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

New Brooklyn bridge in Sheffield

14 11 2008

A bridge too far - for now

Last year a scheme was approved by councillors to build a replica of the world-famous Brooklyn bridge across the River Don in Sheffield. It was in recognition the city’s links with the Brooklyn bridge in New York, as apparently Sheffield steel manufacturer Andrews Toledo supplied the high-quality crucible steel used for its main hangers.

With most of the funding for the replica in place, all was progressing well until the catastrophic floods of June last year bought the project to a standstill.

I got in touch with Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust to find out the latest. Following the floods, the Environment Agency had to re-assess the river and has recently removed 8,000 tons of rubble and soil from around the weir and Kelham Island itself.

At the moment a new flood wall protection around Kelham is being designed and is scheduled to be built next year. This will affect the bridge design and so the two will have to be integrated, with the wall being built first.

We are reassured that there is is still strong support for the bridge, and in the meantime the funds set aside for the scheme have been invested in a high interest account with the council.

I really hope this project is realised before long. As the background story illustrates, the building of the New York Brooklyn bridge is a poignant and romantic tale, and you can’t help but think that the completion of the replica bridge - after the problems of its own - would be a fitting tribute to its inspirational and beautiful big sister over the pond.

Brooklyn bridge, New York

'Sunset on the Brooklyn Bridge'

Image by wenzday01 and used under Creative Commons license


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Categories : architecture, council, development, environment, planning, sheffield, walking

Goodwin crater on Northumberland Road

9 11 2008

A big hole

I walked past this big man-made crater yesterday. It is next to the university’s Goodwin sports centre:

Goodwin crater

Goodwin crater

Anyone know what they are building?


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Categories : development, environment, photos, sheffield

The opposite side of the world

1 11 2008

If you were to drill a hole in a straight line through the earth from Sheffield, where would you come out?

If you have ever pondered the above scenario, which I’m sure all of us have, then you are in luck. This Google maps mashup allows you to choose a start point and then it shows you where you would resurface on the other side of the world if you dug (and dug).

I tried it for Sheffield and the result was somewhere in the Southern ocean, south of New Zealand and north of Antarctica:

There you go, I have saved you the bother of digging for yourself…


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Categories : environment, sheffield, websites

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

Is Sheffield really built on seven hills?

22 08 2008

It is one of the most-quoted facts about the city, but is it true?

One of the things I like most about Sheffield, and it is something that I have started to appreciate more now that I live up on one of the hills, is the topography of the city. Having also lived in London and Birmingham, it seems that comparatively, there are many more opportunities in Sheffield for looking down on the city from one of the many vantage points on the surrounding hills.

It may not be so good for cyclists, but once you are up there you are rewarded with some spectacular views. Whether it is the panorama back across town from Park Hill at dusk; the drive back into the city from Ringinglow; the view from Crookes and Crosspool; the city skyline from Meersbrook park or simply looking up at the hills through corner gaps at Hillsborough stadium; I could go on and on.

I still read some blogs about Birmingham, and one of these recently enquired how high the Midlands city was. A response from Ordnance Survey showed that in terms of single highest points, Sheffield is second only to Bradford.

This led me on to investigate the regularly-quoted fact about Sheffield that, like Rome, the city is built on seven hills. According to a study by J.G. Harston, Sheffield is in fact built on eight discernible hills, not seven.

In the end, it doesn’t matter how many hills the city is built on; while the days are long and the evenings are light, it is well worth getting out to making the most of the fantastic views on offer.

Does anyone else have any favourites?


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Categories : environment, photos, sheffield, walking

Fargate in bloom

3 05 2008

The pedestrianised shopping street is paved with a carpet of colour

There was a continental market on Fargate on Thursday, offering a good range of cheeses, meats, snacks and goods. One extended stall was selling a wide selection of plants and flowers, which added a wonderful touch of colour to the pedestrianised area.

I’m sure that flowers in urban areas are hard to look after and prone to attack from the elements and vandalism, but does this offer any food for thought for town planners?

Fargate in bloom


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Categories : environment, gardens, planning, sheffield

City of Sheffield city centre walkabout (walkabout)

19 03 2008

Exploring the city centre, 1970s style

A few months ago I was given a fantastic item that had been found on eBay - a copy of the early-1970s City of Sheffield city centre walkabout walkabout book (I think the double walkabout in the title is actually a stylistic design feature on the cover).

This publication (rrp 25p) was produced by what I assume was the council marketing department in those days, the quaintly-named Sheffield City Promotions Committee. On the inside front cover, they write:

The aim of this publication is to act as a guide to visitors for a walking tour of the Central Area of Sheffield. The tour, which takes just over an hour at a leisurely walking pace, is intended to show both civic and other important buildings and landmarks, not only of yesteryear, but also some of the more modern counterparts of recent times. At the same time, it is hoped to show some of the Sheffield’s character in its local environment, brought about by the effects of ambitious building schemes and town planning since 1945 together with the clean air legislation in 1972 which led to Sheffield’s claim as being ‘the cleanest industrial city in Europe‘.

Reading the brochure I can’t help but think of the ‘City on the move’ film that opened The Full Monty, as the tone really lends itself to being read in a received pronunciation public service-style voice.

I’m sure copies of this publication from ‘yesteryear’ are quite scarce now, so I’ve pulled together my favourite quotes here:

City of Sheffield city centre walkaboutTown hall extension “This effect, together with leaded roofing are (sic) intended to blend two contrasting styles of building”

Crucible theatre “several television spectaculars have taken place here”

Shopping “Sheffield now has more departmental stores than any other city north of London”

Fargate “A quiet resting place for the weary visitor”

Chapel Walk “has more than a hint of a cosmopolitan atmosphere”

Dove and Rainbow pub “where you are more than likely to hear the chatter of journalists, reporters and other media people during weekday lunchbreaks”

Parkway “It is now possible to drive to either London or Newcastle in under three hours via the motorway network direct from that point”

Ramp near Castle Square “Castle Square’s function as a traffic roundabout can best be viewed from this point” - this view is obviously one not to miss!


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Categories : council, environment, history, promotions, pubs, sheffield, walking