The hoop, filled with a phosphorescent liquid, is partially submerged below the pavement, with a mechanism programmed to make it rise and fall with the Bristol Channel tides.

[4] Words in both English and Welsh, written by Cardiff-based poet Peter Finch, are projected onto the pavement at night by equipment installed within the arrow.

A total of 120 responses were received from artists across the globe, with just five shortlisted – England's Tony Cragg, Lulu Quinn and John Kennedy, New York City's Roxy Paine, and Métais.

[5] Métais had created artworks for cities around the world, including Allotted-Time Eclipse, an elaborate hourglass at Jardin des Plantes, France's leading botanical garden.

Alliance was judged to have sufficient scale for the location at the end of The Hayes, which would sit between the multilevel Central Library, the John Lewis department store, and the St David's complex itself.