House finds a new home in gallery

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A lifesize replica of a semi-detached house is the latest installation at the UK's Tate Britain art gallery.

The two-storey, four-bedroom pebbledash house is an exact copy of where artist Michael Landy's parents live in Essex.

Every tiny detail has been recreated, from flaking paint to a Neighbourhood Watch sticker in the front window.

The piece, entitled Semi-detached, is said to be about the shared human experience of living in a space. It opens at the London gallery on Tuesday.

The inspiration is Mr Landy's father, John, a tunnel miner who was forced to stop work when a tunnel collapsed on him in Northumberland in 1977.

The sculpture is modelled on Landy's parents' house

John Landy was permanently injured in the accident and is still unable to carry out most physical tasks.

The replica house has been split in two, and the front and back stand about 40 metres apart in the gallery.

On one of the walls of the house, the artist has screened footage of his father sorting out his medicine, having a foot spa or holding a cigarette.

Visitors may be disappointed that they cannot wander inside the house - number 62 - as there are no real floors or rooms in the piece.

But the net curtains and even the toilet roll holder, which can be seen through the bathroom window, have been taken from the real thing.

Mr Landy's last major work, Breakdown, involved destroying 7,227 of his possessions in a former department store in Oxford Street, London.