City lofts St Paul’s tower cladding design row

20 11 2008

Standing your ground

You’ll have no doubt read about the current disagreement over the panels used on the outside of the City lofts St Paul’s tower development in town. In a nutshell, the council agreed a certain specification of cladding, which the developer then changed.

The council has stood firm and now crisis talks are taking place between both parties with the hope of resolving the issue. You can read the detail of the saga unfolding in the 196-page thread in the Sheffield Development Forum.

I was passing the development this week with my camera so took some photos which are below.

Despite it being a brilliant sunny day, the brown panels still looked a bit dingy. And as someone also pointed out in the discussion thread, if this is them at their best, how many clear sunny days will we get in Sheffield to see them like this?

Even with the sun directly reflecting off the side of the building, as shown in the bottom photo, it still has a dated look to me and reminds me a bit of a 70s London building that I used to work in and is about to be ripped down.

What do people think, should the council continue to stand its ground and demand an improved design, risking that the tower is left to stand empty or even be demolished?

cladding1

cladding2

City lofts St Paul's tower cladding


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Categories : architecture, council, design, development, environment, photos, planning, regeneration, sheffield

BarCamp Sheffield 2.1: the Joy of Techs

8 11 2008

Calling all grass-roots geeks, creative visionaries, innovative entrepreneurs and talented technologists

I’m not sure anyone would choose to give themselves any of those titles, but if you are (take a deep breath) a developer, designer, creative, educationalist, technologist, blogger, student, entrepreneur, writer, artist, academic, geek, marketeer, investor or gamer then you should get yourself down to BarCamp Sheffield 2.1: the Joy of Techs later this month.

As explained on the BarCamp Sheffield website, a BarCamp event is an ‘unconference’ that typically takes place over a weekend. The focus is technology in its widest possible sense, and usually features demonstrations, workshops and seminars which attendees are encouraged to run themselves with the intention of maximising knowledge-sharing and learning.

It has grown out of the monthly GeekUp Sheffield events (which also come highly recommended) and takes place at the Showroom cinema cafe bar from 28-30 November. If you can’t commit to the whole weekend then you can drop in just for one of the sessions.

And whether you can attend or not, if you are on Twitter then make sure you follow @barcampsheff to keep up to date with goings-on.

BarCamp Sheffield


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Categories : arts, beer, design, digital industries, festivals, marketing, media, sheffield, technology

Pictures of Sheffield in the Design Cities photography competition

16 10 2008

Is Sheffield a design city?

People have been submitting pictures of Sheffield for the Design Cities photography competition set up by the Design museum, Flickr and magazine Don’t panic.

The idea is that people submit urban photos of contemporary design, architecture, furniture, vehicles, technology or fashion to the Design Cities Flickr group. 20 photos from this group will then be printed and exhibited in the Design museum in January next year, with one also being printed on 80,000 Don’t panic posters to be put up in cities around the world.

The Sheffield images are generally what you would expect, mainly covering the new bits of architecture in the city centre, with some photographers trying to find new angles on some of the classic shots.

The competition doesn’t close until 1 December, so there is still plenty of time to get your entry in. Surely we can do better than 17 submissions?


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Categories : architecture, design, photography, photos, sheffield

Sheffield on Twitter - an update

28 09 2008

Who’s new?

Back in June I did a round-up of how Sheffield people and organisations are using the micro-blogging site Twitter, which became the basis for the Sheffield Twitter users page.

I’ve had another look to see who or what else from the city has popped up in Twitter. Some of these accounts seem a bit stagnant, but then you never know when they might spring back into life…

radio2XS (Sheffield-based online radio station, set up by Jeff Cooper, formerly of Hallam FM)
http://twitter.com/radio2xs

RPG photography (award-winning Sheffield photographer; this may be a personal Twitter account)
http://twitter.com/arepeejee

Studio dust (a small, creative studio specialising in design; also on Flickr)
http://twitter.com/dustcollective

UK logo design (the design studio of Taylors graphic design, offering logo, web and print design)
http://twitter.com/designforum

Joining more dots (a Twitter account in its infancy; the website says that this company ‘looks to imaginative ways to use digital media and web services to enhance communication and collaboration, in business, education and health care’)
http://twitter.com/joiningmoredots

Plain advice (boutique marketing agency; looks quite new - the impression I get is that digital marketing is not their background)
http://twitter.com/chrisbell

Learning, teaching and assessment in higher education (again, looks like a personal Twitter account, however the accompanying blog features and interviews about innovation in learning and teaching from Hallam university)
http://twitter.com/amiddlet50


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Categories : design, digital industries, marketing, photography, promotions, sheffield, websites

Sandman goes digital

23 09 2008

The magazine is dead; long live sandmanmagazine.co.uk

Sandman is a bit of an institution in Sheffield music circles. For over six years it has been providing music fans in the city with reviews, features and listings about hundreds of bands and artists - and most importantly, the inclination to go and see them live.

Its influence shouldn’t be underestimated: many people agree that the fact that we have seen a major resurgence in the Sheffield music scene within Sandman’s lifetime is no coincidence.

However, as a free paper magazine, Sandman is coming to an end. The editorial in the current, final issue explains that they have thrown off the shackles of expensive print, with all its limitations, in favour of concentrating on revamping their website, sandmanmagazine.co.uk.

I’ll miss the aesthetic quality of the paper edition and not being able to read it on the bus (unless of course I now upgrade my mobile handset) but overall I think they have done the right thing. As well as offering an almost infinite amount of space for more depth and breadth, being on the web offers far more potential for immediacy, interactivity and rich-media content, which for a music offering is surely key.

At the moment, the site does seem to have quite a basic, web 1.0 feel about it, but hopefully with all energies being channelled into the digital version of Sandman, this will improve.


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Categories : arts, bands, design, live, music, sheffield, websites

SoYoScape by The Designers Republic

17 09 2008

A South Yorkshire landscape

A work of art caught my eye the other day, a piece called SoYoScape (2006) by the world-renowned Sheffield design agency, The Designers Republic.

This (digital?) illustration contrasts night-time splashes of neon colour and defining Sheffield architectural landmarks against a backdrop of the seven hills and a jet-black sky.

One of the few online references I could find to it was on the University of Sheffield School of Architecture’s website. It seems that this piece played a central role in a recent exhibition to celebrate the school’s centenary:

‘SoYoScape’ by Sheffield-based The Designers Republic combines the mundane and everyday with the iconic and produces a condensed and vibrant image of Sheffield as it presents itself at the beginning of the 21st century.

If you look closely you’ll be able to pick out plenty of recognisable elements from the city’s landscape (click the image for a slightly larger version)…

Soyoscape by The Designers Republic

SoYoScape (2006) by The Designers Republic


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Categories : architecture, arts, design, sheffield

Light Night in Sheffield, September 2009

27 08 2008

Showing the city’s most iconic buildings in a different light

It may be over a year away, but something to look forward to in 2009 will be the arrival of Light Night in Sheffield.

Six UK cities have been selected to host Light Night, starting with Birmingham next month. The idea is that for one night only, the key buildings in each city centre are illuminated using high quality light projections in order to show the environment from a different perspective.

To accompany this, areas in the city are also opened up for some sort of cultural, community festival.

Exact details at the moment are sketchy, but it’ll be worth keeping any eye on the other Light Night events before the Sheffield one to see what sort of thing we can expect.

Sheffield, lit up

Image by mikesm and used under Creative Commons license


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Categories : arts, design, environment, festivals, live, music, sheffield

Botched towers demolition embarasses Eon

24 08 2008

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.

A great photo from Eddie Robinson:

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!

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…


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Categories : arts, cooling towers, design, photos, sheffield, videos

From Runaway Girl to Silversmiths

5 08 2008

Gordon Ramsay and the relaunch of a city centre bar and restaurant

There was plenty of coverage last week of Gordon Ramsay’s stay in the city and the visit of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares to Runaway Girl on Arundel Street.

The celebrity chef even appeared in the Peace gardens to record a feature for the show and to give chance for Silversmiths staff to promote the relaunched business.

Although entertaining, I find Kitchen Nightmares a bit formulaic, and have no doubt that as usual, Ramsay’s revamp proposes a new menu serving “simple, seasonal dishes, made using fresh, locally-sourced ingredients”. We’ll find out when the show is broadcast.

I liked the name Runaway Girl and was also a bit cynical about the new name until I walked past the relaunched restaurant yesterday. I originally thought he might have proposed it after unimaginatively linking a Sheffield restaurant to the city’s cutlery heritage, however given that the premises is actually a converted silversmiths works and it still features the George Ellis Ltd. livery on the façade, I think it works well. The subtle, highlighted silver name is also a nice touch:

The menu in the window gave a glimpse of the modern Yorkshire dishes on offer, I just need to pay it a visit now to taste the food:


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Categories : celebrities, design, food, sheffield, television

Sheffield sausages

6 04 2008

Debbie & Andrew’s delicious sausages make the mouth water - but are they from Sheffield?

There were stories in the media this week about how one sausage a day can increase the risk of developing bowel cancer by a fifth. But I have no plans for giving up bangers after tasting this particular range of sausage produced in Sheffield.

My colleagues were recently sent a sample selection the posh sausages in question, called Debbie & Andrew’s. Charitably, I offered to take a couple of packets home in order to try them out and report back on what I thought.

The two varieties I ended up with were the Sicilian and Pork and apple sausages. On studying the packaging, I was intrigued to see that the address listed on the design included a S13 9NP postcode. Made in Sheffield? They must be good! And they were.

The Pork and apple ones were delicious, but it was the Sicilian sausages that were most flavoursome, an intense, tasty mixture of lean pork shoulder, crushed garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, basil and mozzarella. And I noticed afterwards that the grill pan was almost fat-free and barely needed washing, so despite what they may tell you in the press, it seems these sausages are good for you.

I was surprised I hadn’t heard more in Sheffield about them, so thought I’d do a bit more research about Debbie and Andrew. I discovered that following a re-branding and re-packaging exercise, the company (formerly know as Manor Born) increased their turnover from £50,000 to £2 million in just three years. A great product is clearly nothing without well-designed packaging.

But what of Debbie & Andrew’s link to Sheffield? The S13 postcode was listed on their packaging, but I’d read numerous references to North Yorkshire, too. It was time to email Andrew himself to find out what the score was. A couple of days later I got a reply:

We outgrew our production facility at Thirsk - so the sausages are based in South Yorkshire but we still have an office in North Yorkshire on the farm where Debbie spends most of her time, and I seem to be permanently on the road dashing between the two…

So although it looks like the meat is farmed in locations all around the county, the link to Sheffield is a strong one with the sausages made here.

I think it is time now to work my way through the rest of the range.

Debbie & Andrew's sausage packaging


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Categories : design, food, sheffield