NEWPORT’s iconic Festival Clock has been rebuilt in its new home after spending seven years in storage.
The timepiece, known as “In the Nick of Time”, was removed from John Frost Square in 2008 to prepare to Friars Walk.
It has now been rebuilt on a roundabout near Llanwern's new Glan Llyn development, paid for by developers St Modwen.
Earlier this year, a photo emerged of the clock being stored outside, prompting Newport City Council to assure residents that plans were still in place for its partial reconstruction.
The mechanical clock was originally commissioned at a cost of £100,000 to represent Newport at the Ebbw Vale Garden Festival in 1992.
Each hour, the structure would open to reveal the hidden characters inside.
It later found a home in John Frost Square but was removed and went into storage in 2008 for the city centre redevelopment.
Discussions over the clock’s future were carried out in 2011 including private sale, scrapping it, keeping it in storage, restoring it and relocating it. The cost of refurbishment was expected to be £59,000 with maintenance costs of £21,000.
Due to public feedback and a Facebook campaign, the council's cabinet decided against scrapping the clock in 2012.
A spokeswoman for Newport City Council said: “Newport City Council can confirm that the Newport clock, 'In the Nick of Time', is being installed as a static sculpture and timepiece on the roundabout at the Glan Llyn development.
“This has been done in partnership with St Modwen, the developers of Newport’s newest community, and we look forward to seeing the clock on permanent display once again in Newport.”
St Modwen, who offered up to £10,000 for the project, are five years into a 20-year transformation of Newport’s Llanwern Steelworks.
The Glan Llyn £1 billion project aims to deliver 4,000 new homes and 6,000 new jobs.
The artwork will be able to tell the time but will not open up on the hour in the way that it used to at its previous city centre home.
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