Former steel worker Steve Medhi is to submit plans for a forty metre ‘Man of Steel’ sculpture to be built, overlooking the city of Sheffield. The piece is planned for a former landfill site near to the M1 Motorway and Meadowhall Shopping Centre, close to where the Tinsley Towers used to stand. This ambitious proposal is for the first of three giant sculptures which could stretch across the Don Valley. It is hopeful that this sculpture (which is twice the height of the Angel of the North in Gateshead) will become a well known landmark, a gateway to the South Yorkshire region.
The ‘Man of Steel’ itself will be made from stainless steel and be housed on a coal coloured plinth, symbolic of the area’s industrial past. The piece of art will pay tribute to the generations of workers who have worked in the industry and made Sheffield famous today. Mr Medhi hopes that the sculpture will be used to promote education about the city’s industrial past, and encourage enthusiasm amongst school children wishing to pursue a career in engineering.
The £3 million project which has been privately funded by various companies, as well as Sheffield, Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber of Commerce, should be complete by 2013. This will coincide with a global manufacturing festival, and also spearhead celebrations marking the centenary of Harry Brearley’s invention of stainless steel.