Westport’s Sentinel standing proud

PEOPLE’S CHOICE ‘The Sentinel’, by sculptor Ronan Halpin. Pic: Michael McLaughlin


Westport sculpture wins prestigious national architecture award

Neill O’Neill

WESTPORT added to its list of national accolades this week, with the town’s ‘Sentinel’ sculpture and the surrounding ‘public realm’ space being named as the winner of the People’s Choice Award in The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) Irish Architecture Awards 2016.
The win was announced yesterday evening (Tuesday), much to the delight of Achill-based sculptor Ronan Halpin and Mayo County Council’s architect with responsibility for Westport, and the Sentinel project, Simon Wall.
The Sentinel was commissioned through a national competition to celebrate Westport winning The Irish Times Best Place to Live in Ireland competition.
The finished piece was proudly unveiled last year by US Ambassador to Ireland, His Excellency Mr Kevin O’Malley, whose grandparents are from Westport.
‘The Sentinel’ was among 50-plus projects shortlisted for this year’s RIAI People’s Choice Awards. Now in its ninth year, the popular RIAI Public Choice Award gives the public the opportunity to have their say by voting for their favourite shortlisted project.
This year’s awards received 180 entries – the highest in five years – across 17 categories, with 52 shortlisted in Best Commercial, Best Educational and Best Health Building, Best House, Best Housing and Best House Extension, Best Public Building, Best Cultural Project, Best Leisure, Best Public Space/Urban Design, Best International Project, Best Sustainable Project, Best Conservation and Best Universal Design.
Speaking after he was notified of the success, Simon Wall said he was delighted that the project had received such backing, and that the win is testament to sculptor Ronan Halpin and the many people who had worked hard on the project.
Cathaoirleach of the West Mayo Municipal District, Cllr Brendan Mulroy, congratulated his colleagues on the council and the management team who backed the project since day one, and said that it was fantastic to start his first week in the job with such positive news.
The Sentinel was first mooted during the lifetime of the now abolished Westport Town Council, and though it was backed by the nine councillors, there was some uproar when then town councillor Ollie Gannon suggested that the statue of St Patrick should be removed from the top of the Octagon monument in the town and replaced with the Sentinel. It was the beginning of much debate about the sculpture and surrounding public-realm space, which has now won the national architectural award.