Firm's sweet deal for giant jelly babes

This sculpture of a giant jelly baby family was a sweet deal for a Staffordshire firm, which helped install it in its new London location.

The five resin statues created by Italian artist Mauro Perucchetti were erected next to Marble Arch yesterday.

Great Wyrley-based GSR Engineering was asked to help transport the sculpture to its new home and also created the specially-made plinth which the statues now stand on.

Roads had to be closed to enable the colourful display to be erected by the famous landmark. They are being put on temporary display as part of the City of Sculpture initiative by Westminster Council and will be on show until next April.

Dave Possart, who has led the project for GSR, said: "Our main business is steel fabrications — mostly for food industry machinery architectural work.

"But we have done quite a few artwork jobs like this before, although nothing as big.

"We have had about six of our people working on it since we were given the job about three weeks ago.

"It was fairly challenging because we couldn't dig any footings at the site. It's very tall — the biggest figure stands around 10ft, and with the base it is 17ft high — and it weighs four tons. That means there's a lot of area to catch the wind, so we have had to design a counterbalanced steel base that can't be overturned."

The result is a structural steel base covered in steel cladding to look like six cubes. It has then be painted a gloss black.

Mr Possart and his colleagues at GSR project managed the whole installation.

They had to organise the closure of a bus route and arrange for a crane and transportation of the statues and their base from Great Wyrley to Marble Arch yesterday.

"We've had to liaise with Halcyon Gallery, who are supplying the statues, Westminster Council, Transport for London, the Westminster parks people," said Mr Possart. "It was a very involved process."