Towers site design challenge to artists

ARTISTS are being offered the chance to design a multi-million- pound iconic feature to stand at the site of the former cooling towers at Tinsley in the Lower Don valley.

Sheffield City Council is preparing a brief for the £4m project, details of which are to be issued before Christmas, and designs are to be submitted early next year.

The site, close to the Meadowhall shopping centre, has remained empty since the two towers were demolished in August 2008.

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The proposed artwork would form part of the wider economic regeneration for the Lower Don Valley area which includes the proposal for an Enterprise Zone, a biomass plant proposed by energy firm E.ON, a link road to relieve congestion and flood defence work. E.ON has committed £500,000 towards the artwork.

The city council’s Cabinet member for business, Helen Mirfin-Boukouris, said: “This is an exciting announcement in that we have reached a significant milestone in the delivery of a brand new piece of public art for the city.

“We are now in a position to bring forward a brief that we can put to artists and engineers who have a significant track record in producing such art work and who can bring a high level of prestige and creativity to the project.

“The cooling towers represented high carbon output in a bygone era. The new artwork will represent Sheffield as a green city of clean energy production.”

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Coun Mirfin-Boukouris added that no council funds would be used to develop the project but that the artwork would hopefully help to attract new investment and funding to the area.

The next steps will be to consider the designs in late spring or early summer 2012. The final decision will be made by a panel made up of key stakeholders and community representatives including local business, industry, land owners, Arts Council England, other arts organisations and Tinsley community forum.

Funding could come from a range of areas such as grants, trusts, arts bodies and national organisations. There is no set date for the delivery of the artwork.