PLANS to ensure Sheffield’s Man of Steel can be seen by millions of people are a step nearer today after a company handed over a plot of land overlooking the M1 for the statue to stand.
The towering 30-metre high sculpture will be positioned atop a coal-black column near junction 34 of the motorway on a former landfill site off Meadowhall Road, Kimberworth owned by FCC Environment.
The Man of Steel sculpture – 50 per cent taller than the Angel of the North and costing £2.7m – is designed to embody the region’s industrial past, as well as celebrate the new technology sector that has helped regenerate the region.
But first Rotherham Council has to consider the planing application for the scheme, at a date yet to be set.
Mike Snell, FCC Environment’s General Manager for External Affairs, said: ”We’re proud to be able to facilitate such an iconic project for the South Yorkshire region by using this former landfill site to regenerate business and tourism and improve local educational resources.
“It is a project that celebrates enormous industrial achievement, yet will attract significant economic benefit to communities throughout the South Yorkshire region.”
The landfill site, off Meadowhall Road, Kimberworth, was a former quarry which was used for many years as a local waste disposal facility.
It was closed in 2005 and is now being progressively restored to grass and woodland, together with public amenity access.
A planning application for the Man of Steel project has been submitted and, if successful, FCC Environment will work with the Man of Steel project team, undertaking all development and landscaping of the sculpture site, making it open and accessible to members of the public.
Sculptor Steve Mehdi, who has designed the statue, said: “I would like to thank FCC Environment who has been instrumental in the progression of this project.
“FCC Environment’s visionary approach has enabled us to develop a project which will define the community of Rotherham and the wider Sheffield City Region.
“These two great regions have a wonderful industrial heritage and are now leading the way with a world leading new technology sector based at the Advanced Manufacturing Park.”
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