Relic, a massive metal horse weighing about a tonne and a half, was unveiled at a new residential development in Chatswood on Wednesday, the work of Braidwood artists Suzie Bleach and Andy Townsend.

The piece survived a devastating fire in their Braidwood studio last August, the blaze otherwise destroying a space they had worked in for 25 years.

Relic is the centrepiece of a new, elevated public park created by Mirvac as part of its 44-storey, $750 million Era residential development in the heart of the Chatswood CBD.

"We're thrilled. We feel really excited to have got it there," Mr Townsend said.

The sculpture was put in place by crane last November and shrouded in canvas until this week. After the fire, Relic was finished in the sculpture workshop at the Australian National University School of Art. It is made from corten steel with bronze elements and salvaged industry objects within its abdomen.

The work was one of two in the studio damaged by the fire but still salvageable - the other a sculpture of the French explorer La Perouse is destined for the Red Hill shops in Canberra. That work is about to be poured at the Moruya foundry of Paul Westra.

Mr Townsend said both Relic and the La Perouse sculpture would always have special significance.

"Because they were witnesses to the fire, participants in the fire and show the marks of the fire on them," he said.

Mr Townsend, said Relic, commissioned by Mirvac, was the largest piece the couple had worked on and its sheer size - 2.5m by 3.3m - had been daunting from the start.

"At the beginning, we felt quite frightened by it. The idea of even a piece of it falling - we could have been injured by it," he said.

The couple plan to rebuild their studio but in the meantime have been working from their back verandah at home. They are currently crafting a piece, a steel, table-top diorama, for Sculpture on the Edge at Bermagui, which opens on March 1.

"I think we're recovering," Mr Townsend said.

"And we're just looking forward and looking ahead. We've had so much support and generosity and positivism from those around us. We just feel inspired to move on and get ourselves re-organised and making art again."

The August 15 fire is believed to have started from a spark from a piece of machinery that smouldered undetected for some time.

Mirvac development director Paolo Razza said Rel-ic had been selected from a number of artists' submissions and symbolised the area's all but forgotten early history.

“Most people today would know Chatswood as a commercial and residential centre, dominated by high-rise towers such as Era,” he said. “Yet it has a very rich history, first as a forested area, then as a centre of agriculture, industry and transportation before evolving into the vibrant CBD it is today.

“The horse played a pivotal role during those earlier years of settlement and this artwork is a reminder of the heritage of that past.”