Gateway's big impact is revealed

These images show what a proposed 279ft high mega structure, combining one of the world's largest 3D advertising hoardings and public art, would look like next to the M6.

"The Sandwell Gateway" of developer Opus Land is being hailed as the West Midlands' answer to the Angel of the North. It will feature an elongated box surmounted by a 131ft high sculpture of eight steel tubes.

The scheme, revealed in later editions of yesterday's Express & Star, was being launched at a public exhibition at the Point One Building, Opus 9 off Axletree Way in Wednesbury from noon until 7pm today and it is hoped that a planning application for the proposals will be lodged by the autumn.

If successful, work at the Wednesbury site may start next spring and it may be officially opened in about a year's time.

Geoffrey Barrett, a director of architects Crouch Butler Savage Ltd, said: "We see this proposal in the context of other major public art structures commissioned in recent years, such as Gateshead's The Angel of the North, Nottingham University's Aspire, Manchester's B of the Bang and Dublin's Millennium Spire."

It is hoped the structure will generate enough income to assist in funding completion of the Opus 9 employment development site in Wednesbury as well as other community projects including establishing a bursary fund to support local students in higher education. The Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell will get a permanent announcement board on the northern side.

Other initiatives include mounting a 'web-cam' to monitor traffic movements on the M5/M6 link and to provide views over the district. Telecommunications masts on the Opus 9 site would be transferred to the structure with supporting equipment. An environmental monitoring station may also record and monitor weather and environmental conditions, including air quality.