Work begins on new street project set to create Sheffield’s biggest mural
Work has begun on an impressive new mural project in Sheffield City Centre, which is set to be the city’s biggest piece of street art to date.
Measuring 483.69 square metres in total, the artwork will be painted across 6 facades of the brown-brick NCP building, paying homage to the natural topography which has defined Sheffield since the 12th century, as a city built on hills and rivers.
Sheffield graphic artist, Rob Lee, will be collaborating with prolific street artist INSA over the next three weeks, as their signature styles bring the whole north facing elevation of the NCP car park on Wellington Street, to life. For both artists, the new work presents one of the most technically challenging projects of their careers so far.
The mural, named 'Rivers and Hills' has been commissioned by Marketing Sheffield as part of the Sheffield Inspires campaign, which aims to highlight the city's positive attributes and global impact.
The mural supports one of the key themes of the campaign, Sheffield inspires greener cities, which celebrates our extensive greenspace along with sustainable initiatives such as Grey to Green, which are being used as a case study for the future development of other towns and cities.
Uniquely funded, the ambitious mural has been made possible thanks to several local businesses and organisations, who have helped collaboratively fund the work, including Sheffield BID, Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, Henry Boot plc, Sheffield Property Association, My Business Coach Limited, Taylor Emmet Solicitors, Colloco, HLM Architects, Bond Bryan, The Lime Trees and Reach Timelapse Ltd.
The project has also received funding from Sheffield's Festival of The Outdoors.
As the final designs for the mural project are being kept tightly under wraps for now, street art fans will be able to watch as the intricately designed new work progresses each day and transforms another key focal point of the city centre.
To see artwork insights and the latest updates as the new mural progresses over coming weeks head to the @VisitSheffield channels on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, TikTok, LinkedIn and BlueSky, plus Marketing Sheffield's page on LinkedIn.
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A multi-disciplinary artist, Rob has gained an international reputation for his mind-bending optical and graphic art (including the odd trompe l'oeil), with several murals to his name already occupying key walls in Sheffield and beyond. Perhaps most notably, he’s the artist behind the striking ‘Now Then, Then Now’ mural, which is prominent on Howard Street as you walk up into the city centre.
Originally hailing from Leeds, INSA is a graffiti writer turned fine artist and designer, who has proved himself truly unique in vision and accomplishment, amassing tens of millions of views online for his stunning video projects.
In particular, he is renowned for his powerful patterns and complex ‘GIF-ITI’ pieces, which create unique animated paintings, made via a laborious physical process involving numerous layers of paint and meticulous planning.
Speaking about bringing INSA onto the project, Rob said: “I’ve loved INSA’s work since the beginning of my career so meeting him at Upfest in Bristol last year was a treat. We hatched a plan to collaborate and a year later here we are. The building we’re painting seemed perfect for us and has allowed for an ambitious concept which we’re very excited to realise”.
Bringing more new art into the city centre, this new mural is just a short distance away from Sheffield’s tallest mural which was completed by artist Peachzz in June 2024, on the side of the Cubo building overlooking Pound’s Park.
A striking water wildlife mural, also commissioned by Marketing Sheffield to celebrate Sheffield’s Festival of the Outdoors, it’s hoped that this new street art project will follow in the footsteps of Peachzz’s piece, which has gone on to achieve international acclaim and was voted Street Art Cities' 2nd Best in the World, 2024.
While Peachzz retains the title for Sheffield’s tallest mural standing 25.5 metres high and covering 225 square metres, the new NCP mural will be over double the size covering 483.69 square metres in total.
The mural will also help to add even more vibrancy to the Heart of the City redevelopment and regeneration of the city centre, while also emphasising the breadth of talent in Sheffield's burgeoning street art community.
To see the latest updates as the new mural progresses over coming weeks head to the @VisitSheffield channels on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, TikTok and BlueSky.
For more examples of the artists' work, visit www.instagram.com/roblee_art and insaland.com.
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