Huge chimneys to be built on site of Tinsley Towers

Plans to build four huge chimneys on the site of the old Tinsley Towers in Sheffield is being called one of the most ambitious public artworks ever.

Nearly a decade after the controversial demolition of the two landmark cooling towers, a new artwork is going to be built in the same area.

It’s a set of four chimneys which will tower up to 30 metres over the area between Rotherham and Sheffield, filling a visual gap left by the knocking down of the Tinsley Towers in 2008.

The new work – called ‘Onwards & Upwards’ - is a mile-long trail that’s meant to highlight the past, present and potential of the area.

Sheffield City Council has described the piece, which is due to be finished by 2019, as a new cultural beacon for Sheffield''.

A spokesman said: “Four towering chimneys, each stretching up to 30 metres high and spread across one mile, have been designed to act as spectacular cultural beacons - attracting visitors from the length and breadth of the UK.

“Each sculpture is equivalent to the size of a 10-storey building, making it one of the most ambitious public artworks ever conceived.

“Together they have a collective height of 150 metres, incorporating 100,000 bespoke curving bricks, wrapped around a stainless steel core.''

The four structures will be a cracked chimney broken into 250 pieces and illuminated from inside; a hovering chimney; two leaning chimneys bridging the canal; and a curving chimney tied into a knot.

Alex said: “Tinsley has a proud and important industrial heritage and many chimneys once lined the canal.

“Through a process of architectural re-introduction, sculptural re-imagination and modern manufacturing, we have attempted to create a regionally relevant and nationally significant cultural attraction.

“The artwork is being made for Sheffield, by Sheffield, and represents a monumental achievement that is only possible by working in partnership with the unrivalled concentration of world-class companies found in the city.''

Previous projects by the artist include a hovering building in London’s Covent Garden, and a house made of 7,500 wax bricks, which melted over 45 days.

He recently installed a temporary sculpture in Tinsley which appeared to show a car hanging upside-down from a curling strip of tarmac.

Local councils and community organisers have worked with sponsors E.ON, who awarded the commission to replace the Tinsley Towers.

The towers were once part of the Blackburn Meadows power station and E.ON has now built a new biomass plant on the site