A £1m flagship arts project, hit by problems, appears to be collapsing.

Newcastle's Blue Carpet, an ornate floor of tiles made from recycled glass bottles, has been plagued with vandalism and technical setbacks since its construction began outside the city's Laing Gallery earlier this year.

Now it appears to be cracking up because a steady stream of water is seeping under the tiles.

Professor Ian Crook, an engineer at Newcastle University, says it is a serious problem. He said: "Water would appear to be creeping under the surface of the pavement and causing damage to these positions.

"It is a problem caused by art taking over the construction specifications. The artist has had a very strong influence over the colour and design of the pavement.

"It may meet the artistic requirements of the project, but probably won't meet the engineering performance in the long term."

A spokesman for the Blue Carpet project dismissed the claims and stressed the art work is still on track to open early next year.

He said: "We are going back to it to remove the timber edge of the work, and replacing it with a brass strip. The first row of tiles were breaking off, but these were temporary anyway and were there to allow us to carry out the rest of the tiling.

"We have no concern for the rest of the tiles breaking up."