Invest Sheffield Archives - Planning Design Ltd

Béton House – Landmark student accommodation hits the heights

29th November 202215th December 2020 by Gary Stringer

Park Hill, located on a hill above the city’s railway station, is one of the Sheffield’s best-known landmarks. The property was built in 1961 and was one of the first Brutalist buildings in the UK. It was awarded grade II*-listed status in 1998.

Decades after Park Hill was left to fall into disrepair, Urban Splash stepped in with its private regenerations scheme.

Urban Splash and development partner Alumno are now well on the way with Phase 3. Béton House, which offers townhouses, two and four-bed flats and studio accommodation for 356 students follows on from the Urban Splash scheme – which will link with the already established 700-strong community that has been living and working at Park Hill since 2013, following the completion of the first phase of development by Urban Splash.

Homes for Students, a nationwide student accommodation company, has been based at Béton House since September welcoming and settling in new students and managing the building.

The block was renamed Béton House after the French word for raw concrete – Béton brut – popularised by modernist architecture.

Béton House has been designed by South Yorkshire Region-based architects Whittam Cox. Béton House’s colour scheme is a nod to Modernist architect Le Corbusier’s Polychromie palettes, mix-and-match sets of colours designed to be harmonious for design. Burnt orange, bottle green, scarlet, and mustard tones were taken from a mosaic that once adorned the Parkway Tavern, the local pub that served the Park Hill Estate in its heyday.

A derelict ground floor building has been turned into a large communal area with a gym, cinema and a private dining room.

With an office at The Workstation Planning & Design Practice Ltd have a close connection with Sheffield with numerous clients and projects in the region. Please get in touch for advice on any planning issues or potential projects.

Harry Capstick, Graduate Planner, Planning & Design Practice Ltd

Main image: Whittam Cox Architecture/ Dezeen

Multinational company invests £150m in Sheffield development

5th December 20224th May 2020 by Gary Stringer

The multinational financial services company, Legal & General has announced that it is investing £150m into the West Bar Square development in Sheffield.

Legal & General, together with Sheffield City Council, and the developer Urbo (West Bar) Ltd – a joint venture between Urbo Regeneration and Peveril Securities – will deliver a ‘mixed-use’ project for the area.

The development will comprise 200,000 sq. ft. of Grade A office space, 350 ‘Build to Rent’ homes, a multi-storey car park and landscaped public spaces.

The first phase will deliver much needed modern office space, currently lacking within Sheffield’s property market, which is expected to house up to 1,800 workers.

Nigel Wilson, CEO of Legal & General, said: “There has never been a more important time to invest in our regional cities.

“Legal & General is in a unique position to support the UK economic recovery by recycling hard earned savings and pensions into real assets which promote job creation – through construction to office occupation – and create landmark master plans which incorporate grade A office space, a variety of housing and high quality public space.

“This is not new territory for L&G. Our investment partnerships in cities such as Cardiff and Newcastle are already delivering at pace. Likewise our vision for West Bar Square is to deliver a much needed new quarter for the centre of Sheffield.

“During these unprecedented times, it is absolutely imperative that institutions continue to push forward with deals such as these, so we can position the UK for an accelerated recovery and lay the groundwork to support those most in need in society.”

Peter Swallow, Managing Director of Urbo Regeneration said: “This is a massively significant investment for Sheffield, and is a vote of confidence in the future of the city as a whole, particularly during the current climate.

“The funding partnership we have agreed with Legal and General will guarantee delivery of large scale regeneration in this important part of the city, linking the rapidly expanding Kelham Island district to the city centre.”

The creation of West Bar Square will complement the neighbouring Riverside Business District which already has office occupiers including the Home Office, law firm Irwin Mitchell and the Crown and Family Courts.

Michael Bamford, Associate at Planning & Design Practice Ltd, who heads up our Sheffield office welcomed the announcement.

“It’s great to see investment in Westbar and it has come at a good time. Kelham is certainly a success story for Sheffield but in order to ensure that it continues to be an attractive place to live, it needs to be better connected to the City. The Westbar area currently acts as a divide between the City centre and Kelham Island. Delivering a mixed use scheme in this location will help to bridge that gap which will be a positive thing not just for Kelham but for Sheffield as whole.”

Image: 5plus Architects

Cultural heart planned in Sheffield city centre regeneration

18th March 2020 by Gary Stringer

A significant amount of heritage will be retained as part of the creation of a new ‘cultural heart’ for the city centre in the recently unveiled plans for Sheffield City Council’s Heart of the City II development.

Block H, which is located on the site between Wellington Street, Carver Street and Cambridge Street, will provide a wide-ranging development split into three distinct elements (H1, H2 and H3). A period of public consultation on H2 and H3 began on Thursday 12 March, ahead of a planning submission later this Spring.

H2 will be a brand-new building offering approximately 70,000 sq ft of Grade A office space, split across seven upper floors and boasting an impressive south facing roof terrace, with retail and food and beverage units on the ground floor.

Taking inspiration from Sheffield’s celebrated industrial past, H2 will be a visually striking, dark-coloured metal building designed to minimise operational energy, emitting around 40% less carbon than a typical Building Regulations compliant design. This efficiency will also continue to improve as the embodied carbon in the electricity grid reduces.

In contrast, the development for H3 (to be known as Cambridge Street Collective) will be aiming to retain as much of the quality, existing fabric and façades along Cambridge Street and Wellington Street as feasible – helping to attractively balance the old and new across the site.

Proposals for Cambridge Street Collective include a large, industrial-style space, which would be perfectly suited to a food hall or similar sociable, communal offer. Wrapping this space would be complementary shops, a bar and restaurant, and an upper level leisure space. The existing Bethel Chapel building will also be renovated, with plans for this to become a live entertainment venue.

Although not part of this planning application, the site is also home to Leah’s Yard (H1) – a Grade II* Listed building housing a collection of small former industrial workshops. Plans are still at an early stage, however there is a real desire from the project team to maintain the building’s unique Sheffield character by providing similar workshops for the city’s next creative generation. In the meantime, Listed Building Consent is being sought to undertake the structural works required to make the buildings secure.

Councillor Mazher Iqbal, Cabinet Member for Business and Investment at Sheffield City Council, explained the vision:

“We will be retaining a lot of attractive heritage across the Heart of the City II site, while also ensuring we create new spaces that are sustainable to the local economy.

“With some of the most interesting architecture in the city centre, Block H was always going to be one of the most rewarding blocks in the masterplan. We truly believe that these new plans will help provide a cultural heart and social anchor to the scheme.”

In a bid to ensure a viable and attractive development – one that also respects the heritage assets on the Block H site, Sheffield City Council and its Strategic Development Partner, Queensberry, have been working closely with heritage interest groups in the city. They have been discussing design and usage ideas.

The emerging proposals for this block now showcase the retention of far more original architecture than envisaged in the 2018 masterplan. Plans now include the preservation and sympathetic restoration of the quality fabric and façades along Cambridge Street and Wellington Street, including the listed Bethel Sunday School and Leah’s Yard, as well as the Bethel Chapel and the buildings that formerly housed Brewhouse and Henry’s. The historic buildings fronting these streets will be kept with internal adaptations and reconstruction carried out where necessary to bring them back into use.

Nick Roscoe of Hallamshire Historic Buildings, said:

“Sheffield City Council should be commended for taking this enlightened and forward-thinking approach to the interesting range of buildings that we can see on Cambridge Street and Wellington Street today.

“They have brought in first class architects and consulted carefully with stakeholders to make the most of these precious heritage assets. This is a project to be proud of and an approach we hope to see followed again.”

The Block H site occupies a prime location in the wider Heart of the City II scheme. Directly linking to the attractive new public spaces of Charter Square and upcoming Five Ways, it will sit comfortably alongside Grosvenor House and Isaacs Building.

Public consultation for H2 and H3 runs 12 March-7 April, with public drop-in sessions, at the former Clicks and Mortar shop on Pinstone Street, taking place on 25 March (15:30-19:00) and 26 March (11:00-16:00).

Why Sheffield floods… and how good planning can help

16th March 202016th March 2020 by Gary Stringer

Sheffield, owing to its geography and pattern of land use, is predisposed to flood from time to time.

Like Rome, it is famously built on hills, cradling 5 rivers (the Don, Sheaf, Rivelin, Loxley and Porter) as well as many smaller water courses, and is bordered by uplands on its western side.

During extreme rain events, water will run off quickly from the built over valley slopes. Many of the smaller watercourses have been constrained into culverts. The principal rivers have been hemmed into narrow channels, their natural flood plains concreted over. The neighbouring uplands would have once been covered with woodland, able to soak up rainfall, but are now used for grazing land or maintained as moorland for shooting game.

Much can doubtless be done at the local level to help mitigate the risk of flooding, dredging watercourses, building flood defences etc.

But if, over the longer term, the city wishes to address the underlying causes of flooding, a more radical approach to land use planning, which goes beyond the boundaries of the city’s administrative area, will probably be required. How we manage and farm our uplands, the extent to which we allow our flood plains to flood, whether we re-open culverted watercourses and give them space to breathe, the extent to which we prioritise tree planting, all of these things should be considered.

A balance must of course be struck. Many valuable heritage assets are situated on flood plains, many homes and businesses have to be safeguarded. But finding the right balance is what good planning is all about. The key is planning for the long term and planning across a wide area, beyond administrative boundaries. With good planning there is no reason why people cannot continue to live and work successfully in and around river valleys, as they have always done since time immemorial.

Jon Millhouse, Director, Planning & Design Practice Ltd

Top Image: Google Earth

Images: With thanks to Nik Hamilton at Invest Sheffield

Sheffield- the UK’s Latest Smart City

26th February 2020 by Gary Stringer

The future is now, as Sheffield City Council, together with the city’s highways contractor, Amey are utilising cutting edge Internet of Things (IoT) technology to create the UK’s latest Smart City, starting with digitised roads.

Working on behalf of the council, Amey is positioning Sheffield front and centre of innovative Smart City technology in order to deliver a more efficient highways service for residents of and visitors to the Steel City via a platform provided by Smart City operator, Connexin. Work is already well underway, and by this spring, Amey will have created a digitised public highway network involving thousands of individual wireless sensors communicating across the city from Attercliffe to Woodseats.

With these smart sensors embedded in objects such as litter bins and drains, these everyday objects will be able to send and receive data via an Internet of Things (IoT) platform, digitally connecting essential highway maintenance services and informing operatives about the condition of street assets in real time. The aim is that Amey’s maintenance managers will always be one step ahead, knowing when street bins need to be emptied before they overflow, when trees need watering and when gullies need clearing in order to reduce the risk of flash flooding, to name just a few practical examples.

Cabinet member for Environment, Street Scene and Climate Change at Sheffield City Council, Councillor Mark Jones said:

“This is very much about us working better and smarter towards a greener and cleaner future for Sheffield.

“By investing in this new initiative, our contractors will be undertaking fewer journeys, which in turn will result in a reduction in energy consumption, pollution and congestion, whilst ensuring our streets are kept clean and our bins are emptied using a more efficient and effective approach.”

As Councillor Jones stresses, people living, working and visiting Sheffield will benefit from a better quality of life with cleaner and safer living conditions and improved maintenance services, delivered in a more efficient, sustainable manner, contributing to the city’s Clean Air Strategy.

As we’ve written about previously, the City Council have implemented The Sheffield Green City Strategy, with the intention of reducing the city’s impact on the climate by becoming a zero-carbon city by 2050. Whilst Sheffield is a green city both in its urban centre and its surrounding landscape, polluted air is a major drain on its economy, with the cost currently estimated at around £200m every year, seriously impacting on economic growth and people’s health.

This pioneering use of technology together with the city’s Clean Air Zone coming into effect in early 2021, will all help to lower emissions, creating a city with transportation systems that are efficient and affordable, as well as reliable and clean.

Click HERE to see a video showing Sheffield street’s high tech overhaul.

Sheffield Call for Sites

7th January 20206th January 2020 by Gary Stringer

As we have written about previously, work on the Sheffield Local Plan has picked up again and the Council are currently undertaking their call for sites. This opened on 16 December 2019 and will run until 31 January 2020. The last call for sites took place in 2014 as part of the Citywide Options for Growth consultation and this is a good opportunity to put new sites forward to the Council for consideration.

If your site was submitted to the Council as part of the 2014 consultation we advise resubmitting it as part of the current call for sites to ensure the Council fully consider it as part of the Local Plan.

If you have a site that hasn’t been submitted to the Council before and would like to know if it is suitable for inclusion in the Local plan the please do get in touch.

The call for sites is one of the early stages of identifying the how and where the city will grow. Whilst there is a strong emphasis on providing housing for the city, the call for sites isn’t limited to housing sites. The Council will be looking at development in Sheffield as a whole and therefore, in addition to housing, the call for sites is relevant to areas for the following development;

employment
retail
leisure
health
waste
gypsies and travellers
travelling showpeople
community and recreational use

As planning consultants based in Sheffield, we work closely with Sheffield City Council Planning Department and can advise on the suitability of sites for inclusion within the Local Plan. If you want to talk about submitting a site to the Council for consideration, please contact Michael Bamford via email on Michael.bamford@planningdesign.co.uk or call the office on 0114 221 0618.

The Sheffield Plan

10th December 20194th December 2019 by Gary Stringer

The Sheffield Plan will replace both the Sheffield Core Strategy (2009) and the saved policies in the Sheffield Unitary Development Plan (1998). The plan will cover the period 2023-2038.

The Council have recently released the Local Development Scheme (LDS) which sets out the timetable for the preparation of the Sheffield district Local Plan.

A previous version of the LDS, published in July 2016, envisaged adoption by September 2018. The delay was caused by changes in government policy such as the revised National Planning Policy Framework and Housing White Paper which provides a standardised methodology for housing calculations. The preparation of Local Plans must be underpinned by relevant and up-to-date evidence; therefore, the previous LDS was considered to be out of date.

The updated LDS took effect from 20th November 2019, and outlines a number of key milestones:

A new Issues and Options consultation is the first part of the Plan Stage. A previous Issues and Options consultation was undertaken in November 2015- January 2016. This will inform the content of the Publication Draft Sheffield Plan and is now proposed to take place in July–September 2020.

The second stage of the consultation process is envisaged to take place between July and September 2021, where the Council will produce the Publication Draft Local Plan.

An independent Planning Inspector will be appointed to undertake a ‘public examination’ of the draft Local Plan and is likely to make recommendations to further improve it. LPAs may ask the Inspector to recommend main modifications to the plan where necessary to make the plan sound and legally compliant. Submission of the Draft Plan to Government and Examination will take place in January 2022.

The final report is envisaged to be sent to the LPA around June 2023.

Cabinet approval and adoption by full Council is proposed to take place in September 2023.

The LDS outlined four Neighbourhood Plan Areas that are currently adopting Neighbourhood Plans in Sheffield. Broomhill, Broomhall, Endcliffe, Somerfield, Tapton (BBEST) and Dore are the two areas closest to adoption as they have submitted their Neighbourhood Plans and are expecting adoption by September 2020.

Once they have been adopted, the neighbourhood plans will form part of the emerging Local Plan.

If you have a site (or interest in a site) within the Sheffield City Council region please do get in touch as now is the time to put development sites forward for adoption within the local plan.

Yorkshire’s tallest building coming to Sheffield?

4th November 2019 by Gary Stringer

Sheffield city centre could soon be the location of Yorkshire’s tallest building after an ambitious, £100m planning application was submitted by CODE Co-Living.

Plans have been put forward to build a development comprising three buildings, one of 12 storeys, a second of 16 storeys, and the third, the tallest reaching 36 storeys.

At almost 117 metres tall, the main tower would be higher than a 114-metre tall student scheme currently under construction in Leeds – which is currently set to be the county’s tallest – and would be a full 16 metres higher than Sheffield’s current title holder, City Lofts Tower, which stands at 101 metres.

The scheme would be on a prominent site to the side of the Vita building, just off Charter Row and close to The Light Cinema complex. The land was previously occupied by South Yorkshire Housing and a Dexel car repair yard.

CODE says the development would improve the environment of a neglected corner of the city centre and deliver a huge injection of vibrancy and activity to Charter Square, The Moor and Heart of the City II.

The proposed co-living scheme would provide 1,370 private studio apartments for rent, available for both students and non-students.

Communal spaces would also be incorporated, including dining and café facilities, a 50-piece gymnasium, cinema room, private study spaces and a large first floor south-facing outdoor roof terrace. There will also be a 24-hour concierge on site.

CODE has committed to providing 10 per cent of the apartments as affordable housing, with tenants having equal access to all the facilities within the development.

Jonathan Jenkin, Managing Director of Planning & Design, who have just opened a new office based at the Workstation in Sheffield said

“We support the construction of new tall buildings in Sheffield as they show the city’s ambition and its drive to support appropriate development. A tall iconic building creates a buzz and it also helps to frame the debate of what is possible. Building in the city centre also put less pressure for edge of city development and protects the green belt.”

It is hoped that the planning application will be decided before Christmas. If approved, CODE hopes to be on site in spring 2020.

Jamie Lewis, of CODE, said: “We have been looking for a site in Sheffield for several years. From the outside, it is clear that the city is going places with Heart of the City II and developments on The Moor transforming the city centre. We want to be a part of this.”

Image: CODE

Update on the ‘Sheffield Plan’

29th October 201929th October 2019 by Gary Stringer

Sheffield City Council are in the process of preparing a new local plan (and have been for some time). The ‘Sheffield Plan’ will guide the future of the city by setting out how and where development will take place up to 2034.

Preparation of the ‘Sheffield Plan’ has seen significant setbacks over the years and has meant that development across the city is guided by saved policies from the now very out of date Sheffield Unitary Development Plan which was adopted in 1998 and the Core Strategy which was adopted in 2009.

The first stage in producing the new plan was the Citywide Options for Growth to 2034 document. Consultation on that document took place between 11 November 2015 and 15 January 2016 and there has been very little tangible progress since.

The last formal update on the local plan was published in July 2016 and since then there has been a significant level of uncertainty on the proposed content of the plan and the timeline for adoption.

Things have been moving on behind the scenes and, upon speaking to the Council’s Planning Department, they anticipate providing a formal update on progress with the local plan as well as a timetable for consultation, examination and hopeful adoption within the next week.

This should provide a much clearer position on when a draft local plan will be released, and we will keep you informed as things progress.

To keep up to date, sign up to receive our monthly newsletter on all things planning and architecture related including national news and projects we have worked on. You can do so HERE

Planning & Design have recently made a significant investment to their presence in Sheffield with a move to new premises and several key appointments.

Housed in a former 1930s’ car showroom, Planning & Design now reside in The Workstation, Sheffield’s leading business centre for creative talent and innovation in the heart of the city’s thriving Cultural Industries Quarter.

Leading the Sheffield office will be Michael Bamford. A chartered town planning consultant, Michael started with Planning Design in 2015 and carved out his early career with the group. Having left the company in early 2018 to work with a National Consultancy based in Sheffield, he returned to Planning Design this summer and takes the lead on the operation of our Sheffield Office.

To contact Michael please call 0114 221 0618 or email Michael.Bamford@planningdesign.co.uk

Planning Design invests in Sheffield

29th October 20199th October 2019 by Gary Stringer

Planning & Design have made a significant investment to their presence in Sheffield with a move to new premises and several key appointments.

Located less than five minutes from Sheffield train station, The Workstation is home to some of Sheffield’s most exciting cultural, creative and digital businesses with Planning & Design joining renowned design studios, high growth tech firms, award winning theatre companies and filmmakers.

Proximity to the train station also affords easy access to both the group’s main office located in Derby city centre, and clients nationwide.

Leading the Sheffield office will be Michael Bamford. A chartered town planning consultant, Michael started with Planning & Design in 2015 and carved out his early career with the group. Having left the company in early 2018 to work with a National Consultancy based in Sheffield, he returned to Planning & Design this summer and takes the lead on the operation of our Sheffield Office.

Transferring from the Derby office to join Michael will be Graduate Planner Harry Capstick. Having completed his undergraduate degree in Town Planning and Geography at Sheffield Hallam University, he initially joined the team in June 2017, where he completed a 6-month work placement. Upon finishing his degree, Harry re-joined the team in July 2019.

As well as both Harry and Michael having worked and studied in the city, Planning & Design also has a close connection with Sheffield, having long maintained an office in the city and with numerous clients and projects in the region.

“The Sheffield City Region provides real opportunities for growth and development. The city has close links with the Peak District National Park and a long history of high tech engineering. We are excited to be opening a larger office in the city to meet the demand for town planning and architecture. The Region is forward thinking, it is looking for sustainable growth and is open to meeting the challenges of Climate Change and Brexit.” says Jonathan Jenkin, Managing Director of Planning & Design.

Comprising town planners, architects and architectural assistants the staff at Planning & Design bring a wealth of experience from a range of backgrounds and various parts of the UK. Our planners have worked in the public & private sectors, and have excellent working relations with Local Planning Authorities. Our team of RIBA Chartered Architects and Architectural Assistants have a wealth of experience working with homeowners, developers and the public sector.

“We are looking forward to welcoming existing clients to our new home in Sheffield, and to creating new relationships in the city, and across the region, says Michael Bamford.

“Sheffield is home to a rich architectural heritage, with iconic developments such as Park Hill as well as innovative urban renewal, as demonstrated by developments such as can be seen at Kelham Island and at the Workstation. We are looking forward to being a part of Sheffield’s future development.”

Please contact Michael if you require assistance with planning applications, appeals or local plan representations or require advice on lawful development certificates or development appraisals, michael.bamford@planningdesign.co.uk or telephone 0114 221 0618.

Photo (L-R): Harry Capstick, Richard Pigott, Jonathan Jenkin, Michael Bamford, Jon Millhouse.

Béton House – Landmark student accommodation hits the heights

Multinational company invests £150m in Sheffield development

Cultural heart planned in Sheffield city centre regeneration

Why Sheffield floods… and how good planning can help

Sheffield- the UK’s Latest Smart City

Sheffield Call for Sites

The Sheffield Plan

Yorkshire’s tallest building coming to Sheffield?

Update on the ‘Sheffield Plan’

Planning Design invests in Sheffield

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