As the towers are due to come down, one very special shop is to be set up

So does anyone actually know when these are due to come down apart from sometime in the spring/summer? The campaign to save them and turn them into a work of art seems to have been out of the national headlines for a while now following the publicity on Channel 4, the online petition and the campaign’s MySpace site.

However, this isn’t stopping the Cooling the Towers team from keeping the campaign in the public eye with the launch of the a selection of memorabilia to be sold on a not-for-profit basis in a shop in the Millennium Galleries. Get your tea-towels, mugs, badges, plates and postcards now.

Aside from the memory of the towers living on through the merchandise, energy company Eon have offered £500k and an area of land for a replacement work of art on the site.

Although I was a supporter of the campaign to save the towers and will be sorry to see them go, I am fascinated to see what ends up being put there and am open to the idea that this new work of art could even be better than what the towers might have become.

Crucial to the success will be the bodies, organisations, individuals and council/government representatives that end up making the decision on what the work of art is to be.

The thing is, do we know the process for how this will be decided? What we don’t want is another poorly-planned white elephant for Sheffield.

In the meantime, take your photos of the towers and show your appreciation for the cooling towers on YouTube while you can: