Heatherwick's design for B of the Bang, a £1.42 million 56m-high sculpture of 180 giant steel spikes, was unveiled outside the City of Manchester Stadium in 2005.
It was the tallest public sculpture ever erected in Britain.
The structure was commissioned to commemorate the 2002 Commonwealth Games and was named after a quote from former Olympic sprint champion Linford Christie and meant to symbolise the burst of energy as an athlete shoots out of the blocks.

However, one of its 180 steel spikes dislodged within two weeks, and a further 22 spikes had to be removed from the sculpture over the next four years.
Angel of the North creator Anthony Gormley urged Manchester City Council not to scrap the sculpture and wrote a letter to the Chief Executive Sir Howard Bernstein, where he described the 150-tonne landmark as "remarkable, dynamic and engaging."
He stated that "It is a great tribute to Manchester... and to allow it to disappear would be a loss not just of an inspirational artwork but also of the council's nerve."
The council decided to put it into storage, saying that it could be rebuilt at a later stage.
They said "Thomas Heatherwick's B of the Bang was a magnificent artistic statement and it was regrettable that technical problems undermined that vision."
The council sued the Heatherwick studios over the problems, settling out of court for £1.7m.
Danny Boyle said it was the inspiration for his asking Heatherwick Studio to design the Olympic Cauldron: “It goes back to the time I spent sitting under his B of the Bang sculpture.
I loved it so much; it’s a tragedy they took it down.”
Heatherwick's design for B of the Bang, a £1.42 million 56m-high sculpture of 180 giant steel spikes, was unveiled outside the City of Manchester Stadium in 2005. It was the tallest public sculpture ever erected in Britain. The structure was commissioned to commemorate the 2002 Commonwealth Games and was named after a quote from former Olympic sprint champion Linford Christie and meant to symbolise the burst of energy as an athlete shoots out of the blocks.
However, one of its 180 steel spikes dislodged within two weeks, and a further 22 spikes had to be removed from the sculpture over the next four years. Angel of the North creator Anthony Gormley urged Manchester City Council not to scrap the sculpture and wrote a letter to the Chief Executive Sir Howard Bernstein, where he described the 150-tonne landmark as "remarkable, dynamic and engaging." He stated that "It is a great tribute to Manchester... and to allow it to disappear would be a loss not just of an inspirational artwork but also of the council's nerve." The council decided to put it into storage, saying that it could be rebuilt at a later stage. They said "Thomas Heatherwick's B of the Bang was a magnificent artistic statement and it was regrettable that technical problems undermined that vision." The council sued the Heatherwick studios over the problems, settling out of court for £1.7m. Danny Boyle said it was the inspiration for his asking Heatherwick Studio to design the Olympic Cauldron: “It goes back to the time I spent sitting under his B of the Bang sculpture. I loved it so much; it’s a tragedy they took it down.”
Thomas Heatherwick