Play Sculpture is a Grade II listed building in the Birmingham local planning authority area, England. First listed on 9 February 2015. Sculpture.
Play Sculpture
- WRENN ID
- spare-courtyard-ash
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Birmingham
- Constituency
- Birmingham Yardley MP: Jess Phillips (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 9 February 2015
- Type
- Sculpture
- Address
- Play Sculpture, Curtis Gardens, Fox Hollies Road, Acocks Green
- OS grid reference
- SP 113 825
- Coordinates
- 52.44081, -1.83486
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Play Sculpture is an abstract children's play sculpture created around 1960 by the sculptor John Bridgeman, who lived from 1916 to 2004.
It is made from a metal wire frame that is covered and shaped in concrete, finished with lightly coloured metallic paint, although much of the paint has now peeled off. The sculpture is mounted on a tubular concrete base and stands on a large rectangular concrete slab surrounded by grass. Its design resembles a fish with a tail, featuring a central hole to encourage children to climb through. Notably, the tip of the tail has broken off as of 2014.
The sculpture is located within a Scandinavian-style landscape and playground that serves three blocks of flats built around 1959-60. This landscape was designed and planted by the landscape architect Mary Frances Mitchell, who was active from 1923 to 1988, for Birmingham City Council.
Local climate
Play Sculpture receives an average of 770 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 63% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 77% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 38 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 73% of listed buildings. Of these, 19 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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