The Art Newspaper

Costs of the white horse run away

Budget for Mark Wallinger's 50-metre high stallion has soared to £12m

By Cristina Ruiz. News, Issue 226, July-August 2011
Published online: 04 July 2011

White horse or white elephant?

london. The costs of building a giant, 50-metre high white stallion by artist Mark Wallinger in Ebbsfleet, Kent, have ballooned to £12m. Wallinger won the competition to design a sculpture at the new Ebbsfleet International train station in February 2009. Costs were originally estimated at £2m.

Now that detailed plans have been completed, the sculpture has a more accurate price tag on it, said Ben Ruse, a spokesman for the project, who adds that the £12m includes maintenance such as graffiti removal for a period of 80 years. “We are not seeking any public funding for this,” he added. The organisers of the project—Eurostar, London and Continental Railways, and Land Securities—have provided seed funding but will not make any further contributions.

Planning permission has been granted until April 2013, although when this expires, an application for renewal can be submitted. But Ruse said the project “can’t last in fundraising mode forever. We’ll have to take a view of where we are then.”