15 weeks from concept to installation. Putting this into perspective, the manufacture alone would ordinarily take 12 weeks.

With no existing information available about the pier, a key part of the design process was to understand the capacity of the existing structure and, by doing so, define the maximum height limit of the sculpture.

To achieve the programme dates, the design process needed an approach that could fast track the design output and allow completion of information that could be used by suppliers for production purposes.

Head Above Water began as a model clay head, sculpted by Steuart, which was imported into a parametric model. This allowed several iterations of the design to be completed and reviewed with the design team in quick succession. The sculpture developed into a wooden piece made from cross laminated timber (sourced from PEFC certified forests) and is a model of sustainable smart design and build.

This stunning structure has now been relocated to Northfleet Transhipment Centre. Here it will rest with vegetation encouraged to grow around it - a symbol of recycling, rejuvenation and mental health awareness.

More than 100 individuals and organisations joined forces and worked pro-bono to deliver Head Above Water. “The great legacy from this project is the incredible camaraderie of professional people coming together wanting to do something amazing for the benefit of others.” Comments Steuart Padwick. “It’s in all areas where people are at the top of their game and I hope that one of the long-lasting things is the connection between all of us. For me it has been an absolute privilege.”