There are to be a total of six prints in the Sheffield/comic book satirical series, and the Star has reported that a Dawn of the dead-inspired Meadowhall poster could be a future subject.
The north tower refuses to come down without a fight
So, the towers have gone…but not without making life difficult for the team behind the demolition.
It was somewhat satisfying to see the north tower resist the “precise destructive qualities” of the Nitroglycerine explosive packed into its 1,250 drilled holes last night. About a third of the tower was left standing, resulting in diggers chipping away at its base until nearly half past five in the morning when the remainder of the tower came down.
This shambles of a demolition doesn’t inspire much hope in Eon’s ability to deliver a worthy replacement.
Alongside coverage in the media (BBC, ITV, The Star), photos and videos from the public have started appearing online. A selection appear below; it is a shame that some people cheered as the towers were demolished.
This is my favourite video, as the night vision and audio make it quite eerie:
The banter in the build up to this is funny:
And a fitting (and deliberate?) musical reference at the start of this:
People mourning the loss of the towers, and those searching out more memorabilia, may be interested to see that Archipelago Gallery, formerly of Ecclesall Road South but now located on Sidney Street, has produced a screen print by Jim Connolly to commemorate their sad demolition:
TERROR...! At Tinsley Towers!
I have no links to the gallery or artist but I do like this, and at £10 for a poster print, I am tempted to get one. Signed originals are also available for £125. The similarity in style to the paintings of Isaac Mendez, the artist character from TV show Heroes, has been pointed out…
Bank holiday weekend will see the towers bite the dust
As widely reported in the media today, the Tinsley cooling towers will be demolished in the early hours of Sunday 24 August. A viewing platform at Meadowhall will be set up for spectators.
I guess that the potential of the Towers as a fundraising opportunity was highlighted with the success of the cooling towers gift shop, and as a result Eon has got together with the University of Sheffield’s Archaeology consultancy, Arcus, to produce a souvenir book and postcard collection. The beneficiaries are the Rotherham Hospice and Neurocare at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital.
Less than two weeks to go; enjoy the towers while you can…
Just a quick post to show the Wordle word cloud that I generated for this blog. It is dead simple, just past in text, a feed for a blog (or any web page that generates a feed) or a del.icio.us user name and Wordle generates a cloud representing the most used words in the source material.
I wouldn’t have necessarily bothered posting the results here, but I was intrigued to see that the cloud generated for this blog was in the shape of a cooling tower. A coincidence? Try it now with your own blog and see what it comes back with.
Part two of the post that collects together a list of ideas to improve Sheffield (parts one to five)
Address the spiralling cost of public transport Ever before the price of petrol started going up, the bus fares in Sheffield were unreasonably high. In London, you can hop on a bus for 90p using an Oyster card. Sheffield may not be as big as the capital but is the city not of a sufficient size to apply the same economic principals? It is a far cry from the 2p single bus fares I used to pay when I was a child. Obviously we can’t return to the heavily subsidised days of the 1980s but if fares are lower in other big cities then there must be something First can learn from these revenue models. The least they can promise a pricing consultation and review.
Further develop Sheffield’s gay scene
It was good to see a successful South Yorkshire Pride taking place earlier this month. I’m not an expert on Sheffield’s gay scene, but it seems that over the years the city has struggled to maintain momentum when trying to establish decent venues that appeal to a LGBT crowd. Other places like Manchester and London have streets that are home to many gay bars and venues. I’m not sure whether this is the way to go for Sheffield - and perhaps these areas should develop organically - but a start would be for venue owners to realise that working together to establish a cluster of gay-friendly venues (in the city centre, not tucked out in Attercliffe) may benefit their business more than competing against each other until none are left. Or is Sheffield ironically too-friendly a city to support a gay scene?
Build a landmark building that will make the city’s skyline distinctive
So we are resigned to losing the cooling towers, but why not be brave and create a high-quality, distinctive and tall building in Sheffield that would sit proudly on the city’s horizon and be recognisable the world over? I sometimes think our town planners are overly-cautious with what they allow, perhaps due to mistakes in the past, but imagine if we had our own London Eye, CN Tower or Opera House? It wouldn’t have to be on such a grand scale, but a distinctive and tasteful development along these lines that compliments the existing skyline could be spectacular.
Promote more live music at Don Valley Stadium
The organisation that runs Sheffield International Venues recently announced a record annual turnover of £21m, but I would like to see more live music taking place at Don Valley Stadium. My memory, and some internet research, recalls ten stadium gigs at Don Valley since it opened in 1990, which averages at around one every two years. Surely we can do better than that. The Arctic Monkeys played Lancashire CCC ground last summer; would a homecoming gig at Don Valley have been more fitting?
Get both Wednesday and United back in the Premiership
Easier said than done, but this would be worth millions to the city in terms of raising its profile across the world, while making a lot of Sheffield football fans very happy. Obviously we can’t wave a magic wand to make this happen but the Blades are a well-run club, perfectly capable of mounting a promotion challenge this coming season and if Wednesday’s imminent takeover actually happens then it may not be such a pipe dream after all.
I hadn’t realised that Eon had agreed to host a temporary installation inside the towers by Turner prize winning artist Anish Kapoor before U-turning on this decision in favour of the permanent replacement work of art. This was a further blow that understandably left Cooling the Towers campaigners Tom Keeley and Tom James feeling tired and disappointed.
The debate continues over what exactly the replacement work of art might be and whether the council is capable of collaborating on something worthy to sit in place of the towers. I think the planning department has certainly delivered some stunning public spaces in the city centre, and elements of these (for example the cutting edge in Sheaf square and the spheres near the Winter gardens) could also be classed as art.
Obviously the replacement project for the Tinsley towers needs to be something on a much larger scale than these flashes of artistic inspiration in the city centre, so delivering this will be a massive challenge that needs everyone on board.
I can understand the frustration that the two Toms are feeling over their project, but it seems a shame they have pulled out of the planning process for the replacement exhibit. Described by the council as “instrumental and inspirational”, surely their involvement would give us the greatest chance to fully unlock the potential of the location and be left with a relic that captures at least a small part of their original vision?
Tom and Tom: your city needs you - please get involved again!
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.
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