Ten years on, New York donates 9/11 girders to make London sculpture

Steel girders from the wreckage of the World Trade Center are to be erected in London next year to mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

This is the first image of how the contorted sections of the ruined skyscrapers are to be transformed into a permanent artwork to honour the attack's 2,977 victims.

They will stand on Potters Fields Park, beside City Hall, a few minutes walk from Tower Bridge, and will be erected next September, exactly a decade after the Twin Towers collapsed.

The girders have been given by the Port Authority of New York which is sending others to cities around the world for similar projects.

The idea is the work of the 9/11 London Project Foundation, a charity which will also launch a major educational programme in September to teach schoolchildren about the terrorist attack. The programme is being drawn up by Professor Geoff Whitty, director of the Institute of Education.

"We have been set up to ensure that the legacy of 9/11 is to build hope from tragedy," said foundation spokeswoman Sarah Matthews. "We will cover the events of 9/11 and its background, its consequences and its legacy.

New York artist Miya Ando, who designed the sculpture which will stand up to eight metres tall, said the project was "an incredible honour".

"My intention is to create a work that will serve as a visual symbol for peace and tolerance and which also looks to the future," she said.

But Jilly Finch, 59, secretary of the local Shad Thames Residents Association, said the sculpture was "violent". She said: "It's so in your face that people won't be able to pass by or overlook it. It's not something that promotes peace — it draws attention to violence."

The project has the backing of Southwark council officers, who recommend that the council's planning committee approve the project tomorrow.