A FORMER Cumbrian school pupil is heading towards becoming one of the UK’s most noteworthy architects after his design concept for a new national prayer landmark was given the green light to be built near Birmingham.

Paul Bulkeley, who was educated at St Bees School in West Cumbria, won a global Royal Institute of British Architects’ competition to design the Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer.

He said: “As I’ve been part of the journey, I’ve realised that this monument will not only be awe-inspiring as a piece of public art, but I'm also convinced it will be loved as an iconic landmark of hope communicating the value of prayer to the visual and interactive age in the 21st century. I am delighted to be part of such a ground-breaking Christian venture and look forward to seeing the design now become a reality.”

The new public art will profile a million stories of answered prayer submitted by people from all across the UK and the new national landmark, Eternal, will stand more than twice the size of the Angel of the North.

Paul’s concept of a gigantic, never-ending Möbius strip; a surface which seemingly has no beginning or end, gained him the top spot in an international field of 133 entries from 28 countries.

Built on a site near Birmingham, it will be one of the world’s largest crowd-created collaborative projects, digitally linking every single one of its one million bricks to a personal story of answered prayer submitted from individuals all across the UK.

Using interactive technology and a bespoke app, visitors will be able to use their smart device, holding it against any brick to read the specific answered prayer story behind each one.

The unique thing about the project is that it has been crowdfunded and a million people will come together to crowd-create this piece of art with their stories of hope.

It is anticipated that Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer will create 60 new jobs during its two year construction phase from 2021.

Then it is expected to provide a further 20 full-time positions for employees to work for the charity in the visitor centre, café, bookstore and a 24 hour on-site chaplaincy support service.

It is also estimated that the monument will generate an additional gross social value of £1.4 billion, including £430 million in charitable donations.

They are looking for people to go to www.eternalwall.org.uk/testimony and share their answered prayers.